Hanna felt a rush of relief at Hudson's hand on her wrist, and leaned into his kiss. This was still increasingly ill-advised — eventually she would have to get married, or she would actually go mad and he would want nothing more to do with her. But she folded her legs underneath herself on the couch, sitting casually, and sipped the wine he'd gotten ready for her in the decanter — the wine that he knew was her favorite.

She nodded. "I'll never tell," she said. She'd floated the concept to Effie, but she'd tried to keep things without detail — as if she'd heard a simple rumor. "But — are you two together?" Or was this something that all men did? Hanna certainly didn't think so, because she knew she was oblivious about some things, but certainly she was not so unaware of everything.