“It is,” he affirmed tersely.
“So everyone will know she’s not me. And anyway, if I’m not here then I don’t have to behave in any way that’s expected of me.”
“I have decided to explain your…” he paused, “appearance by saying you’re a distant cousin of Ilsa’s with an uncanny resemblance to her but you grew up in the Vale, thus you don’t know how to speak Fleuridian. You’ve come to be sheltered here due to your parents’ untimely demise and your unwed status seeing as your husband also met an untimely end.”
She took another step to him and stopped, saying, “But don’t you see, Apollo? If I just go, no explanations have to be made.”
“You’re not going, Ilsa,” he denied.
She mimicked him, crossing her arms on her chest. “I’m not staying, Apollo.”
He was losing patience, not that he had much in the first place.
“It’s not safe,” he told her curtly.
“I was on the run from Pol for three years. Yes, this world is different but I think I can take care of myself.”
“I’ll remind you that you were on the run and he found you. When first I laid eyes on you, you were not doing so well at keeping yourself safe.”
She clamped her mouth shut and he knew his point was made.
So he moved on.
“It’s my duty—” he began to continue but she interrupted him.
“I’m not a duty. I’m a person.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“And I can work and I can take care of myself. And if I can’t, frankly, that’s none of your business. I’ll deal with that too.”
He tried a new tactic and asked, “And how will you feed yourself?”
“I haven’t decided yet but it isn’t like you don’t have restaurants, pubs. I’ll get a job as a waitress.”
His brows shot together and when she saw it, for some reason, she took a step back.
But he ignored that.
“A barmaid?” he asked, his voice dripping with derision and at the sound of it, her spine straightened so quickly, it was wonder he didn’t hear it snap.
“Yes,” she hissed. “A barmaid,” she mimicked his tone then defended her questionable choice of profession. “It’s honest work.”
“You’re an Ulfr,” he reminded her.
“Yes, that’s my last name given to me by a man I now detest so it’s a name I don’t want. And the other man who has that name, I don’t like all that much. So I’ll be going back to my maiden name and no one will even know I’m an Ulfr. Which is okay by me because the time that I was,”—she leaned in— “all of it,” she stressed, her meaning clear, “I didn’t like all that much.”
He didn’t like her meaning. Not at all.
And he didn’t hesitate to take issue with it.
“Did you suffer at my men’s hands?” he asked.
“No, they were awesome. Every last one. But you haven’t been all that great.”
“Well, you can rest in the knowledge, my dove, that you won’t have to concern yourself with me,” he returned. “I’ll be away to Bellebryn the minute I drop you at Karsvall.”
“That’s fabulous news,” she replied sarcastically. “But even if I don’t have to concern myself with you, I do have to concern myself with your children.”