For a moment, Molly was tempted to take this very seriously, to reach over and touch his shoulder and look at him in the eyes, if briefly. She was tempted to explain the intimacy, the permanence of a soulgaze.

But then the reality of what he said sunk in, and she laughed, softly. "You say that as if being a soldier was something to be ashamed of, instead of one of the things you are most proud of being."

She grinned, shaking her head and darting a glance at him. "What do you take me for, to be afraid of a thing like that?"