There was noise everywhere. Shopkeepers shouting onto the streets, traffic ebbing and flowing between carts and wagons and horses and carriages. It was a violent splash of color everywhere one looked.
All he wanted was to go home. There wasn’t a chance in high heaven that Verity even wanted him around right now. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to go back. Not without her.
Growing impatient with the next street in sight but traffic too thick for him to move forward, Domini jumped from the saddle. He turned over the reins to his horse.
“Find a post nearby. I’ll find you afterward,” he said and started off.
It couldn’t be too difficult to find a bookstore this way. Or so he hoped. Moving onto the walking path, Dominic attempted to cross through the crowd faster than in the saddle. It only worked moment from moment. There were ladies to bow to, sellers to refuse, and so many more people about.
He passed a small side street to his left and paused. Satisfaction warmed his limbs when his eye caught on his own crest on the side of a carriage.
I was right. Now I just have to be certain she’s in the right shop.
Finally, he did it. Dominic had found Verity’s favorite bookshop, and hastened in. Nodding to the bookseller, he moved swiftly through the aisles before finding a halfway hidden window nook.
Someone was seated there. He spotted the familiar gown, the hands clutching a book in the lap. Heart pounding, Dominic inhaled deeply before setting aside the privacy curtain.
“Oh! Oh.” Verity blinked at him. Confusion crossed her face for only a moment before she scowled. He hardly noticed as hecaught sight of the redness around her eyes. “How did you find me?”
“You mentioned this shop once. May I?”
She glanced at the large seat where she had put up her legs. Though she shook her head, she bent them and curled them under her. “I suppose I must.”
Sitting beside her, he pulled out a handkerchief. “I went to Cassian.”
“Not before I did.” Her hand clutched the offered cloth.
He tried not to think about her hands shaking. For all the strength Verity carried, she was still human. He recalled her parting words and ensured he wasn’t touching her. Even if she wanted to.
Sniffing, Verity spared him only a glance before swallowing loudly. “I know the truth now. About Uncle Will.”
“I am sorry for your loss,” Dominic murmured.
“Are you sorry you didn’t tell me sooner?” She asked glumly. Shaking her head, she glanced back out toward the window where they could see the street. No one ever seemed to look up at them. A fanciful spot where they could watch the world safely. Dominic glanced at it as he could tell why she might like it here,and let her keep talking. “You could have said something. You had so many opportunities. But why? Why didn’t you?”
“How would it have helped you?” Dominic asked her instead.
Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she shook her head. “I don’t know. I could have done something, surely.”
“Or would it have hurt you as it hurts you now?” Dominic put up a small hand. “This is what I didn’t want. I had no intentions of hurting you, Verity. The truth wouldn’t help you heal or grow or move on. You continue to act without considering the consequences. Would you have even believed me?”
“Maybe.”
“It wasn’t my truth to tell. That belonged to Cassian. It always belonged to Cassian,” Dominic added.
“And you never told anyone simply because he should say it first?” Verity asked in bewilderment. “If you saw a highwayman––”
He interrupted, not interested in playing with hypotheticals. “It was an accident. You still don’t see it, Verity. This is it. This is why I didn’t say anything. None of this was necessary for you to know. The truth is a burden, and––”
“And you think you need to protect me?” She pursed her lips at him. “It’s only another form of control. You stood beside me inthe church. You built a life with me here in London and still you think you know better for me what I can manage.”
“You’re crying, aren’t you?”
“That’s not the point!”
Shaking his head, Dominic struggled to see if that could even be the truth. But how could it? While Verity was trapping herself in a small corner with one little notion, she couldn’t see the world around them. How it was affecting her. How she could have been happy and naïve if only she hadn’t kept looking into their lives in such a minuscule manner. He didn’t understand that. Sometimes it was best to accept what there was and move on. Living like that meant less pain, less heartache.
“It wasn’t right,” she was saying to him.
