"It only happened because I... I let it," Devero says heavily. "You wouldn't have had the opportunity to-- do anything to her if I hadn't brought you to my world, if I hadn't gone... fucking traipsing around town with you, if I had managed to actually get her to listen to me...!"

Devero's been doing a lot of thinking about what happened, probably unsurprisingly. And what he's concluded is that Valdana's murder at Koumyou's hands?

Was entirely his fault.

He lifts both hands to scrub his face harshly, then rake his messy hair back. "You've been clear with me for a very long time what would happen if you ever met her. The only thing that's changed is-- is now we know I'm the kind of person who'd-- who'd permit it."