"It is no, for always?" he asked slowly.
She bent her head.
"For always, and always, and always?" he said again. "All the years, all the ways wanting you—never reaching you? Think again, Aline."
She rested her hand against the door and took a step away. It was more than she could bear, and a blind instinct of escape was upon her, but he was beside her before she could pass out.
"Is it because I am what I am, Jacques Dangeau, and not of your order?" he asked, in a sharp voice.
The change helped her, and she looked up steadily.
"Monsieur, one has obligations—you said it just now."
"Obligations?"
"And loyalties—to one's order, to one's King."
"Louis Capet is dead," he said heavily.