For a moment, Scrooge stared blanketly forward, simply shivering in her arms. Then he started to relax, closing his eyes and nuzzling her neck with his beak.

"Forgive me, Mistress," he repeated though for an entirely different reason.

His bloodline mark itched. If either sorcerer wanted, they could have used the mark to hurt him extensively, particularly since they were the creators of the mark in the first place...