“Do you love Niall? Is that why you embrace this folly?” I regretted uttering the question as soon as the words passed my lips, just as I knew I wanted to know her answer.
Evangeline spun to face me, her eyes wide. “Why?”
I shrugged with an indifference I did not feel. “I thought ladies wed once for duty and thence for love, that was all.”
That sobered her so promptly that I felt a knave. “Then, I shall wed twice for duty,” she said with a tired resolve. “Inverfyre’s succession must be assured.”
“How noble of you.”
Evangeline sobered as she studied me. She marched across the chamber then and seized my hand, fairly hauling me to the window. “Look over these hills,” she commanded, encompassing their shadowed sweep with a gesture. I could barely take in the view, so deluged was I by the
