[ Her certainty is a balm, and it isn't. It soothes him, and it also makes him think, how have I fooled her? How is it that I've deceived her, that she thinks only well of me? How evilly, skillfully fraudulent is he, that he's able to mislead even a Bard? No liar is as skilled as he is, that he's managed to make her believe him good. ]

It was just...small things. Athessa thinking that I was proposing something truly dreadful when I was encouraging her to pursue Sidony. Jenny Lou thinking that my tumbles when I was a lad was me forcing our freemen into places where they couldn't refuse. It's -

[ He lets out a breath. ]

I don't think I even knew what screwing was yet, the first time I was accused of perversion.