"We're not tied together, even though you took my maidenhead," she tells me as she flutters before my wondering gaze. "I don't understand why, but that first night, after Marchosias's trap, I decided to test the limits of our connection, while you were otherwise occupied."
"You shouldn't have done that," I protest. "What would've happened if you'd gone too far and couldn't make it back?"
She gives me a sweet but sad smile before continuing. "I wanted to know how close I would have to stay to you after I felt you absorb my soul." Something falls from her face, and it takes me a moment to realize she's crying. "At first I was surprised that I wasn't feeling any drain on my system as I travelled away from where you slept. When I got to the other side of that monstrous city you live in, I had to admit that something was odd. For some reason, I wasn't tied to you, as I should've been. I was free to continue to live my own life any way I chose."
