Then, like a boy presenting a treasure, he pulled a snow lotus from behind his back.
I hadn't slept all night, but seeing the effort he'd gone through, I couldn't bring myself to scold him. I took the flower and carefully potted it.
Now he was telling me that on my birthday, while I was searching every trail in the dark, he had been in Sienna Marchetti's bed. My stomach turned.
Even so, thinking of everything we'd shared, I couldn't stop myself from offering him one last chance.
"Cesare, can you just not marry her?"
He turned the espresso cup in his hands, over and over, his brow furrowed tight.
"Not marry her? Marry you instead?"
"Do you really have to force me to say it plainly?"
"She is the Counselor's legitimate daughter. And you? A civilian woman who knows nothing but watering crops and tilling soil. How could you possibly be fit to stand beside me as the wife of a future Don?"
The color drained from my face. I refused to let it go. "Do three years of what we had really mean nothing unless I have the right family name?"
A searing pain tore through my lower abdomen. I pressed both hands against my stomach, but I kept my eyes on him, waiting for his answer.