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In Which Idle Letters Waste Lives

Alexia Maccon adored her husband and she should never wish to cause him any pain He was a sensitive olf type, unfortunately, for all her efforts, prone to extremes in eard for such noble concepts as honor, loyalty, and trust

"Wife"

"Good evening, husband Hoas your repose?" Alexia paused at the threshold to the hotel, trying to angle herself to the side so they did not entirely block the entranceway Given her husband’s bulk, this was no mean feat

"Neverletter"

"Ah, yes, well I can explain"

"Oh, ho?"

"Do you think we nored this entirely sensible suggestion Alexia supposed she was in for a well-deserved bout of public hu foruests turn to look at the tableau in the doorway Her husband had raised his voice rather more than was common, even for Alexandria

Lord Maccon boasted a barrel chest and co vocalization at the best of times As this was the worst of times, he could have roused the undead--and probably did in some areas of the city "Randolph Lyall, that squirrelly snot-nosed plonker, rigged the whole darn thing: caused Kingair tae betray ot me tae come tae Woolsey, saw me eliminate his old Alpha All of it! He never saw fit tae tell me this little fact" The earl’s tawny eyes were narrowed and yellow in fury, and it looked as though a bit of canine was showing out the corners of his mouth

His voice went very cold and clipped It was terrifying "Apparently, you know all of this, wife And you dinnae tell reat-great-granddaughter assures me of the truth of it, and why should she lie?"

Alexia raised her hands, placating "Now, Conall, please look at this from my perspective I didn’t want to keep it secret I really didn’t But I sa upset you were about Kingair and that betrayal I couldn’t bear to see you hurt again if I told you about Lyall He didn’t know you intiht to your loss He was trying to save his pack"

"Oh, trust me, Alexia I ken what old Lord Woolsey was like And I ken verra hat Lyall was up against I can even ken what love and loss drove him tae do But tae keep such a secret frorown tae trust him? And worse, that you should do the sa like his excuse"

Alexia bit her lower lip, worried "But, Conall, even knowing hoful it was for hiain And you need hiood Beta"

Lord Maccon looked at her, even more coldly than before "Make no bones about it, Alexia I need no one! Least of all a wife like you and a Beta like that! If you owe e, you oweelse But my pack, Alexia? It was your duty tae tell me the moment you found out!"

"Well, to be fair, at the tis on my mind There was an octomaton, and Prudence to be born--you know, little trifles like that" Alexia tried to s there could be no real excuse

"Are you ht of this, woman?"

"Oh, dear Conall, I wanted to tell you! I really did I simply knew you would react… well, you know"

"Do I?"

She sighed "Badly I knew you would react badly"

"Badly! You have no idea how bad this is going to get"

"See?"

"So you thought you ht perhaps, since I’ the sy afore hed

The earl was such a massive man, yet as Alexia watched in concern, he seeainst the side of the door, old and tired "I canna believe you would do this tae me Alexia, I trusted you"

It was said in such a small, little boy voice that Alexia felt her own heart contract in response to his pain "Oh, Conall What can I say? I thought it was for the best I thought you would be happier not knowing"

"You thought, you thought Never did you think it ht be better tae have been told by you than to have you ally against me? You have made a chump of me To hell with the lot of you" With that, he cru off into the crowded city

"Where are you going? Please, Conall!" Alexia called after hiard and strode away

"And with no top hat," came a small addendu entirely forgotten until that moment that Mrs Tunstell, the nurserubby, sunburned, and tear-stained--stood waiting patiently to enter the hotel, except the donkey, although he probably wouldn’t haveinside

Alexia could only blink down at Ivy, experiencing a kind of emotional distress heretofore alien to her ry at her in the past, but to the best of her knowledge, he had never been in the right before "Oh, Ivy I aot you were there"