Lifting her eyes to meet his, she found him watching her intently. "Thank you for standing up for me earlier," she mused softly, still holding his hand in both of hers.
Rav wasn't used to receiving gratitude and didn't know how to reply to her, so he acted on instinct by pulling his hand out of hers and said,
"Don't mention it. No man should degrade or insult a woman in that way," he replied. "Especially when that woman had once been his wife. There should always be respect, no matter if the marriage has been over."
Evenly's warm smile faltered a bit. "Do you mean you would have fought like that for any woman?" she asked, her voice quiet but edged with something vulnerable. No one had ever fought in her name before, and it had warmed her heart far better than anything else could.
