She could not seem to stop shaking. House had made tea, which was very sensible of House, wasn’t it, the sort of thing Iris might do, not that Iris was sensible, not at all, but she understood tea and that counted for a lot in this world— “I’m sorry,” said the Beast. Bryony’s laughter sounded horrible through her chattering teeth, so she tried to stop it, and when that didn’t work, she took a large swallow of tea and tried not to choke. After a moment she said “So I wasn’t the first.” “I never said you were,” said the Beast. There was no reason that she should feel like she’d been kicked in the stomach, none at all. Hadn’t she suspected as much? Hadn’t she asked herself that question? Good God, there was blood all over that room, somebody had died there, and she was feeling jealous? Oh, yes, very sane, very sensible of you. There’s another woman! Never mind that she’s dead, what bearing could that possibly have on the matter? “Did you kill her?”
