"I'd rather not," he starts, and wants to finish there. It's the most honest it'll get no matter how many words he adds, how descriptive he could get, how honest or dishonest he becomes from here. But the doleful note in Carlisle's voice drives him to comply. "-be compared to the idealized fantasy of sycophantics."

Especially not the comparison Carlisle's making with it and the hypocrisy that is ripe in Edward for having to hear it.