"I thought as much," his voice rumbles. "Still, it is an unwise choice for you to make. You are only doing harm to yourself." He glances away for only a moment, and then behind her, thorns gray and white thorns uplift from the ground, and two Dusks skulk out, limbs twitching as they swayed, but they did not move more than that.

Not yet.

"Perhaps, however, you will reconsider your decision, lest you may regret something." It wasn’t as though he wanted to injure her; far from it, in fact. It was easier to get satisfactory results from her that way.