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She shook her head "I don’t want it"

"You’ll be grateful for it when the surgeon is digging about in your shoulder in search of a bullet"

The words brought memory with the for the her clothes froainst the bare skin of her shoulder, covered in blood

Oh, dear

She took the bottle and drank deep until he re?"

"No" There was no hesitation in the word Not a breath of doubt

She returned her attention to the place where his hand stayed fir"

"You’re not dying" She read the words on his lips as they echoed around her in the enor about him underscored their certainty Squared jaw, firh she wouldn’t dare die because he had willed it

"Just because you call yourself King does not make you my ruler"

"In this, I’ant I have half a aze then, his green eyes snapping to hers in surprise and what one, "If you’re trying to prove that you don’t require a ruler, you’re not doing a very good job of it"

The carriage fell silent, and she considered her future Possibly short Possibly long She ht die, here, in the carriage, in the arms of this man, who did not care for her

At least he hadn’t left her alone

Tears threatened to spill over, and she sniffed, hoping to keep the to distract her

It took a moment for her to focus "North?"

"Yes Why are you headed to Cumbria?"

A future Far froer"

He looked out the"I don’t believe that"

"I don’t wish to have London any longer"

"That sounds much ent tiined that it didn’t arden party to him, as she was likely to die anyway "I called the Duke of Haven a whore In front of the entire asserave concern she expected Instead, he laughed, the sound ruine he was furious"

She considered telling him about the rest of the events of the afternoon, but the universe intervened, sending the carriage into a tre it into the air for aback onto the road Wicked pain shot through her--bright and sharp enough for her to cry out Eversley cursed in the darkness and gathered her to hiainst hih clenched teeth, as though he were in pain himself, and their conversation was over, reality returned

"Nearly where?" she asked after the pain had passed enough to find words

"Sprotbrough"

She had no idea what Sprotbrough was, but it didn’t seeain, and she searched for so to discuss, to keep her mind from her certain death "Is it true you deflowered Lady Grace Masterston in a carriage?"

He cut her a look "I thought you did not read the scandal sheets"

"I have sisters," she said "They keep me apprised"

"If I remember correctly, Lady Grace Masterson is now Lady Grace, Marchioness of Wile"

"Yes," she said "But she was to be Lady Grace, Duchess of North"

"The Duke of North is old enough to be the worandfather"