"I assure you, I'm hardly the maternal type," is Niska's reply, calm and even, as she begins to press against the wound with a faintly amused look, mainly because she doubts that she could ever be a mother in any sort of capacity. "I was the tutor. Nothing more than a teacher." Yes, she had loved Leo. She still does, but she's not Mia. She's not his mother.

"You can cause me pain," she says flatly. "I can tolerate it. I may feel it, but I have withstood far worse than you," is her confident assessment, her eyes fixed and firm. She's not saying 'I am stronger than you', but it's in the in-betweens of her words.