"I think... I just don't do well with betrayal or feelings that overlap with it. And even if it wasn't a literal betrayal, her assertions that Magpie would use the Palace maliciously felt unbelievably cruel. If he truly wished to hurt Drake, he'd pick up a gun and shoot him."

Setting down his chopsticks, he buries his face in his hand and wheezes out a brittle laugh. "And then, when she complained about Magpie's assumptions about her, all I could think was that she was being hypocritical. I realize that's not entirely fair, especially when there's no defending what he said to Drake, but that was how it felt at the time. It got me seeing red."