She stopped herself, but the damage was done.
“I told you not to talk about them anymore.”
“But Nathaniel, surely you see that–”
“Enough. I arranged this marriage so Margaret’s reputation would not be destroyed. I hid you so that society would not tear you apart. I carried both burdens without complaint, but it was not out of love.”
“I know that,” Eliza said quietly. “It was duty.”
“Do you know it?” His tone hardened further. “Because it seems you have forgotten what was required.”
“I have forgotten nothing.”
“Then you should remember the cost.”
Silence filled the room for a moment.
“Eliza,” he said, his voice still tight, “love is a luxury I cannot afford.”
Her expression softened in a way that somehow irritated him further.
“You say that,” she replied gently.
“It is the truth.”
“You do not act as though it is.”
“That is irrelevant.”
Eliza blinked.
“You cannot protect me the way you do and then think kindness is dangerous.”
“I think attachment clouds decisions.”
“And distance solves that?”
“It prevents greater harm.”
Eliza was silent for several seconds.
“You are angry with me for noticing, but that does not change a thing.”
Nathaniel exhaled sharply. He did not want to be angry with his sister, nor so terribly unkind, but it was the only way he knew to make her stop. She had never been hopeful before, and though he always thought that he would be pleased to see it, he suddenly realized that her being happy meant that she would want him to feel the same way.
Eliza straightened slightly.
“I am grateful to you.”
“Then trust that I know what is required.”
“I trust you,” she said softly. “I simply hoped you might trust yourself.”
Nathaniel’s patience broke completely.
“I did not marry Margaret for romance,” he said, voice rising again. “I married her because it was necessary. That remains the truth regardless of your apparent observations.”
“That is not the only truth.”
