Mother.
All roads led back to her, no matter which detours Artemis took.
Now more than ever, she understood she must speak to Mother.
There was the £20,000.
There was themisunderstandingwith Stoke.
There was …
More.
One thing more she’d thought this man had known all these years.
One thing more he clearly hadn’t.
But the paths that logic insisted on following, well, she wasn’t ready to follow.
Not tonight.
Not until she spoke to Mother.
Tonight she would share this meal with a man she’d once known, but no longer did. Over these last ten years, he’d become his own man—and she found she wanted to know him better.
She took another bracing sip of ale. “You had quite the illustrious military career, Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Branwell Mallory.”
An uncertain second ticked past, as if he were weighing whether to allow her to change the subject. At last, he said, “Until I didn’t.”
Relief sheared through her. “The Light Dragoons comported themselves with much valor at Waterloo.” She hesitated. “You were in the thick of the fight.”
“Aye.” He stabbed a bite of mutton and began chewing as if his life depended on it.
“You came through a hero.”
He glanced up, golden eyes questioning.
“I read it inThe Times.”
He shook his head. “There were no heroes that day. There were only two hundred thousand men fighting to live until the sun set.” His jaw clenched and released. “Fifty thousand didn’t.”
“But the chargers you trained carried many through and kept many men alive.” She wouldn’t allow him to deny his valor.
“And many of those horses died, too. Is it a good or moral thing to have trained animals to willingly gallop to their death?”
“Napoleon was defeated,” she said. This was important. “You were part of that.”
Bran didn’t acknowledge her words as he took another bite.
Well, then she would keep talking. “And it was on to the south of Africa from there?”
He settled back in his chair, seeming to accept that they would be conversing this evening. “Xhosaland came later. A fair amount of cleaning up needed to happen on the Continent first. Then it was on to Africa.”
“What is Africa like?”
“A place whose lands haven’t been tamed like those of England.”
“How do you mean?”
