At the first part of his answer, Carmelina would have leant over and ruffled his hair like he was a little boy, if only he'd been in reach of her chair. As it was, she just pressed her lips together in a smile ear-to-ear, almost ready to bounce off the edge of her chair by the time he'd moved on to guessing.

Best to keep her mouth closed in this smile, she berated herself, as she felt the unbearable temptation to leapfrog over his musing and just tell him at once. "No," she answered carefully, drawing out the mystery of it instead. That would be the expected news - and she had considered it, going off on another archaeological adventure - but she had never gone anywhere without Walter, and while that wasn't something to prevent her, she was worried that it would be a far more lonely experience, or somehow just... wouldn't feel the same.

"Rather the opposite, in fact," she prompted, thinking of how close the castle was to where they were. "I'll be much closer to home. Much nearer to you." Would that be enough of a clue? Would he get it? Her eyes were sparkling.

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