Chapter 8: Nothing to Announce

Darian announced the duke's particular approval before breakfast had been cleared.

Maerielle looked up from a piece of toast she'd been enjoying.

"His what?"

Her cousin put a neatly folded napkin beside her plate.

"You needn't pretend with me."

She unfolded it.

He looked offended by the loss of another swan.

Thessa brought a plain cloth and exchanged it for the bird without asking.

Maerielle was beginning to like seeing ordinary things remain ordinary.

"The duke sat beside a man discussing rain," she said.

"He didn't approve anything."

Darian smiled over his cup.

"That is an encouragingly discreet interpretation."

She put down her toast.

He was treating every denial as proof of a clever plan.

She remembered doing the same to people who'd asked to be left alone.

It didn't become less irritating because she'd recognized the habit.

"You've told other people," she said.

"Only the people who matter."

Maerielle got up.

Her cousin looked pleased, expecting a private explanation.

Instead she went into the adjoining room, where her cousin's guests were collecting their gloves after breakfast.

Thessa followed with the plain napkin still in her hand.

"My cousin has given you a mistaken impression," Maerielle said.

The room stopped arranging its departures.

She hated interrupting people to become the center again.

She would have hated letting the mistake remain more.

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