"Would you prefer that I do not care to fight for them?" Damen could feel the blood pounding hotly in his veins, straining for a release of some kind. It took all his considerable control to remain still and upright in the saddle, when all his instincts were to fight for exactly that. "That I care nothing for whom you speak to, what you say to them? I am not trying to curtail your freedom in these things, Laurent. I am trying to understand why you show my generals and councillors more courtesy than you show your husband. If you can explain that to me, I will beg your forgiveness and interfere no longer with your plans."

He was trying. The feelings of betrayal were hard ones to overcome; they left him reluctant to take the blame for his actions under the circumstances. But he was trying to understand Laurent's perspective, what little of it he could perceive. That he saw Damen as having power over him, willing to believe the worst of him and punish him for it. It was so far-fetched, Damen could scarcely know how Laurent could truly believe such a thing, but then Laurent didn't know him very well yet either.