She's not wrong, to assume there'd been a change, at the end of that conflict. There had been. But even that hadn't been anything that would have negated his previous offer. True, there are things she may not feel she can ask, now, and things he may not be able to give. But she is ever and always free to ask, should she wish to.

(He notes, too, that she seems to be surprised by his acquiescence. For what reason and why she might have been expecting otherwise are questions he doesn't have the answer to and doesn't mean to ask, but he is at aware of it.)

Still, he lets her take her time, as she explores his face, fingers tracing over his skin with what is unmistakably a comfortable sort of ease. Something she has no doubt done before, unless his misses his guess (and something that few people would dare to do, at that). There's a smile, too, brief and mostly genuine, as she tucks that errant strand of hair behind his ear. One that might well go all but unnoticed, should her eyes remain shut, but it's there nonetheless.

The kiss, when it comes, is more of a surprise - he blinks at it, even chaste though it is, and there's a moment of silence after, as he takes in not just her words but how her actions affect them. That she should love him is no surprise - not after what he'd been told about his previous stay - but that she should phrase it so is not quite as he might have expected.

"Certainly not the typical way of announcing such things. Though, yes, I can see how that might be the case, unusually worded though it might be."

He cannot say that the feelings are returned, regrettably. But neither will he dissuade her from doing so - assuming he even could.