Athessa waits until the door closes behind Benedict to return her attention to Byerly, a smigeon of her ease slipping out of place to reveal a bit of trepidation in the cant of her brow. With Bene there, oddly enough, she would have been able to hide that.

Instead, Byerly has to see and hear her hesitation before she has anything even remotely resembling the right words for what she wants.

"Are you angry with me? About what happened?"