Internally, it hurts. It hurts so much that it was those words that she had to use. And of course she had to use those words. Because in the whole of possible combinations of words in the universe to use, it had to be the implication that he never kept secrets from her.

But it's now that the weight of seven previous lives worth of experience weighed in on him. In particular, the schemer. The life that he most resented. And yet, for this moment, he needed that conniving. Because he couldn't trust himself now otherwise.

"Yes. I will tell you eventually."