"Honestly Theodora, you'll catch up one day, I swear. But until then here's a forumla to always go by. Rule number 1, I'm always right," he said ticking rule number one off his finger, "Number 2, If I am ever wrong refer back to rule number 1." he said giving her a big grin.

"Mmmm," Theodora gave him a ghost of a smirk and rolled her eyes goodnaturedly, "I have a feeling that your ego will suffocate me long before I die of old age."

"I'm going to take care of this, I swear. I want you to know you're every bit as pure to me as you were when I first met you, honest."

Theo watched for a long moment, looking for any sign of deceit. She nodded and put her free hand over their combined ones, "I did fight him, Matthias." She didn't want him thinking she was weak. That simply wouldn't do.

"Once I've taken care of this, we'll put it behind us. Never talk about it, not ever. It will be as though it didn't happen." Matthias said to her.

She stood and moved around the table, leaning down to brush her lips over his cheekbone. Theo murmered quietly, "Thank you." She straightened again and graced him with a teeny smile, even though she knew that no matter how much they pretended it didn't happen, she would remember that it had. Matthias wanted her to be happy, and therefore, she would make the effort to be happy.