Petra is disgusted by him. By his smirking, long face, by his casual evil and the way he makes light of her and her suffering, by the pleasure he takes in insulting her, wounding her where it hurts most, in the same place her father wounded her, both despite her innocence. The spontaneous heat of her anger burns through her fear. She rises with such furor that the chair clatters to the ground and nothing can keep her from screaming, her voice hoarse from hours of weeping and panting.

“Call a midwife, then, if you so doubt me! Call a priest! Why question my honor when it's the only thing I have that is of worth to anyone? To be alone like this should have been a gift to my husband and you rob me of it!”

After a hard stare, Siegfried exhales and waves her away. “Fine, you are an honorable woman. But you no longer belong to your father and should stop behaving as such. Sit down.”
“I will not!”
Now it is Siegfried who stands and when he does, he towers over her.
“Woman, I swear to God above, sit down!” But a fire’s been lit and once more she refuses.
“What will you do, steward? Finish the task and beat me to death?”

Siegfried throws his hands up, bemoaning, “You think so little of me for no reason! I spare your life. I give you a bed. Two servants are coming to bathe you so that you do not sully your new clothes. You berate me about honor. Do you know what a lesser man would have done? He would have taken his pleasure in you before your whole family and then left the lot of you to die. Or killed your brother, as I told you before. My, I spoil you with my kindness. You have no earthly idea how lucky you are that the marshal’s sons weren’t home and you got Faramund instead. Really, in what way have I so wronged you, Petra? All I did was spit in your mouth, which I wouldn’t have done had you not spit on me first. Your life, all things considered, could not possibly be better than it is right now. Do you not understand what it is you have been spared from?”

“What business is it of yours? Why bother if I am so much trouble?”
“Because this is what I was told to do!”

Siegfried takes a few deep breaths, tries to calm himself down. In a show of deference, he rights the chair.
“Now sit.”