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“It shall never get to that,” and she meant it.

* * *

The next morning, Rhysand woke at the crack of dawn and got on his stallion for his usual morning ride. It was the only time he felt a semblance of peace. The morning air in his hair, the feel of it on his skin, and the steady rhythm between man and beast.Lord, he called him. Lord had been a gift to him from his father. The last gift he received from him. His father had promised to teach him how to ride just hours before he was violently taken away from him, along with his family.

“The secret to a great ride lies in how you treat the beast,”his father had said that morning, and he had taken those words to heart and recalled them in every stroke of the brush on his chestnut fur. Although he was sorry for the beast, he had been taking more rides, longer rides, to clear his head. And it was all because ofher.

He had succeeded in his first act: staying the hell away from her. If he did not set his eyes on her, he had had no reason to think about her. However, that part had been difficult. The more he told himself he did not want to think about her, the more his mind fed him pictures of her, of her dimpled smiles, of her mesmerizing eyes, of her lush hair. It did not mean he was attracted to her. No, far from it. He had just accepted that was how the mind worked.

On his ride back home, he saw a familiar contour of a person in the park. If he could just ride past quickly, he could make it without the person seeing h–

“Your Grace!”Shite.

Rhysand could pretend he had not seen or heard him and carried on with his ride, but Philip called him out again, louder this time. He halted.

“Good morning!”

“There is nothing good about this morning,” Rhysand muttered under his breath. If the jolly greeting did not annoy him, the bright smile on Philip’s face did.

“I was just on my way to see you.”

“Whatever for?”

“For some updates on our discussion fromWhite’s. It has been a hassle to reach you. I paid a call at your house days ago and got no response.”

Rhysand knew why he got no response. He had commanded it. He did not want to give the man false hope of friendship.

“I know what you must think of me, but I am just a lone man in need of an old friend.”

Rhysand frowned. Did he not have any other friends? He wondered. Philip was the jovial one out of the twain. He had no problem making acquaintances and other social connections. “It so happens that I have some business I would like to discuss with you.”

That was all it took to convince Rhysand to invite the man to his estate.

“This place sure has gone through some changes.” Philip ogled the black walls. “I had hoped it looked the same as it used to when we were children,” his voice was calm, not demanding any explanation of what happened in the past. It was a light reminiscence.

“I changed the place to suit my tastes.”

“And what does Her Grace think about your taste?”

Rhys grunted.She thinks she needs to renovate the place and make it brighter.

“I do not care what she thinks.” And it was a fact. She would not live with him for long anyway.

“Hmm. This tells me there has been no progress between you two.”

Rhysand got up immediately and headed for the bottle of whiskey he kept in his study for when he had rough nights. He hated the prospect of day drinking, but darn it, he needed a drink.

“I successfully stayed away from her. It was the surest way to ensure she does not demand more.”

Philip cocked his head to the side. “Did you not heed the advice I gave to you?”

“Yes, you said to show her a glimpse of the real Rhysand.”

“And that entails staying away from her instead of coming to a mutual agreement on how to coexist before the conception of your heir?” If Philip did not sense that Rhysand was distressed about the matter, he would have laughed in his face. “You have a chance to fix this issue. I believe the duchess will be willing to have a civil union.”

This was his issue with nice people. They always saw the best in others even though they had never met them. It infuriated him more that Philip was just like Penelope.

“I have said that a civil union will only breed longing and that I cannot afford.”