  &quot;So it is an elopement you re after, rather than an offer to help me to freedom,&quot; I say slowly, more to myself than to him as I sit down on a nearby bench, one hand on my forehead. This is all just too much to deal with right now. What I wouldn t give to be alone! &quot;I should have suspected as much. You suggest I trade an engagement for a marriage on the run, with no ceremony and barely any legitimacy, to a man who has been only a combat tutor to me, and that with all the grudging my fiancé could muster.&quot;
  &quot;Not quite. He didn t kill me,&quot; Giacomo mutters. &quot;In fact, he told me several times that you were engaged to him and that I must never forget that for a moment.&quot;
  &quot;And yet you seem to have forgotten it now, to make such a ludicrous offer to me.&quot;
  &quot;Hardly. Now more than ever this 'engagement  of yours preys upon my mind, for I wa

  Warmth, all around. A feeling of safety. Where am I? What happened? Doesn t matter. I could stay here forever, warm and safe.
  No. Something is wrong in the universe. Something happened. What happened? The front of my brain begins to throb as the memories come back: a kiss of betrayal, a declaration of war, a broken necklace, a dark purple cloud, a rat s tail. Yekaterina is gone.
  I haven t had a happier thought since I was sick and Dmitri sat with me.
  Dmitri. Where is he?
  I slowly open my eyes to darkness, pierced with flecks of light like glints from a gemstone. I m outside. But why? The last thing I remember was a swirl of pink, interrupted by crackling electric blue eyes. I turn my head to see plants, and beyond them, dim masses just slightly darker than the night sky. The mountains. I m on the roof. How did I get here?
  &quot;Good morning,&quot; a rich velvet voice intones 

  Malina was right about going outside. The fresh air cannot repair the damage that s been done to my heart, but it makes my body feel better, and it helps not being in the same building as that Russian strumpet and him whom I would have married. The necklace that symbolises our relationship hangs heavy around my neck, as though it is trying to drag me into the ground. Probably part of the enchantment on it, but I could care less at the moment. I just want it to be gone, to be free from all of this. I don t know where I would go or what I would do, but at least I wouldn t be tied to a man who lacks the courage and sense of dignity to rid himself of a whore who hopes to supplant his fiancée.
  I have not, ere now, spent much time in this rose garden. I believe it is Zinaida s favourite, which is probably why I have avoided it. Mostly I have not gone into gardens, save for the roof garden,

&quot;So it is an elopement you re after, rather than an offer to help me to freedom,&quot; I say slowly, more to myself than to him as I sit down on a nearby bench, one hand on my forehead. This is all just too much to deal with right now. What I wouldn t give to be alone! &quot;I should have suspected as much. You suggest I trade an engagement for a marriage on the run, with no ceremony and barely any legitimacy, to a man who has been only a combat tutor to me, and that with all the grudging my fiancé could muster.&quot;
  &quot;Not quite. He didn t kill me,&quot; Giacomo mutters. &quot;In fact, he told me several times that you were engaged to him and that I must never forget that for a moment.&quot;
  &quot;And yet you seem to have forgotten it now, to make such a ludicrous offer to me.&quot;
  &quot;Hardly. Now more than ever this 'engagement  of yours preys upon my mind, for I was in the library when you caught Yekaterina and your fiancé at a rather inopportune moment for them

Chapter 53 Blessings in Disguise