That's it; the spark he was looking for, the brief gleam in her eyes that tells him she hasn't given up, hasn't stopped fighting yet. She's so cautious, but he knows her better than he knows himself, and he can hear the careful wonder in her voice.

He can also here the skepticism, and so he tosses aside his original unworded thought and latches onto one she knows of already.

"I will expose him as the liar and the traitor he is, and then you will not have to marry him." It comes out faster than he'd anticipated; rougher, and the words carry him forward towards her even as he catches himself on the wooden pole between them.

His eyes, on her, are very earnest. Believe me, he asks of her. Trust me.