"If that was what she wanted?" Ari repeated, the words spitting out incredulously. He had to take a step towards Darrow, wand still poised in his hand, just to prevent himself from raising his voice and broadcasting this whole mess to the whole damned hospital.
It was easy for him to say now, that he would have married her, that he would have done anything, but to make it sound like it would be Zelda's choice after all, like the very option of marriage wasn't just another bad card in a rotten hand... Darrow must not know her at all, to even think it: Zelda had not leapt at the thought of marriage even when it was an abstract, even when it might have been a man she loved and not under duress, so if this man thought saving her reputation at the sake of her freedom and her happiness was something to be lauded, Ari wasn't convinced that words would be enough, after all.
"What, while you were off on an adventure somewhere?" He scoffed instead, because the truth was - and Zelda had probably feared this herself - when the possibility of her pregnancy had come around, Darrow was nowhere to be found. Whatever he had been willing to do in theory - he might have been long gone, and good intentions were nothing lost at sea. "And what if you hadn't come back? She might have lost her job, her -" Ari broke off, almost too livid to continue. Perhaps not her family, even if the pregnancy had come out as a scandal, but certainly her reputation, her freedoms... she would have poisoned herself first. He supposed Darrow would not have considered that at all. No, Captain Darrow had come back when things had blown over, and convinced himself he had done all he could, when he was entirely to blame.
On that note - his voice was low but venomous - "How about thinking, before you put her in that situation in the first place?"
It was easy for him to say now, that he would have married her, that he would have done anything, but to make it sound like it would be Zelda's choice after all, like the very option of marriage wasn't just another bad card in a rotten hand... Darrow must not know her at all, to even think it: Zelda had not leapt at the thought of marriage even when it was an abstract, even when it might have been a man she loved and not under duress, so if this man thought saving her reputation at the sake of her freedom and her happiness was something to be lauded, Ari wasn't convinced that words would be enough, after all.
"What, while you were off on an adventure somewhere?" He scoffed instead, because the truth was - and Zelda had probably feared this herself - when the possibility of her pregnancy had come around, Darrow was nowhere to be found. Whatever he had been willing to do in theory - he might have been long gone, and good intentions were nothing lost at sea. "And what if you hadn't come back? She might have lost her job, her -" Ari broke off, almost too livid to continue. Perhaps not her family, even if the pregnancy had come out as a scandal, but certainly her reputation, her freedoms... she would have poisoned herself first. He supposed Darrow would not have considered that at all. No, Captain Darrow had come back when things had blown over, and convinced himself he had done all he could, when he was entirely to blame.
On that note - his voice was low but venomous - "How about thinking, before you put her in that situation in the first place?"
