Though Raine didn't draw attention to the word, Solomon noticed it. He noticed it a lot, and it struck him dumb--which was alright while Raine was talking, but somewhat more noticeable when she'd stopped. To be honest, it was a little bit difficult to pay attention to anything past that. Valdis had described Raine thusly, but neither Raine nor Solomon had used the word around each other.

"I see," he said, though he didn't, completely, because of that other detail Bakura had pointed out. "I had ... ah ... wondered whether it was right of me to--" He stopped, sorted out his thought process. "It was pointed out to me that I was expecting the same amount of dedication from you as I'm putting into the relationship," he said at last, "because to my understanding, a relationship should have equal dedication from either side. I don't want to be like Skulduggery. I don't want to assume I don't deserve certain rights because of what I've done in the past, because that way lies useless self-flagellation. But it was ... pointed out ... that it was--well, that I shouldn't. Because I don't. Deserve the expectation, that is."

Now Solomon was the one scrambling, and the moment he realised it he fell silent with a grimace. So much for articulation.