The dowager left quickly after our little battle for dominance, and I was left with Varek alone in what I had come to think of as our garden. A little afraid to look at him, I wandered toward the patch of moonflowers he had first brought me here to see. I didn’t regret what I said, or even how I said it, and I was quite pleased that he had backed me up in the moment. Now that that moment had passed though, I was worried he would feel frustration that I had put him in a position to have to choose a side between myself and his mother.
“Aurelia, are you OK?”
I chanced a glance at him, and saw all his features softened in genuine concern.
“I’m fine, I’m sorry, well not sorry, but I didn’t mean to force you to…”
“Tell my mother she was wrong?” He laughed. “Trust me, I’ve spent years doing
