This was a strange conversation to have with her still on his lap, but they should have had it before either of them were naked. Noble had thought until now that he would be able to control himself, but he had not actually been in this situation before, and now he was starting to doubt himself. He moved his hand away from that wet place and rested it, gentle, on her hip.

"Abortifaecents aren't a guarantee," Noble pointed out. He brewed them, he sold them — but as he told his patients, they were not a failsafe. They were not regulated due to being illegal, and in the absence of regulations, people had to guess at what they were doing. Noble was good at it, but he was not perfect.

"And even when they work, they can be damaging to the health of the woman." To her health, to her future fertility — and while he would not father her children the way she said this point in my life implied she would want them later.