I love that! In honor of Con's uneducated and rough ways that have him saying "stuff," here's a scene where he does exactly that.
We walked in quiet for a few steps, Lia turning us at a four way intersection where all the paths looked the same to me. “Do you know where you’re going?” I asked.
“Metaphorically in my life, or literally in this maze?” she replied lightly.
“Now you sound like Ambrose.”
“He has his moments. The answer is yes to both.”
“You know where you’re going in life?”
“That has never been a question for me. My life belongs to Calanthe.” Before I could say anything to that, she continued. “And there’s a pattern to the turns in the maze, which everyone knows, even if they never come this way. The maze is here primarily to prevent anyone from stumbling into the heart of the night court by accident.”
“Am I going to be shocked by what I see?” I blurted out, figuring I’d better ask.
She gave me an assessing look, eyes glowing with color, like the decorative lanterns did. “You might be. Do you mind? We can turn back.”
“No way. Not after I just confessed to regretting not learning what I could when I had the opportunity.” Besides, maybe I’d get some ideas about pleasing Lia. If I could figure out how to be a better lover for her, she might want to marry me again.
“You could still learn, you know,” she offered. “It’s never too late.”
For a pained moment, I thought she’d read that thought—then I realized she meant reading and stuff. “I’d feel like an idiot.” I could just picture it, sitting there like a hulk in some schoolroom, painstakingly reading aloud from a kid’s book.
“You said you feel like an idiot most of the time anyway,” she countered.
“Good point.” We turned twice more, and I began to get the pattern now. “Two lefts, then a right, and repeat?”
“Exactly. Now you know.”
“Not that I’d come this way without you.”
“You could. The night court would—”
“I know, I know. You offered this before and I said I didn’t want it. Quit bringing it up.”
“No need to growl, grumpy bear.”
I laughed, a hoarse grating sound. “I thought I was a wolf.”
“It changes, moment to moment,” she replied. “And you’re not, you know.”
“A wolf or a bear?”
“An idiot. You’re a very intelligent man. One of the smartest men I’ve been privileged to meet.”
