It's not meant as a cruel thing, perhaps, but it is a confirmation, a reminder, and it lands with the same kind of force as a crossbow bolt striking a target.

"If I had realized you would take it as invitation, I would have never said such a thing," Ellis tells him, voice flattening over the words.

What he would or would not have done doesn't matter. The chasm between his intentions and what comes of them is well known to him. Ellis had already learned this lesson, though it hasn't saved him from making the same mistakes.