Because you don't know what you're asking invites questions Ellis won't answer, so that answer is discarded. Instead, Ellis leans an elbow on the table. His hand has stilled over Thot's belly. The scar curving up his neck is easily seen, instructive even, as Ellis counters—

"Suppose I asked you to take your knife, and cut my throat?"

Almost a joke: Ellis has considered a variation of that question not so long ago, and maybe had their conversation in the tent in Starkhaven gone differently—

But it hadn't. And now there is this question, a rebuttal that carries more weight than it should, because he's said more than he should to Richard in the course of their acquaintance.