[ His grin is quick and playful, stealing a hungry kiss ]

Is it not clear how much you are my taste?

[ But…it’s not that Sylvain is pretty, or gullible, or stupid. Quite the opposite. ]

I am…involved on the continent. I know you are of a ranking family, even if you were a second son. You were going to be married off, and it was going to cause political upheaval, not to mention the man was a known lecher and abusive. If you had a contract here, marriage was off the table. Permanently.

And…we had met once, years ago. You likely don’t remember. I enjoyed our conversation. I wasn’t going to leave your safety to someone else.