“He realized that he has important things in life still to do, and giving up is not an option,” Alexander answered.
And he's fallen in love with you, he thought. If Dietrich and Guinevere hadn't been standing there, he might have been brave enough to say it out loud, but the words would be hard enough to say to her alone—with an audience, they were practically impossible.
“Go get dressed,” he said to her.
“In my wedding dress?” she asked, frowning.
“No,” he said, “but the most ladylike gown you have other than that one.”
“I'll see to it,” Guinevere said.
“Alexander,” his wife said, clinging to him.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead, closing his eyes and breathing in the floral scent of her hair. If this was to be the last time he would smell it, he wanted to remember it for the rest of his life. “Go get ready, Lady Dunham,” he said, releasing her. If he didn’t let her go now, he wasn’t going to be able to.
Guinevere took Beatrice’s hand and led her toward the stairs. He didn’t want to watch her leave, but he waited and watched anyway as she ascended the staircase.
She paused at the top and looked down at him, emotions warring on her face, before she followed Guinevere. Alexander took a deep breath as she disappeared.
They had to win, because he couldn’t let this be the last time he saw his wife.
He looked over at Dietrich, who was grinning at him.
“I see you,” Dietrich said.
“You see what?” Alexander said, glaring at the man. “You don't see anything.”
“You're right,” Dietrich said cheerfully, “I don't see you falling in love with her. Not at all.”
Alexander glared, and Dietrich grinned, completely unrepentant.
“Your secret is safe with me,” he said, “but I would suggest telling her before too long. I don't know how long she'll wait before she gets upset that you haven't told her.”
“I didn't know myself,” Alexander growled, glaring at Dietrich, who simply turned and walked away toward the study.
“Are you coming?” Dietrich called over his shoulder. “We'd better hurry.”
The plan was for Dietrich and Alexander to wait in the study, and Dietrich would get Beatrice when it was time.
How they would know when it was time, Alexander wasn't sure, but Dietrich seemed to think that everything would be okay. And for someone who was completely unused to optimism, he chose to believe Dietrich and follow his lead…because the alternative was trying to figure out how to be optimistic himself, and he was not prepared for that.
“I think,” Dietrich announced as they entered his study, “that you should be reading a book when he comes in.”
“I don't want to make him mad right away,” Alexander said. He still wasn't used to being able to speak about the sorcerer plainly. “I thought I could meet him in the foyer.”
Dietrich shook his head. “I don't think so,” he said. “That would be a man waiting to meet his future father-in-law. He is not your future father-in-law, nor is he a peer. You wouldn't go to the foyer to meet me if Beatrice didn't ask you to. You treat him the same way.”
Alexander could both see the sense in Dietrich's argument and be terrified of it at the same time.
“What if it doesn't work?” he asked, allowing himself to be vulnerable with Dietrich for a moment.
“Then the girls are safely upstairs, and Guinevere will get her out through the servants’ staircase,” Dietrich said simply. “And I will be here with you.”
“Why?” Alexander asked. “You could leave now, and he wouldn't know any different.”
“Because Beatrice loves you,” Dietrich said simply. “And if I left now and left the two of you to figure this out on your own, I would never forgive myself.”
“She loves me?” Alexander asked, oblivious to everything that he had said, except for that part. “How do you know?”
