“I had taken too much wine, and I only meant to brag about it… that I was going to marry a Cabarallian princess.” Wallen’s words came to me from far away, as though he was underwater and miles off instead of seated right beside me at one of the many small tables in his library. “You see, she told me when she visited. And she asked me to keep it a secret, which is why I only talked about it when I was very drunk.”
onlyI nodded numbly. By that point, I’d cleaned my knuckles of the duke’s blood, and he’d cleaned his nose. Overall he’d been remarkably gracious about it. I noticed he had trailed off, his head in his hands. He’d better not be sleeping, I thought, feeling my own hands ball into fists again. “Wallen,” I said warningly. Then, “Zorge.” Something about my low tone, about the disresp
