Shirin saw them from the window.
She had not been told they were arriving together. Seeing the carriage pull in front of the courtyard, seeing Charles step out first and then reach back to offer a hand, seeing Benjamin take it without any particular thought and step down onto the stone as if this were entirely ordinary — that told her everything she needed to know.
She let the curtain fall back into place.
She breathed in slowly through her nose. Then again. Her reflection looked back at her from the dark glass of the window frame, composed, unhurried. She had learned long ago to keep her feelings behind her face, where they couldn't be used against her.
It is only a matter of time. The thought arrived the way it always did, quiet and certain, like a hand on the shoulder. Charles will come around. In the end, I always get what I want.
She turned from the window and called for her ladies-in-waiting.
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