………….

How long have you known’ I asked defeated, eyes downcast.

‘Since the first day’, he replied matter-of-factly.

I looked up questioningly.

‘You’ve known this whole time?’ I demanded, ‘why have you kept it a secret?’

He looked at me, with a smirk, trying to stifle a laugh, the audacity.

‘You realise the irony of your words?’, he countered.

I was angry, I felt cheated, toyed with, ‘So this whole time you have mislead me?’, I chided.

The smirk still on his face, ‘you think this is some kind of a joke?’ my voice rising.

‘Correct me if I’m wrong, My Lady, is it not you that have been keeping something from me?’, his words questioning.

I felt my anger rising, how dare he. I was about the respond, but I stopped, my words frozen, my thoughts racing. He was right, I had been keeping a secret, but if he knew, he could have claimed my bounty long ago. Yet he hadn’t, and I needed to know why.

As if reading my thoughts, his demeanour softened, ‘surely you know why?’ I steeled myself for what was about to come next, everything was about to change….