Page 36 of The Last Warrior

“You must not,” said Suzette. “I will have your word on it.”

“And why should I give it?”

“Because if you do not, I will not detail to you the rest of the adventure.”

“There is more?”

“Oh, yes, indeed. There are my plans for the future to tell, and also I have not yet disclosed to you what happened between myself, William and Lady Blair.”

Irena drew her brows together, frowning at her granddaughter. “That’s blackmail.”

Suzette pressed her lips together and crossed her arms in front of her.

“Had I known Lady Blair would take such a stand with you,” said Irena, “I would never have agreed to this engagement with the Wild West Show.”

“I know you would not have done it. Now, do you give me your word?”

“I cannot. I have become close to this young man who is now your husband, and a happening such as this can fester between people if they do not have it out. However, I will promise you this: I will speak to him intelligently, gently, and I will not accuse him.”

Suzette weighed the possibilities, for she knew she would receive no better promise than this. She sighed before saying, “I guess this will have to do.”

“Yes. And now, tell me about William and Lady Blair. Besides being a mother’s boy and breaking your engagement, what has set you so against him?”

Suzette hesitated for a moment. “It could be no more than a trifling which has set me against him, perhaps.”

“A trifling?”

“Well, maybe more. He did, only a few days after our engagement was broken, set his attentions upon my understudy, Miss Abernathy. It was whispered about the opera that he had promised to accelerate Miss Abernathy’s career in the opera.”

“And, of course, there is no worse crime he could have done to you.”

“Do not jest—as you well know, it is a point of contention with me. How could I have not seen him for what he truly was? What was wrong with me to not be aware of how he could so easily dally with another woman, and one whom I not only knew, but one who still aspired to become a prima donna.”

“But sponsoring a diva is not the same as⁠—”

“I first saw the two of them together after a performance,” Suzette interrupted. “He came backstage. I was there, and yet, although he did acknowledge me slightly, he went directly to her. I saw them leave together. I saw him kiss her.”

“Ah,” said Irena. “I begin to understand. This being the case, naturally you cannot marry him.”

“Indeed not.”

“And so you decided to follow me? So you might marry Black Lion?”

“No. I followed you because I was angry with you, and because I needed to leave England, William, his mother and those memories behind me.”

“Of course. And are you still angry with me?”

“No.” Suzette grinned. “Performance is in our blood. It would be stranger to me if, presented with the opportunity to find the man you love, you would have remained behind to see me safely married.”

“Thank you for your understanding.” Irena fixed Suzette with a look. “But did it not occur to you on the trip here that you might find Black Lion and use him as a means of handling your situation?”

“No, it did not. It is true, however, that his unusual proposal did enter my mind on occasion, but I understood he had meant it as a jest. Yet, when I saw him here, in your tent⁠—”

“You met him here?”

“On the very first day after I had arrived, he had come here to see you. I was melancholy, as you can well understand. But, there was Black Lion, and there was I, and he seemed to understand me somehow and I… It just came out.”

Irena nodded.