“It is very dangerous out there, Cathy. In the mists. Anything… I cannot–” “What cannot you do, Laon?” I could feel my fingers growing numb. “Have you not done it all? Have you not gone to university? Have you not left England? Have you not made yourself a grand explorer, triumphant conqueror and–” It stung. I knew it stung. “Do not blame your confinement on me.” His voice was very cold, very slow. “I am not your gaoler.” “Do not shame me for knowledge that has been denied me. Do not patronise me over the position to which I have been born.” I saw him flinch, but I continued. “I had thought the respect you had for me was mine by right, as your sister and equal. Not granted to me on your whim. To be begged and earned, however tenderly.”