[ And Byerly's reaction, without even a pause for reflection or shock, is a laugh of pure and utter delight.
Well.
He gazes at her with a new appreciation. Before, his look had been calculated, a carefully plausible mix of lust and admiration and desire. Now it's honest, and he looks completely unlike before: now, his eyes are bright and laughing and appreciative. There's a new intelligence in his face, a new liveliness, unlike the previous dissolute dullness. She's shocked him out of his calculated act, and so for just a moment the real Byerly shines forth.
Only for a moment; it's hardly a breath before the look of ironic distance snaps back into place. The humor doesn't vanish, though. He grins openly at her as he lowers himself into a bow. ]
Please. Just Byerly. I'm no one's lord.
[ But that protest is just to establish a baseline of honesty and accuracy. It's just to ensure that when he looks up and calls her: ] My lady. [ It's not just a term of flattery, but an acknowledgment of her status. One that's compounded in the next moment by a sly grin: ] Or is lady lowering your status? Are you more than that? [ After all, fighting tigers with sticks and killing oneself seems like something you might not do for just a common Countess. That grandiosity seems more the realm of royalty, doesn't it? ]
no subject
Well.
He gazes at her with a new appreciation. Before, his look had been calculated, a carefully plausible mix of lust and admiration and desire. Now it's honest, and he looks completely unlike before: now, his eyes are bright and laughing and appreciative. There's a new intelligence in his face, a new liveliness, unlike the previous dissolute dullness. She's shocked him out of his calculated act, and so for just a moment the real Byerly shines forth.
Only for a moment; it's hardly a breath before the look of ironic distance snaps back into place. The humor doesn't vanish, though. He grins openly at her as he lowers himself into a bow. ]
Please. Just Byerly. I'm no one's lord.
[ But that protest is just to establish a baseline of honesty and accuracy. It's just to ensure that when he looks up and calls her: ] My lady. [ It's not just a term of flattery, but an acknowledgment of her status. One that's compounded in the next moment by a sly grin: ] Or is lady lowering your status? Are you more than that? [ After all, fighting tigers with sticks and killing oneself seems like something you might not do for just a common Countess. That grandiosity seems more the realm of royalty, doesn't it? ]