Consort blinked, not yet recovered from the kiss and the warmth that moved through her body. "What?"
"What you wanted, remember?"
Phei smiled. "For helping me."
Understanding entered her eyes; her expression shifted immediately toward refusal.
Phei saw it coming and tightened his arm slightly before she could escape the subject.
"Without you, taking that Coffer would've been a hell of a lot harder. Maybe impossible under the circumstances. And that isn't even counting everything else I walked away with afterward. The Coffer alone changed a ridiculous amount, and then there were all those powerful beings I got."
Consort looked away slightly. "You don't owe me anything."
"I didn't say I owed you."
"You were going to succeed anyway," she replied, though the words arrived with just enough hesitation to betray how flustered she still was. "You were… you know."
Phei raised an eyebrow. "I was what?"
Consort looked at him.
Phei waited.
Her eyes narrowed...he laughed.
