Collar and Leash

Anita's cheek is warm with her blush, and she squeezes Nathaniel's hand.

"I didn't realize," she murmurs, "and I shouldn't have simply assumed. It won't happen again, Nathaniel, I promise."

Even with the ardeur riding them, there had been a choice made. She had made it, regardless of Nathaniel's -- or her own -- feelings on the matter.

She turns her eyes to Asher.

"This is your doing, isn't it?" she asks gently.

Not Nathaniel's upset, but his ability to come to her, to say this to her, to recognize what is and isn't what he wants.