Stephanie wanted to break down and cry. She wanted to scream and yell at him and fight with him, to defend herself. She forced herself to breathe, in and out. Stephanie had to remind herself that this was good, that even though it hurt, it was good for them in the long run.

"You don't fail every night." Stephanie said softly. "I don't know what she would have wanted, I never got to meet her. She probably wouldn't want me for a daughter, for that matter." Tears began to fall, but she forced herself to keep it together. "It's not about trust. I promise it's not about trust. It's about fear. And maybe I shouldn't try to protect you so much. And I promise I won't call you 'boy' again. But you should know that I've never thought of you as anything other than a man. A strong man who saved my life.

That demon showed me a face of someone I could have become. Evil and ruthless. I have that demon inside me, in my blood. It's ... I'm sorry you lost your mother, but at least you can have some happy memories of her. What do I have?" She sniffed deeply but forced herself to keep it together. "I have a mother who abused me. There. I said it. I'm a survivor of abuse. I was terrorized my whole childhood and then my father tried to turn me into a monster, to turn that anger of mine and make it into a weapon to hurt his enemies.

You are the first person who ever loved me and if you can't grasp how important that is, how much more important that is than anything else to me ..." She took a deep breath. "I don't know."

Her voice sounded oddly tiny. "I don't know."