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"It’s true The lady and I had an arrangement"

"All the more reason for you to remember her It’s common courtesy" She reached into the basket "There are pasties in here!" Extracting a pasty, she tore it in half and offered it to hiet in London"

"Why not? You have a cook, don’t you?"

She nodded and spoke around her food King resisted the urge to smile Her manners had fled as the sun had set "But she’s French And pasties aren’t good for the waistline"

"There’s nothing wrong with your waistline," he replied without thinking She paused mid-chew He likely should not have an opinion on her waistline He shrugged a shoulder "It’s perfectly ordinary"

She began chewing again Sed "Thank you? I suppose?"

"You are welcome"

She washed down her pasty with more wine "So, you do not love Lady Marcella"

She’d had enough wine to be nosy, and not nearly enough to forget the conversations they’d been having "I do not"

"But you are aware of the eh to know I never want it again

"Yes"

"Why don’t you irl?"

He’d tried He’d wanted to

He re her to reat Duke of Lyne that love was not an i and stupid And his father had ruined it

I’d rather you never marry at all than marry some cheap trollop in it only for the title, the duke had sneered And Lorna had run

He remembered the way his heart had pounded as he’d chased after her, to find her, to h to spit in his father’s face And then he stopped re, before he could reht had fully fallen "I can’t e, the way her voice curled around hi

"Because she is dead"

She shot forward at the words, and though it was too dark to see, he could hear the s, feel the heat of her in the small space "Dear God," she whispered, and then her hands were on hih before she snatched the he could see her face Grateful that he could not see her face when she repeated the words "Dear God King I am so sorry"

She is dead, and my father killed her

She is dead, and I killed her

He shook his head, the darknesstio Truthfully, the only reason why I told you was because you asked why I’d never returned"

"But you return now"

"My father--" he started, then stopped Instead, he laughed humorlessly "Suffice to say, I want him to know that his precious line died with her"

There was silence "Did he--" She did not finish the question

He answered it anyway "As though he’d put a pistol to her head"

She paused, considering the horrifying words "And your happiness? You shall never take it?"

She was a fool, Sophie Talbot A beautiful fool A man could have money, a title, or happiness Never all three "There is no happiness for men like me," he said