If he's being tested, it is one he can bear. Nicky does not move, just raises his chin, but without the wolflike glare of a challenge. No part of themselves, body or soul, have been secrets from each other, there is no reason to begin with this now. He's not afraid of what she will do.

And any physical wound will heal.

'We will do it together,' he says, still very quietly, barely above a whisper, only for their ears. 'It was true then, and it remains true.'