She had liked it, he could see it in her eyes and the predatory curl of her smile that sent invisible hackles rising all along his neck and shoulders. Her voice slid around his neck like the forest's vines had tightened around his leg that day they had first met, and he knew with a cold trickle of fear that he had overestimated himself this time.
If he had not received heartfelt warnings from Sam and and heard Ianto's story he might have tried to play off her offer as a joke, coming up with something silly to keep the mood light. Now, though, his arrogance shriveled and it was all he could do to offer a dashing smile and a nod of acknowledgment. "Your offer does me great honor," he said, and humbled was indeed the right word, though not just because of her compliment. "But as the migrating bird would sicken and die if kept in a cage, no matter how gilded the bars and wondrous the company, so too would I, great Lady." He paused but briefly to play a cascade of notes from a tragic ballad across the harp, while he mentally scrambled for something else to catch her attention with, and recalled the worrisome question she had raised before. "Indeed, even as you said your forest grows weak. But what do you mean by that?" His curiosity was genuine, his brow furrowing in concern. "Compared to the land within the barrier your woods are a paradise."
If he had not received heartfelt warnings from Sam and and heard Ianto's story he might have tried to play off her offer as a joke, coming up with something silly to keep the mood light. Now, though, his arrogance shriveled and it was all he could do to offer a dashing smile and a nod of acknowledgment. "Your offer does me great honor," he said, and humbled was indeed the right word, though not just because of her compliment. "But as the migrating bird would sicken and die if kept in a cage, no matter how gilded the bars and wondrous the company, so too would I, great Lady." He paused but briefly to play a cascade of notes from a tragic ballad across the harp, while he mentally scrambled for something else to catch her attention with, and recalled the worrisome question she had raised before. "Indeed, even as you said your forest grows weak. But what do you mean by that?" His curiosity was genuine, his brow furrowing in concern. "Compared to the land within the barrier your woods are a paradise."
