"Maybe." The 'are you' question would go unanswered, though to the most obvious question it could be the answer was a vehement yes. Things could have been worse, no doubt, if she'd drunk the juice from the flowers directly or, worse, eaten it-but even in this diluted form, the flower was quite powerful.

After the few seconds it took her to realize she'd agreed that attempting to wipe it off was an option, she produced a kerchief and began to furiously scrub at her hand, blushing deeply as she tried to avoid making eye contact-or any visual connection, really-with Bruce.