“Right,” Oliver shook his head. “So, your solution was to send her away, so you do not even know whether she is safe?”
“It is better than her being here,” Alexander maintained. But his voice lacked conviction.
Over the last few days, he had incessantly wondered if he had made the right decision. It was a rash decision, of course. But in his defense, he had assumed it was the one that would give her the highest chance of living a normal life.
Except that he had been wracked with worry every moment she had been gone.
“It’s an excuse.” Oliver stood and began pacing, hands behind his back. “Let me see if I understand. You love her but…”
“I never said that,” Alexander corrected him sharply.
“You love her,” Oliver continued , ignoring the protest, “but instead of telling her, instead of protecting herwhile she’s with you, you decide to push her out of your house, because what? You’re convinced she’ll be safer without you?”
Alexander scowled. That was exactly it, but he did not like how it sounded when Oliver said it .
Oliver stopped pacing and faced him, folding his arms.
“And in the meantime, you’ve decided to completely neglect yourself, haven’t eaten properly, haven’t slept, and have drank enough to sustain a village for a week?”
Alexander rubbed his face irritably.
“Of all people, you should not be the one to comment on my life choices,” Alexander muttered. Perhaps that was his only defense.
“You’re in love,” Oliver declared triumphantly. “I am certain of it.
“I am not.”
“You are. You’re brooding, guilt-ridden, drinking, starving. If you weren’t so tragic, it’d be funny.” Oliver smirked. “Actually, it is funny.”
“Do you want me to get you escorted off the premises by my staff?” Alexander asked him, irked. “Because now you are only spewing nonsense and making my life difficult.”
“Oh, no. Do not let it be twisted,” Oliver grinned wider. “You are the only person here who is making their own life difficult. I am only trying to find a silver lining. How often do I get to watch the untouchable Duke reduced to a miserable wretch over a woman?”
“I sent her away to protect her. End of discussion,” Alexander’s mouth flattened into a grim line. “If you are so concerned about her, then I would ask you to go see how she is doing for yourself.”
He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. No, he would not stand the idea of Oliver doing that.
“Really?” Oliver raised an eyebrow.
“Well, no,” Alexander grumbled, much to Olivers’ delight. “But the point remains that I would like for you to stop speaking about her to me.”
“I never thought I was friends with a coward,” Oliver went on. “If anything, I thought you were braver than most. Then what has happened here?”
“There is nothing cowardly about what I am doing,” Alexander scoffed. “If anything, I am doing the chivalrious thing. She does not need to be put in danger, and I am taking her out of it, even if it means that she is out of my life.”
His words waned towards the end. It was hard to say it out loud, because it made the entire thing feel more real than it already was.
“Is it, though?” Oliver cocked his head. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks more like cowardice than chivalry.”
“You have no idea what you are talking about.”
“I do have an idea.” Oliver’s voice sharpened. “She loves you, and it is clear you have feelings for her as well.”
Alexander looked away. The idea of her loving him was a soft one, but entertaining it would be too dangerous for him.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said finally.
“You love her back. Stop pretending otherwise.”
