(Aurora's POV)
I was quiet for a moment. "That's going to be a lot for one week."
"He'll manage." Phineas moved toward me. "The whole point is to let him sit with a little well-earned discomfort. He's spent sixty years believing he can read a man's character from across the room." He reached out and drew me closer. "He's about to find out what that's actually worth."
I didn't laugh, but something softened in my face.
"What if he doesn't come around?"
Phineas pressed a kiss to my forehead. "He will. He always does, with people worth keeping."
I didn't answer. But I didn't pull away either.
I had spent the better part of a year being told, in dozens of small ways, that I was someone to be tolerated rather than chosen. The Wynne household had perfected the art of it. A look over the ri
