Daphne let out a watery laugh. “Tell me about him.”
Alice opened her mouth. She had not thought this far. She had thought about ruining herself, about the Marquess, and about Daphne. She had even briefly thought about the Duke of Langton’s shoulders, but she had not thought about the request her sister had just made.
“He is…”
“Yes?”
“He is…”
“Alice.”
“He is very tall and has gray eyes.”
“Alice, I have seen the man before. You must do better than that.”
“I am very tired, dearest.”
“Did he kiss you only because he had decided he wanted to marry you, or?—”
“Daphne.”
“Or did he kiss you because he is in love with you as well?”
The words hung in the air.
Alice watched her sister in her nightdress with her braid coming undone and her cheeks still pink from the lemonade and the long shock of the evening, watching her with the clear-sighted seriousness of a child who knew when she was being lied to.
“I do not know,” she said very quietly.
It was the most honest thing she had said all evening.
Daphne nodded. She kissed Alice’s cheek, gathered her robe over her arm, and stood up. “Then I shall come back tomorrow,” she said, “and you may try answering again.”
She went to the door.
“Daphne.”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Daphne’s hand paused on the latch. “Alice.”
“Yes.”
“Whatever you did, I am still glad you did it. I do not know if that makes it better or worse.”
Then she slipped out, and the door closed softly behind her.
Alice remained seated on the edge of her bed in her gown and her slippers. She did not move. She did not undress. She did not ring for Sally. She thought of Daphne’s face at the supper table, lit from inside by the question of a beetle’s wing case, and she knew, with a clarity that surprised her, that whatever was waiting for her tomorrow, the kiss had been right. She had done one right thing tonight. That was more than she had done in three Seasons.
Then she thought of the Duke’s hand on her jaw.
She did not sleep.
CHAPTER 5
“Ido not know why you had to come with me.” Cassian tugged at his cuff. He did not look at his sister. “This is a matter among men.”
