"Do you?" He looks up at me. "Because I told you at Ysolde's wedding that your sisters could marry for their hearts because you don't."
I remember every word of it. I've been saying it back to myself ever since, in his voice, the way a man rubs at a bruise to check it's still there.
My sisters can choose. I carry the family.
"I remember," I say.
Pa rubs one hand over his beard. "I was wrong."
"That sounded painful."
"Don't make me say it twice."
He looks back toward at the papers the Vosses left behind on the table, and for a moment he doesn't go on.
"I told you the danger was humans hunting for a reason to think less of us."
"You did."
“A human stood at that table this afternoon and took a duke apart with receipts, in front of two lawyers and a Crown auditor, and every one of them wrote down what she said.” He grunts. “Choosing that woman does not diminish this family.”
I stare at him.
Is he saying what I think he's saying?
"There will be no political marriage," Pa says. "I have four daughters, cousins enough to fill this Hall twice over, and no reason to make my son miserable to prove the line continues."
"And Lissy?"
"The woman who brought the Crown enough evidence to save our trade." He grunts again. "I can survive her."
"She won't live here."
"I assumed as much. You have duties at this Hall. Do them, and then go back to Starling Vale."
"And I stay heir."
"Unfortunately."
He leaves before I can answer, which I suspect is the point.
Then the Hall is empty except for the two of us.
When I return to the long table, Lissy is taking the pins out of her muslin one at a time. I sit down across from her.
Not beside her. Not yet.
"The Vosses are finished," she says.
"The Crown may take years to finish with the Duke."
"Finished enough."
My letter is still in her apron. Hers is still against my chest.Is she waiting for me to say it, or is she waiting for me to be quiet long enough that she can?Eight days of that. I'm finished waiting for a better moment than this one.
"You wrote when they were finished," I say.
"I know what I wrote."
