"I have already seen to the placement of my staff. I will keep my lady's maid, that is all." She managed dispassion she hoped mirrored his, but it rankled. She was an intelligent woman, but still a woman; still made of fire and feeling. It caused more pain than she would admit to see off her small staff. Of course, she had them placed in one of her father's smaller properties where she could be certain of their treatment, but it was not the same as keeping them close. Only one witch would be staying with her, the same woman that traveled with her from her father's home to her husband's and back again. A seemingly cold Prussian woman that Angelica loved more as family than most of her own sisters, but she kept such declarations to herself. It would not do to seem soft on the help. She was a Corvo Vorona merde! soon-to-be-Selwyn after all.

Her hand was steady as she took a deep drink of her too-hot tea, but scalded tongue aside, she managed to school her expression. Even if her eyes went to her lap as she broached the subject neither of them was ready for. "You did not need to do this. I could still leave the country."

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