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“My dear?” His frown sounded in his voice. “Is everything—Margaret.” His warm thumb landed on her cheek, wiping away the dampness. “You’re weeping!”

Ugh, this was unbearable. Margaret squeezed her eyes and lips shut, fighting to hold back an unworthy sob.

At her husband’s first tug, the pages slipped from her loosened fingers. A moment later, he said, “But there’s nothing amiss in this report...is there? It sounds as if she’s made some fascinating discoveries while we’ve been away.”

“I know.” Margaret clapped her hands to her mouth in horror as a sob broke through her final word, but it was far too late to call back that tell-tale sound.

Her husband always paid attention...

And he moved now with vampiric speed to kneel on the floor before her, his big hands cupping her cheeks too firmly for her to tilt her face away and hide from that too-perceptive gaze. “My love, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” It was true. Rationally, logically, there was no valid reason for this terrible, lost sensation to be churning in her chest.

Was this what hysteria felt like? Margaret clamped her lips shut, vibrating with the force of her own humiliating, irrational storm of emotion.

“You may as well give in and tell me now, you know.” He leaned up to tip his forehead against hers, his voice caressing her hot skin. “I am immortal, after all. I have all the time in the world to pester the truth out of you.”

“But that’s the problem!” The words burst out of her in an embarrassing near-wail. “I’m running out of time on everything!”

“I beg your pardon?” Blinking, he shifted slightly backwards...

But he was still close enough to catch her as she gave up all dignity and threw herself into his arms.

“I don’t know why I can’t stop crying,” she gasped against his chest through her choking sobs.

“Shh, it’s fine.” Lord Riven’s arms and legs formed a warm, protective shell around her. “Remember, you’re not being marked by any professors or rival scholars when we’re alone together. No one will judge you for revealing a bit of emotion here with me.” At her half-laugh, half-sob in response, he pressed his cheek against her hair, almost crooning his words. “You’re only tired, my poor wife. You’ve been working nonstop, under so much pressure, and dealing with so many city crowds...”

“But that was why I needed to be woken early.” A new sob rolled inexorably through her at the thought of all those precious, lost hours. “Tonight, there wouldn’t have been any horrible balls to endure.”

“So...?” He drew back slightly to frown down at her in puzzlement.

“What do you think?” She set her jaw mulishly. Even in the midst of humiliation, she refused to look quite as pitiful as she felt. “I was going to spend the whole night with you.”

“Ahhh.” His eyes fell closed, his head tipping back as if he were absorbing a blow. “Whereas now, I will be abandoning you for the day in only half an hour...and when I wake, we’ll have to leave for another royal ball. Forgive me, my love. I’d truly believed I was only sacrificing my own pleasure by allowing you more sleep.”

This really was too pathetic. Stiffening her spine, Margaret forced herself to steady her tone. “Obviously, it’s hardly a grave matter. I did warn you it made no sense for me to feel this badly! I can manage perfectly well on my own.”

“Oh, I know.” His eyes opened; the breath he took was so deep that it shivered through her entangled body. “My love, I am well aware of how strong you are and how fiercely independent you’ve trained yourself to be. That is why it is the most cherished gift of my life that you’ve trusted me with your vulnerability.”

“Of course I trust you.” Her eyes were still wet with tears, but she met his gaze steadily. “I respect you more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

“But I didn’t respect you or your wishes tonight.” His voice was heavy with regret. “You were right. I shouldn’t have taken that decision away from you. I’ve been on edge ever since we arrived in Vienna, worrying for your safety. I thought I was protecting and supporting you by granting you more sleep than you’d planned, but the truth is, I was simply overruling you. Will you please forgive my arrogance if I promise not to repeat it?”

“Of course.” As Margaret’s sobs finally slowed into damp hiccups, she turned her face to rest her cheek against his tear-dampened waistcoat. “I know you meant well—and I should have thought to leave a note, just in case, after I met our landlady.”

“That would only have cost you even more sleep.” Her husband sighed, resting his chin gently against her head. “But was that really the only matter that upset you so deeply? When you read that letter and spoke of running out of time for everything...” His voice trailed off, leaving her to fill in the gaps.

“Oh...” Margaret took a deep, steadying breath to hold back any more tears. “I just...I wish so badly that I had been there with Leonie! If it hadn’t been for this cursed royal summons, I would have shared in that discovery along with so much else, and...well, I suppose it just overwhelmed me, for a moment, how little time we will have left there by the time we finish our mission here.”

“Ah,” said Lord Riven.

There was no need to say any more. After all, they had already altered their original plans for a continent-crossing honeymoon to make the most of the time they had left in the Black Forest before they would have to return to England for at least the next nine full months to maintain ownership over his ancestral estate.

Margaret shrugged wearily. “It’s unavoidable, I know. I’m only frustrated by how much time we’re losing there, especially as I’ve managed so horribly little progress. It’s humiliating.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lord Riven shifted her in his arms until they were eye to eye. “No one else could have done any better in this situation. Don’t flagellate yourself over matters that are out of your control! You’re hardly to blame for petty political rivalries well above our heads and the ineptitude of our own ruler. Besides...”

He tipped his head, holding her gaze. “I’ve found almost no one willing to speak with me about supernatural issues at all. The only subject anyone would talk about last night, whenever I made any attempt to raise the topic, were the horrors of the late empress’s vampiric chancellor, who refused to tolerate any change to the status quo and used his spy network to enforce that stagnation. Does that mean you would label all of my attempts thus far a humiliating failure?”