Chapter Fifty-Four
There was a shocked silence, and then Wintersmith said, “I beg your pardon?”
“Marry me,” Violet said again. It was easier to say the second time. Words bubbled from her, excited and exuberant: “That’s what I want. I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay. Think how much fun we’d have together! We’re the perfect match, don’t you think?”
Instead of speaking, Wintersmith sighed, and after he’d sighed he lifted her off him and set her alongside him on the roof.
“Periander? What is it?”
He sat up. “I can’t marry you,” he said, very gently.
“Of course you can!”
“My circumstances—”
“Tosh! If I don’t care about your circumstances, I don’t see why anyone else should.”
“Well, you should care. Your brother certainly will, and so will your parents.”
“They might at first,
