“I don’t hate you, Svana. Or Miss Aster, for that matter, but you’ll find my inner circle is small,” he settled.
“Did you…” I swallowed sharply. “Did youknowher? Miss Aster?”
“No.”
“She said she’d take you for a ride,” I confessed.
“She talks too much,” he said.
“Is that an unfavorable trait in a woman?” I asked.
“Yes. Anyway. Ask me again,” he said.
“If you’ve known Miss Aster?”I asked. “Do I want to ask?”
“No. I said I hadn’t been with her.” He frowned. “Ask me if I’m a rake.”
“But–”
“Honestly,you went on and on before. I wasn’t trying to be horrible to you; I think I just grew old, died, came back to life, and then got lost within your endless string of words before I could think about my answer much, is all.”
“...That one was a bit excessive,” I said.
“Noted. I apologize,” he replied.
“Thank you.”
“So,” he said. “Your question. Ask me.”
“I don’t need to be scolded twice,” I told him. “I’ll take your word.”
“Is that all the effort it takes to kill your interest? That’s upsetting.”
“Oh please, as if-”
“Justaskme,” he insisted. “I will give you the most honest, straightforward reply I can.”
“You will?” I asked. He nodded. I dropped my tone conspiratorially.“...Are you a rake, sir?”
“No,” he said decidedly.
I rolled my eyes. “I thought you were going to be honest with me!’
“Iambeing honest!”
“Oh, are you? I find that a very difficult thing to believe wheneverylady knows your name and the color of your eyes! Why do they gossip about you and the younger Swif-?” The name stuck in my throat as soon as his jaw locked. “And your youthful sweaters?” I tried.
Cyrus came to a stop and nodded. “Youthful sweaters? Seriously?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Go on. Say what you meant to. Say her name.”
I shook my head. “Huh? What name? I’ve lost my thought.”
“Coward…Miss Swiftand I parted ways mutually, though no one wants to believe it. That’s why they gossip. Our split was not because of misconduct from either party. I did not fuck her friends, though I would be lying if I said a few did not proposition me. Further, while Samiscurrently involved with another woman, he is not a rake, and even if he were, we are not the same man. There was never a threat of unfaithfulness in the relationship between Miss Swift and me, just a lifetime of unhappiness. I keep my promises, so in the future, I would implore you to investigate your company’s appetite for scandal beyond what you hear of his social engagements and refrain from calling men wolves.”
“I, I didn’t mean-”
