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In his eyes, she had no right or reason to one to pains toShe re his father

Therese had been shocked the worown up around couples who had stayed married in similar circumstances for the sake of political unity She realized nohy Claudio had liked that reaction so h he’d been absolutely co it was one sin he would find iive in either hi she had been trained to believe that e voere to last a lifetime despite personal differences Duty came first, last and always

Which was exactly why she’d asked for a divorce, but he didn’t know that Once he did, he would grasp for an end to theira divorce with both hands

Therese slowly sank into one of the ar her

She could not have handled the confrontation with hi him of her condition and almost certain infertility, she had told hiht well be true, it was not the first thing she should have said to hiht up divorce because she wanted one, which could not be farther froo of the ood and that of his country His final words before they were interrupted had said it all He needed heirs She could not guarantee providing theh for a future king

Those facts left her dreams in shambles around her feet Why was life so hard? What had she done wrong to bring this kind of misery on herself? Her doctor had said it wasn’t personal, that endometriosis happened to lots and lots of women, but it felt personal to her

Especially when the results of the disease were ripping her life apart into big jagged patches of pain and more pain

And that was her only excuse for the way she’d handled the news She was hurting so much, her usual diplomacy had completely deserted her Her father would be so ashain with

In his eyes, she’d always had two strikes against her…she’d been born female and she had no interest in politics No matter how pleased Mother had been, the fact that Therese had ended upto her father He would have been happier if she had gone to the right schools, ht people and pursued American politics Then she would have been of benefit to hiardless of Claudio’s influence in world politics, she could not personally significantly benefit her father who had moved on to a diplomatic position in South America He therefore considered her useless to him and let her know it in all the subtle ways he had been eists said that women often married men like their fathers and she’d been determined not to She had always believed that she had succeeded ina man very different, but now she realized she’d done exactly what she’d sworn not to She’d married a man as noback over ale, she saw that Claudio enificance of her place in his life as well She sins for what they were because she so desperately wanted the else Because he had needed her in the most basic ways—sexually and as an adjunct to his position—she had believed he had s for her than her dad did

She couldn’t even bla her, the delusion had been entirely self-perpetuating But acknowledging that did notan idiot She had that role down to an art and ad it hurt almost as much as Claudio’s rejection

And his attitude had been nothing less than that He wanted to keep their e intact, but only for the sake of his own pride and for the baby he expected her to give him Not because he wanted to keep her as his wife Not because sheviolently and she realized she was very cold It was a chill that caot up and pulled the blanket froht help It didn’t

Feeling so torn apart standing was not an option, she sat back down in the armchair…and waited

Claudio had said it was not over and as much as she had no desire to continue their confrontation, she had no doubt that was exactly ould happen when he caive, or how angry his pride filled responses made her…she owed him an explanation