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She arnered no captives, and while it was not very wise strategically, he snatched up another one of her pawns

"I suppose a corset," she said sharply

He’d been considering a shoe, saving the best for last Instead he heard hiht have looked less surprised if he’d said, "By the by, I nor when I prance about the ship"

"She passed," she finally said "Three years ago Influenza Father had a fondness for her I don’t know if he loved her He barely adjusted his stride"

Tristan didn’t like the thought that popped into his head: if he discovered tomorrow that she had died, he’d have no stride to adjust because the devastation of learning she was no longer in the world would drop his, only for now, only while he was in her presence Once he was back on the sea, they would leave him He needed them to leave him How could he concentrate on his charts, the stars, the stor of her?

"I believe that’s the reason he lost patience with ," she continued "It must have been completely incomprehensible to hi over someone to whom I was never married"

"Are you still sad and ht leash on his emotions

She gave him an impish smile "You’ll need to take another piece if you want ht, he considered that perhaps she had answered it Would her eyes be sparkling with such mischievousness if she were still sad over her betrothed’s passing? Would she be entertaining Tristan now, ?

And she was entertaining him, but then she always did From the moment she’d walked into the tavern froued him, made hi about her fascinated hi and he was content to watch her

She grabbed his rook, let her gaze travel over hi she’d have hiet interesting

"When you were a boy," she began, "before you left Peht of your future, what did you see yourself beco as a man?"

Another damned question? He’d been halfway toward his buttons "I’ood deal of thought My options were few"

"But they were still there," she insisted "Were you going to be a gentleyman--"

"One must believe in God to serve his parishioners"