““You took advantage." She sounded as if she loathed him. Even on the first night, she'd never spoken to him with such rancor. "Sidonie, please..." All gifts of eloquence had abandoned him. Rolling out of the bed, hoping some physical distance would soothe her, he reached for her. She flinched away as though avoiding a blow. "I'm so stupid," she said in a broken voice, then set a great crack in his heart when she wiped her eyes with shaking hands. Sod it to hell and back. She was crying. He felt like the lowest worm ever to crawl upon this foul earth. "You're not," he said, even as his belly cramped with sick shame and misery. In an attempt to ease her grief, he dared to touch her arm. That was a mistake, too. She recoiled and scrambled from the bed. Panting as if she'd run a mile, she stood in the center of the room. She looked young and afraid and heartbreakingly vulnerable. Not at all like the siren who had measured the heights of pleasure only seconds before. The mirrors reflected a woman with eyes huge and dark as bruises. A woman who stood proudly even as her mouth twisted in humiliation.””
