He found her in the garden after the party. She was seated by the fountain with her glass of wine from the event itself, still swathed in burgundy and rubies.

Wordlessly, William sat down next to her. There was a long moment of silence where neither one of them looked at the other.

"I don't want to be here, William," she murmured. She kept her eyes on the fountain, having taken a return to the melancholy expression she'd sported on the roof.

"Then go home," he answered impetuously. "You've done your duty in getting the ladies back here safe. Go home until the coronation."

"You and I know perfectly well it isn't that simple," she replied archly, turning her head to look at him. "Do you think I like having to stay here and ramrod you into marriage? Do you think I like leaving my own marriage in order to set up yours, do you think sleeping alone when I don't need to is at all pleasurable for me?"

"No," he said quietly, beginning to feel much like a rather spoiled child at this present moment in time.

"Then why are you fighting me so hard?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine.

There was a long pause, and he looked uncomfortable. "If it really pains you that much to be away from father, then I'll stop fighting you," he eventually responded.

"That isn't what I asked you," she pointed out.

He remained silent.

"If this is to do with Merripen, William, so help me God-"

"It isn't Merripen," he assured her with a firm 'no' gesture. "I love Merripen, I have always loved Merripen. Getting married isn't going to change how I feel about her. But she'll handle it. She'll hurt over it and she'll probably loathe the woman I marry until the day she dies, but she won't do anything to sabotage it."

Mereavus' brow arched. "And you can say this with such clarity after she dented your reputation," she remarked, her tone full of the disdain she presently felt for the Van Gatt girl.

"Nothing has happened between Christiana and me," he said. "Save a bout of marital advice. As far as I'm aware she very much dislikes me. But the thing is, a wife is different to another woman. Another woman doesn't have rights over me, a wife does. She's known that since we first began. She won't do anything to damage my marriage. My reservations are about myself, not women."

"And Cordelia Ysdale?" she asked directly, one brow still up.

He stared at her and rose in a very sudden fit of anger. "Do you have your claws in everything?" he demanded. "Is there not one aspect of my life that might possibly be mine?"

"No," she answered smoothly. "You're resisting your duties. You tell me that I have done mine, and yet I'm still here because my children appear to run amuck the minute my back is turned. I brought the both of you up to be better than this. You're both supposed to know your damn place. I have done my duties, William - it's about time I stopped doing yours for you, too. I have my own life to get back to. It's time you grew up and stopped being petulant. If I have to run Merripen to Nyrthlond, I will. If I have to scour Nharati for a woman and chain you to the altar, I will. Do not go head to head with me on this, darling, I assure you, you will lose."

He glared at her, his jaw still clenching. "You will leave Merripen alone, do you understand me?"

She smiled blandly at him, and sipped her wine.