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Her heart was going so hard she thought he must hear it. She stared at the grain of the door, at a small knot in the wood, and thought, quite calmly, I am going to fall down. She thought: say something.

She nodded.

He let out a breath. It was a long, unsteady sound, and she felt it run down the whole length of her back, like a shiver. And then, to her utter astonishment, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against her shoulder.

He did not touch her otherwise. He only stood there, with his brow against the wool and his hand flat on the door, quite still, as though something had been taken out of him.

“I do not want to force this on you,” said Gregory, muffled. “I would not be able to bear it. I want you to know that you may call it off. Even now. There is still time.”

He is giving me an out, it felt like a strange kindness.

“People would talk a great deal,” she said, testing his kindness now. “You know... calling off a wedding.”

“I think you have prior experience with that,” he gave her a small smirk.

“But I gather that you don’t,” she tried to argue back. “So, surely it will be consequential in some way.”

“I have the faintest interest in what anyone might have to say about me,” he said it so simply as though it was an easy thing. It made something inside of her stir.

And suddenly, it felt like she was frozen in place. Overwhelmed by some strange feeling that he was almost an expert at getting out of her.

It took her a few moments to regain her movement.

She turned inside the circle of his arm, and they were so close that she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes, and the shadows beneath them, and the place near his jaw where he had missed shaving.

He did not step back, neither did she.

“This is my decision,” said Phillipa.

At first, he said nothing. Only observed her, and waited like a judge for her to continue on. It occurred to her that she wanted him to understand her reasoning, and perhaps even validate them.

“I am making it with a clear head and with reasons of my own. Nobody has made me do this. Nobody could. I have been pushed and pulled and told what to do by better people than you, Your Grace, and they have not succeeded, and neither shall you.” Her voice trembled a little. “If I do this, it is because I have chosen it. And I shall be at that altar tomorrow because I wish to be.”

For a moment he looked at her as though she had struck him.

Have I gotten too far? She asked herself. Maybe she had revealed too much about herself to him, and was now in the position of being rejected. Her mother had always told her that men do not like women who are too forward.

But he surprised her when a smile spread slowly over his face. It began at one corner of his mouth and went on.

“Good,” said Gregory. “That is wonderful to hear, Duchess.”

He walked her home.

“You really don’t have to do this, you know.”

“I wouldn’t be doing if I didn’t want to,” he answered simply.

“I don’t wish for you to go through all the trouble...” she tried to start off. Though, from what she knew about him so far, he didn’t appear to someone who could be convinced otherwise once they had made up their mind.

“You can stop complaining,” he said, pushing his hands in the pockets of his coats. “I wouldn’t wish for you to take the journey alone.”

“Oh, I am more than capable...”

“I didn’t say you were,” he correctly, sharply and gave her a look. She almost stopped dead in her tracks, but then gathered herself and continued walking.

“Are you always used to getting what you want?” she asked him, not daring to look in his direction.

“Usually.”