Under normal circumstances he would parse those words without hesitation. Though tonight was no normal circumstance and he had never anticipated to hear something like that from anyone, much less the Inquisitor, herself. He blinked slowly, glanced slight to one side, then resumed looking into her eyes.

The moment that it sunk in was nearly a physical thing, the weight on his shoulders lifting and a brightness in his expression that gave way to shock and delight-- and a real maelstrom of others, but those, primarily.

"You're... you're certain?" there was hope, something he had long denied himself with what all he'd experienced. All the trials and tribulations he'd survived, hope was a cruel stab in the chest when that hope began to fray into anger and despair after the events in Kinloch hold.

Now... he was willing to leave that vulnerability open, but just for her, for Pel, his Inquisitor, and the love of his life.