A moment away from them was what he needed to calm himself down. Penelope pulled away from him, turning to face him with her hands firmly planted against her lips.
“Would you care to explain that display?” she asked, a hint of irritation coloring her voice. “I mean, was that really necessary? You were rather abrupt.”
“I was sufficient,” Alexander replied immediately.
“You were curt,” she corrected. “Oliver did not even say anything, and yet you refused to even speak to him. I was under the impression that the two of you were friends, but I am rather surprised to see you behaving like this.”
“Oh, so you are on first name basis with him already?” Alexander asked through gritted teeth. Something about the way she said his name made his blood boil, even though a part of him recognized that his reaction was not quite rational.
Penelope blinked, startled. “What am I meant to call him then?”
“Nothing,” he said. “You are not meant to call him anything, and I do not see why you need to be smiling at something he says as well.”
“But he is your friend, is he not?” Penelope scrunched up her nose.
“He ismyfriend, yes,” Alexander emphasized. “And you are my wife. I did not like how close he stood next to you, nor do I think the two of you ought to be having any kind of extended discussion in my absence.”
Penelope let out a quiet, incredulous laugh. Almost as though she could not wrap her head around what he was saying. “He was being polite, Your Grace. That is what I would expect from someone who is friends with you.”
It bothered Alexander greatly how she kept using the word friend.
“And you chose to believe him?” he asked , moving closer to her. He expected her to take an instinctive step backward, but she held her ground firmly. “He could well be lying to you. Tomorrow, if someone else comes to you and claims that they are a friend of mine, would you believe them just as easily?”
“I…” Penelope opened her mouth to speak, “I do not know what to say to you. You are acting as though I have done something terribly wrong.”
There was a slight sadness in her voice now that made him instantly snap out of whatever rage that had previously consumed him. He softened slightly, sobering up from his own emotions.
“I did not mean to chide you so terribly,” he admitted.
“I was only talking to him,” Penelope replied. “And mind you, we were only talking about you. You confuse me enough as is, and I was happy to finally have someone who knows you.”
A flicker of guilt registered across his face. They had been talking abouthimthe entire time; all the while, his mind had conjured up ridiculous alternatives.
“Perhaps I reacted out of emotion,” he admitted bluntly.
“I thought you did not have space for emotion in your life.” He could feel her gaze observing him carefully as he spoke.
“I thought the same,” he replied. “But you seem to have a way of bringing out strange reactions from me.”
“I cannot decide whether you mean that in a positive way, or not,” she contemplated out loud. It occurred to him then that this was what she must mean whenever she said he confused her greatly .
Hewasconfusing. Though, he could not help himself there. It was the way he had always been.
“I beg you to not ponder over it much,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. It was dangerous to explore whatever it was that consumed his mind when she was around. Like a Pandora’s box that was aching to be opened, even though the best course forward would be to keep it closed.
“I make no promises,” she sighed.
Penelope had suddenly gone too quiet, retreating into herself. It sparked his curiosity, and he took a few steps towards her.
“Tell me what is going on in that mind of yours.”
“I am not thinking about Oliver,” she rolled her eyes at him. “If that is what you are worried about.”
“Of course you are not,” he said, biting back the bile in his throat. “He is no competition to me. But you’ve wilted all of a sudden. Something is clearly bothering you, and I intend to find out what it is, exactly.”
She sighed loudly.
“You, it’s you,” she said. “I cannot figure you out, no matter how I try. Today, I was trying to work up the courage to ask you something, but now, after seeing you so angry over something that was not even an issue, I am worried about whether I should even say it.”
