Letting Kieran process in silence, Tal wasn't sure if she'd actually stunned him into sympathy or if he was formulating his next sarcastic quip, but at least his next comment was more of a statement of the obvious. She'd been about to reply in kind when she noticed what he held up.

That Merlin-forsaken gossip rag.

Tala snatched it out of his hands to look at it more closely. The people on the front cover were people who society actually knew of and apparently cared about. Tal flipped to the main article and skimmed it despite the fact that every word made her blood boil. She was a nobody, why on Earth had she been included? The only time she'd even been mentioned in print had been a short feature in the Prophet on her work with wand quality trees. Years ago at this point.

Sighing in a defeated manner, Tal tossed it back on the bar top. "Wonderful, just fucking wonderful. Is nothing sacred around here?" So it had been that stupid pink letter that she'd lost and therefore had no proof. She wondered if Gervaise would believe her anyway. She had the sinking feeling, based on his letters, that the answer would be a resounding no. Looking at the engagement ring sadly, she blinked back a few tears and tried to hide them behind her scotch.