"Right," he says, and then "but no, wait, that was later. I, I talked to it before that, just ... by myself. Without a truth spell. It tried to make me think it was Nita talking, and then it told me Nita was okay with having it in her. And I, I knew it was lying, but I tried ..."

A long beat.

"It was maybe a bad idea," he says, low. "I offered to, like ... trade places."

He gives her a swift, furtive look from under his brows, trying to see how she takes this.