“I…” the beginning of a protest, quickly thought better of, when her rebuke turned physical. Instead, he dipped his head in brief acknowledgement, almost humbly, of her words. He was not one to wait to be asked, but it wasn’t truly as if he had been contributing anything of real use. By now he was certain she was utilizing something, but it was not as if he could ask her outright. Not now. It seemed as if it would defeat the purpose if she were preparing him for the sight he would be exposed to soon, and beyond that… They had an agreement between them about her magic being used on him without his consent. Perhaps it had expired with the shift of power. His wings ruffled gently to test that theory, but if there was any decrease in the pain of it, it was not notable.
“I cannot imagine I will respond any differently to physical contact than another would. Is the result the same initially? The addictive quality of it, the compulsion itself, it all seems dependent upon you to sate. What if there were another… Outlet, so to speak. Are there instances of that impulse being redirected? I had little time to make any inquiries prior to this meeting,” a glance flitted very briefly to Azyebel, as near to scolding as he would come in the view of others, “so I apologize if these questions have become tedious. Everything I have heard indicates the response you evoke is not only sexual, it is violent. I can say with confidence that there have been few instances in which I felt any real desire to cause a woman harm, and none of those were sexual in nature. Are all responses so brutal? I have seen, in the case of Liliana, men who became aggressive. But I have seen a fair share whose pursuit ran a different course. If an Asrai chose not to fight back, would the encounter still result in her death?”