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“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-”