The laugh surprises her, mostly because she doesn't understand what she said that's funny. And then he leans in and - surely he doesn't realise how close his face is to hers right now? Cinder thinks that if she could blush, she probably would right now. Which is stupid, because this is Thorne. There's no reason in the world why Carswell Thorne should be making her blush. She wants to make it a smooth transition, shifting away, but she mostly just jerks back in something like shock.

"--Well you've gone and made a big deal out of it, now," she huffs, trying to cover herself. "And I'm not cruel. You're just over-dramatic."