CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURThe hardest part of my recovery was going back to the Pilvax. It would have been an easy punishment to avoid, yet when Mattias unexpectedly suggested it — purely as an excuse to avoid his lectures — I didn’t even try. Instead, lashing myself, I accepted.
I never really doubted that he would be there, and of course he was, at the same long table with a familiar group of revolutionaries, including Vasvári and Jókai. Somehow, I had known too that he would look up immediately and see me. Prepared this time, I inclined my head distantly. Gravely, but with just a hint of irony, he returned the gesture, and then I looked beyond him to Vasvári, who had glanced up too and smiled. I even smiled back, moving forward with Mattias to our own table.
It was a little nearer to Lajos t
