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“None taken.” I traced my cup with my fingernail. “I never did any whoring, though my mother wanted me to follow in her footsteps. You can make a lot of money as a courtesan who markets herself as exotic.”
“Damn.” He shook his head. “When did you leave?”
“When I killed that man at the brothel.”
“That must have been…difficult.”
I hadn’t told anyone but my mother the whole story. Unspoken words crammed in my throat, choking me. I sucked in a slow breath, trying to calm myself.
“It’s okay.” Wendel never looked away from my eyes. “Take your time. You don’t need to tell me anything you would rather keep a secret.”
“He mistook me for one of the brothel girls, no matter how many times I said no.” My mouth tasted sour, and I swallowed hard. “He threw money at me. Literally. Like that paid for what he tried next. He didn’t get very far before I grabbed a sword and cut his throat. That was the first time I killed a man.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m sorry you had to endure something so painful.”
Anger still scalded my throat. “I hope his death was painful.”
“I would have helped.” He met my gaze, his green eyes almost gray in the clouded daylight. “Pity he’s already dead. Men like that deserve to suffer.”
“Sometimes I wish I could just forget.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Tears welled in my eyes, not from sorrow, but from the relief that crashed over me. He knew my darkest secrets, and yet he still accepted me for who I was.
“After what you told me,” I said, “I don’t doubt that.”
“I will never let anyone hurt you again, for as long as I’m still breathing.”
His fierce devotion took my breath away. “Why?”
“Because I love you, Yu Lan.”
His words pierced my heart like arrows and brought a sweet ache. “Ardis. Just Ardis. I left Yu Lan behind a long time ago.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
I lifted my cup. When I sipped the tea, heat traveled down my throat and settled in my belly. The taste of chamomile grounded me.
“Thank you for listening to me,” I said.
“Whenever you need me.”
I bit into a slice of toast. “God, I hope nobody overheard our conversation. It was wildly inappropriate for breakfast. Hopefully, we won’t get kicked out.”
“Luckily, I’m a master of changing the subject.” Wendel said it airily, then smirked.
“Oh really?”
He spotted a newspaper abandoned on the table next to us and snatched it, reading, “‘Diesel Presumed Dead.’”
I cringed. “Please tell me they didn’t mention me.”
“You dodged that bullet.” He frowned as he kept reading.
