Thoughts on Her, Part Two

She seeks me out. Wants to talk.
I can't keep her out of my head when we do. She's too clever. Too attentive. Trained too well. Reads you like a book if you give an inch.
Part of me doesn't want to keep her out. Not when says she wants to understand.
I believe her. But I don't think she will.
Father used to tell me... 'There will always be someone out there that's better than you. At everything. And if they turn up when you start to forget that and put you back in your place before you manage to make a fool of yourself, they're doing you a favor.'
I should be thankful that she does me that favor.
Should be.
But I don't like it. It makes me feel like a kid.
I behaved like an angry kid...

I met her lover. Husband? I saw a ring on her finger. Heard him talking about her.
I don't think he knows who I am.
If he does, she hasn't told him what I did.
I'm sure he doesn't know. I'm alive. I still have all my limbs.
I knew she would have a protector. Someone dangerous to match her.
But I didn't expect him.
Not this beast of war. Scarred. Battle hardened. 
Mad.
He makes himself out as a friendly beast. Smiles. Jokes. Lets you think him a fool.
But I see it, even when most others don't. I feel the tension of it. If I see it she knows it's there too.
The violence. A dark strain in him. 
He hides how deadly he is, just like her. But she does it better. She will only give you glimpses of what she is if you force her hand. Make you wish you hadn't. She knows restraint.
With him it's just below the surface. Waiting for a reason. Any reason to break loose and tear that reason apart.
I don't think he would allow harm to come to her without paying it back a thousandfold. 
He doesn't know.
She hasn't told him.
Makes me wonder why. And what else she is keeping from him.