[Better hurt feelings than dead, Regis would say. She's here now and is apparently not the type of person to walk away (not what he expected, in fact) and he would not want to see her harmed by some figment drawn from his own mind.]

Very well.

[Since he doubts he's going to be able to change her mind, and the thing in front of them is already getting restless. He looks at it, quite calm now, though his reaction before proves well enough that he's putting up a very good front.]

If Dettlaff's fate is to be wielded as a weapon against me, it will be done on my own terms. [Briefly, he glances to Nora.] And I do hope that anything you hear here will not tarnish what good opinion you might have of me.