Huh. I definitely came away from it with the idea that their relationship is probably a lot like Sherlock and Moriarty's; they both get something out of it, but would probably be okay with eventually shooting each other. Like, she's afraid of him, certainly, because he's the type of guy to go ahead and express his displeasure by killing people - and, well, to express his overwhelming glee by killing people - but not in any way because she's inferior to him. She's obviously comfortable setting the direction of their interaction, given that she's the one who decides when she'll meet Sherlock, etc. She talks about him like a casual business acquaintance, and it's her show, start to finish.

Moriarty was pretty obviously using her to his own ends, but not against her will. Their goals happened to coincide, so they helped each other out. Maybe other people are assuming that her fear in the episode was directed at him, but I kind of figured that she'd made a career out of holding powerful people by the short hairs and knew any of them could be after her.

So, basically, I got the impression that she's his equal in the same way that Sherlock is, but she's too smart to turn her back on a guy with the temperament of a box of rabid weasels. *shrug*

I could definitely be persuaded to subscribe to your Tea and Holmes Twitchiness newsletter, though. *g*