Nicholas reappeared with a paper bag and a harried expression. “I bought four by accident.”
“Accident,” Violet said, taking two. “How convenient.”
Nicholas offered the bag.
“Maria?”
“Not just now,” she said.
“Do you want to sit?”
“I want to walk,” she said, “Please.”
Violet lifted her brows at Nicholas:Careful.Nicholas nodded, his jaw working.
They moved again, embroidery of sound and color wrapping and unwrapping around them.
“Maria,” he said, “did Stephen… do something?”
She looked straight ahead. “He spoke.”
It was clear that her brother had finally run out of all patience, and there was no hiding the truth from him now.
“Then I shall ride to the estate and ask him why his words sent my sister from her home,” Nicholas’s mouth thinned.
“You will not,” Maria said with a sudden panic in her voice, “You will not go anywhere.”
“I will not stand still while you are unhappy.”
“Then stand still for one morning,” she said. “That will help more.”
“Tell me what he said,” Nicholas urged. “I am not asking to be cruel. I’m asking because I am your brother, and I care about you. It bothers me greatly to see you hurt in this manner, and then not even telling me if there is anything that I could do to help.”
“And I am your sister,” she said, “and I am asking you not to ask.”
He flinched, “I don’t know how to do nothing.”
“Try,” Violet murmured. She was trying to keep the peace, and Maria should be grateful for it. But it was too late for that now.
Nicholas’s hand opened helplessly. “I will not allow you to evade any longer. You are to tell me what happened, and you may not consider that to be a request.”
It was the first time that Nicholas had spoken harshly to her, and it snapped something inside of her.
“Nicholas,” Maria said, turning to him at last, “I left because staying felt impossible. That is all I can bear to say in a square that is surrounded by public like this.”
“All right.”
She had hoped that he would back off now, but they made it another five minutes before he tried again.
“I do not understand why you will not allow me to…”
“Because it is not yours,” Maria said. “It’s mine.”
He closed his eyes a fraction.
“You came to me,” he said, still soft. “And now you cannot ask me to pretend I do not care.”
“I have not asked you to pretend anything,” Maria said. “Only to stop pressing me.”