“And sometimes you didn’t,” she added ruthlessly. She sighed and set her mug down on the table. It was a small sound in the quiet room. She lifted her hands and hid her face in them. He feared she was crying. If she was, he knew he should comfort her, but he would have felt like a fraud doing it. He had been a party to creating this humiliation for her. How could he offer the comfort of a friend? He sat still, not speaking, waiting for her to make a sound.

But when she lowered her hands from her face, she only sighed heavily. She picked up her mug and took a sip of her coffee. “How many?” she asked conversationally. “How many people in Bingtown knew what a fool I was?”

“You weren’t a fool, Alise.”

“How many, Sedric?”

“I don’t know.”

“More than ten?” She was relentless.

“Yes.”

“More than twenty?”

“I think so.”

“More than thirty?”

“Possibly.” He took a breath. “Probably.”

She laughed bitterly. “So you were not very discreet in your indiscretion, were you? Was I the only one who didn’t know?”

“Alise…you don’t understand. Men like us, we have our own society, one that is mostly invisible to Bingtown society at large. We create our own world. We have to, because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be allowed…You are not the only wife who has no idea of her husband’s preferences. There are other wives in Bingtown who do know, and just accept it. My sister believes you are one of them, from something she once said to me. Some of those husbands are fathers, some of them do love their wives, in their own ways. It’s just that…well…”

She had clenched her hands into fists. “Sophie knew?”

“Yes. Sophie knows. The way she spoke, she believes you knew and agreed to it. For a time I hoped you did. Then I mentioned it to Hest one day, and he laughed at me.”

Her brows were knit as she puzzled over this. Then she asked abruptly, “How did Sophie know? Did you tell her?”

“I didn’t have to. She’s my sister. She just knew.” He paused to think about that. “She always knew,” he added quietly.