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She smirked at him, holding his gaze as she made a move. “Happy?” she whispered.
He blinked once, then again. “I do believe I am.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh? Even with people trying to kill you?”
He inclined his head to the side. “Yes, even then.”
Her lips twisted as he captured her rook. “Ah, distraction, Bertram is thy name.”
The Duke laughed. “Oh, are you so easily diverted?”
“Perhaps I was too concerned with my other reason for playing with you.”
“Oh? And what reason is that?”
“Revealing yourself to me.”
He spread his hands out wide. “I have nothing to hide.”
“Mmm,” she focused on the board and made a move before leaning back to stare at Bertram.
He smirked. “If there is something you would like to know, you can just ask.”
“Ah, but if I ask, then you get to pick and choose what to tell me.”
“And your powers of observation will enable you to—what? Read my mind?”
She huffed in amusement. “Perhaps. I cannot tell you all my secrets.”
“You haven’t told meany.”
She leaned an elbow on the table so she could rest her chin on her palm as she regarded him thoughtfully. “Which secret would you like to know?”
“Have you ever been in love?”
She jumped a bit, not having expected him to come back with a question so fast. She took a deep shaky breath. “Well…do you refer to prior situations or the one we find ourselves in?”
He glanced at her, then hesitated before looking back down at the board. “Let’s start with prior situations.”
“I don’t have any prior situations. I have never really had the chance to.”
“Well then…what about now?”
She pursed her lips, not knowing what to say. “Now the ground has shifted beneath my feet and I don’t know which side is up and which is down.”
“What does that mean?”
Letty shook her head. “It means I am not the master of my emotions at the moment. I need to take some time to meditate upon them to really know what I’m feeling.”
The Duke laughed. “That is quite a roundabout way to tell me you’re not ready to tell me how you feel.”
Letty closed her eyes and sighed, before opening them and letting him see into her soul if he wished. “Ever since Etienne—my brother—died, I have lived a life of struggle, loneliness, and survival. There has been no room in it for softness or love.” She leaned closer to meet his gaze. “Do you understand?”
