“Then where is he?”
Thalia had no real response to that. At least not one that a three-year-old would understand. She tried to change the topic, asking Olivia what they would do tomorrow, or what she wished to do.
And it worked for a time. Olivia, her mind running a hundred miles an hour, was able to move on from the duke’s rejection of them as she ate supper and told of how she wanted to explore outside more. Since arriving, she had not gone further than the immediate estate and she wanted to know what existed beyond the walls which surrounded them.
“What’s across the ocean?” she asked eagerly.
Thalia frowned. “Lots of things. There is a whole other?—”
“What is across the farms?” she cut her off. “From my window, I can’t see far enough. I want to go there.”
“Oh, it’s just more of the same,” Thalia explained. “Mostly empty land and?—”
“I saw a forest,” she continued with excitement. “Trees! Can we explore the trees!”
“Maybe…” Thalia considered the question. She knew there was a forest about three miles east, but she knew little more than that. Certainly not enough that she wanted to explore it alone. “I will ask His Grace what?—”
“His Grace!” Olivia exclaimed suddenly. “You came!”
Thalia assumed Olivia was getting ahead of herself. She smiled and shook her head, forever impressed by the extent of the young girl’s imagination. Only then…
“How is everything?” Ronan’s deep voice washed across the dining room.
Thalia’s eyes widened and she turned to see the duke standing by the doorway. As always, he stayed just beyond the light so mostof his body stood in shadow. And despite being inside the dining room, he was right on its edge, as if he were ready to flee at any moment.
“Your Grace…” Thalia gasped. “I mean, Ronan.” A shake of the head and she smiled warmly. “You made it.”
“You must be hungry!” Olivia said as she grabbed at her plate as if she meant to feed him with the food that she had already half-eaten. “Do you want?—”
“I am quite alright,” Ronan spoke over her, still not moving. “I simply wanted to make sure that you both have everything you need.”
Thalia frowned, taking a moment to realize what was happening, but then understanding perfectly. He was testing the waters, she thought. Not quite ready or willing to join them, all he wished for now was to make it clear that he hadn’t forgotten what they had spoken about.
“Everything is perfect,” she was sure to tell him. “And thank you for asking.”
“You’re not eating?” Olivia looked confused.
“Not now,” Ronan said. It was subtle, but she could have sworn she saw a smile tugging at his lips as he watched Olivia. “Perhaps another time.”
“I do hope so,” Thalia said, realizing that she meant it.
Ronan considered her. Hesitated by the door. It looked to her as if he was coming to a decision, as if he wanted to sit down and join them but was fighting the urge.
Typically, and unsurprisingly, the emotional distant side of himself won the battle, and he offered little more than a short nod before turning and stalking from the room as if he had never been.
“He left,” Olivia said with disappointment. “I thought he was going to eat?”
Thalia laughed, watching where the duke had just been standing, unable to hide her smile because she knew better than anyone how big of a moment this was. “He will do, one day soon.”
“You think so?”
“I know so,” she said, a truth that was inarguable.
Ronan was right there, peering over the edge, ready to jump but not quite able to bring himself to do so. But he would do, come time and patience. For a man who had spent so long resisting the world and all the people in it, such habits would not break so easily.
What surprised Thalia more than anything was how she felt about it all. She told her aunt that she did not know what she wanted, that all she could think about for now was Olivia and what the future had in store for her. But as she turned back to her supper, the smile still on her lips, she began to understand that this was no longer the truth.
She found that she wanted to get to know Ronan better. To see if maybe… that a world might exist where they could find companionship in this marriage. Not love. Not romance. But something more than two strangers who were hardly able to look at one another.
