Sympathy is not the intention so much as—, well, but it's not a bad sign that it's evoked; he nods to her comment, accepting it.

But there's utility in sharing. A sense of even-handedness, as he'd said. A sense of dismantling preconception, and maybe just giving her a moment out of the focus of the conversation, as pale as she'd gone. He takes a bite of food, again, more pragmatic than polite in table manners.

"Perhaps a few days before I was taken to the Circle," Marcus says. "There was an accident by the fireplace, just some minor thing that went unnoticed. But I didn't keep that secret very well. I didn't wish to be alone with it."

He nods to her, across the table. "You?"