The only reaction Fendros had to Ahnasha's kiss was a reflexive blink. He didn't even put his arm around her.

The pause that followed gave him time to consider, and soon enough he changed the subject. "Ahna, back in the cabin, you said something to that man. It...just really shocked me." Fendros' voice was low. He continued to walk without looking at her. "'This could have been so much easier, and so much more painless,' that was what you said." Fendros' walking slowed to a near stop. "The last time I heard that from someone with a dagger in their hand, it was right after he had butchered you alive in front of me. And before that, I saw a look in that man's eyes that was the exact same as I felt back when I was in his position. They are never going to live that down."

There was so much attached to the issue that what to say next was, for the moment, lost to Fendros. It gave Ahnasha time to respond.