Her voice remained polite.
Mrs. Scofield gaped at her.
“Magnus?” Mrs. Scofield was querulous and indignant.
Magnus had turned his head toward the door now, and was idly tapping the brim of his hat against his palm, as if his thoughts were entirely elsewhere. His lips seemed to be pursed in a silent whistle.
He said not a word.
“Do you understand me, Mrs. Scofield?”
Alexandra didn’t raise her voice. But she somehow managed to imbue all of her words with the threatening tension of a drawn bowstring.
Mrs. Scofield’s head finally bobbed rapidly in agreement.
Alexandra released her hand.
“We’ll bid you good day, then.”
In the carriage Alexandra pressed herself against the far corner, as if she wished she could curl up in a burrow. She was pale with anger. Positively suffering with it.
Fury always took a little time to ebb. Magnus knew, because he had a temper, too. His was icy. Downright biblical, when truly aroused.
Hers fascinated him.
Hers continued to be a revelation.
In more ways than one.
“Alexandra?” he finally said gently.
She merely shook her head. As if she couldn’t yet speak.
Finally she said, “I overstepped. I was awful. I apologize.”
“You didn’t overstep. You weren’t.”
“Oh, I think I did.” She sighed. “I suppose,” she said slowly, “that mean people upset me.”
“You don’t say.”
She made a sound that was as much a sigh as it was a laugh. “I’m sorry if you consider her a beloved family member. But she’s a mean person, Magnus.”
“She’s not a beloved family member. I haven’t any family members. And I know she’s not a nice person. Shehashad a hard life. And she’s elderly.”
“You’ve had a harder life and you’re not a mean person.”
His slow smile evolved into a short laugh. “That’s certainly a point of view. I could name a few dozen subalterns who woulddefinitelybeg to differ.”
Her smile was wan. “Mean for the pleasure of it. The kind of mean that someone inflicts upon someone else because it makes them feel bigger. She knew the things she said were hurtful—how could she not?—and she said them anyway. That’s the kind of mean she is. I found it... I found it intolerable.”
Her voice was thick.
Neither one of them took up the reason she might find it intolerable.
Or that her reaction might be a trifle outsized.
But Magnus could not ignore what felt something like a glow in the center of his chest.