One word. One word and Zev went from still and utterly controlled, every subtle twitch tamped down on and ignored to laughing. It was wretched and bitter and roiling- a frustrated echo of his usual warm chuckle. Unconditional. There was no such thing- and for Eugene to lay that out like it was truth, like it was one of the building blocks of anything in this world? It stung.

But it was a familiar sting. He'd been lied to all his life. He'd never really expected it to be different with them. If anything he was relieved that they'd given up the con. "There is no such thing as unconditional, Eugene. There is always a price. There is always a limit. To say otherwise is a lie."

This, this he knew how to handle. This had him loose in his stance, fluid in a way that spoke nothing of the elf that built this kitchen or held them tenderly and everything of a Crow cornered. A crow beaten down and whittled away. An assassin as he should be. "What do you know of me, truly? Of my world? How can you claim to love someone unconditionally when you do not know all that that person has done? I cannot speak of most of my past for how it causes you to flinch."