“Oh, no, of course not. I forgot. You don’t actually care about anyone.”
“What is this about? I never said that.”
“Oh, you very much did. Something about, effectively, the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few or something. Basically, you only give a damn about humanity as a whole, not any personal elements of it.”
“Wrong. Those who are in my service are given all they wish for and more. I would never cheapen the sacrifice of giving one’s soul to me by pretending to have talents that I truly do not.
I am many evil things. But I am a good lover.”
“See, that’s exactly what I mean. You’re /so/ sure of yourself, but you don’t provide any proof. I nicknamed you Fool’s Gold for a reason, you know. /I/ think you won’t take the dare because you can’t. You know you’d fail, and you just can’t bear for some /girl/ to be proven right about you. Especially about something so very easy, after all. All you’re really good at is words.”
“I am very good with words,” he agreed. “But a silvertongue is not good just for speaking, if you catch my meaning.”
He rolled his eyes as she continued. “You really think me so simple as to fall for such a trick, wench? You protest so strongly about my lack of skill, I would think you are trying to lure me into proving you wrong.”
“No, I just really think you’re a liar. You’d lie even if there wasn’t any need to.” A one-shouldered shrug. “Face it, Petros. There’s nothing /to/ you but hot air. … anyway, you couldn’t prove it on me, and you could easily persuade someone else to lie for you. So you really can’t prove it — even if you were inclined.”
