"My maid! She sent a message to your brother and she heard them! Heard him laughing that your are bedding my ladies while I'm -"

It cracks, exhausted and worn out and slumping into his arms because despite everything. All of it. That was the simple truth of the thing. He was the one she wanted. Despite all the warnings that there was politics between them, not affection, that romance was nothing they should expect. Duty was her warmth alone.

"I love you, even when they told me it was a stupid thing for us, why isn't that enough? Why aren't I enough?"