“Why not?”

“I don’t care for you in that way. I’ve never thought of you like that.”

“I see. Is that the only reason?”

I had to be honest. I owed it him.

“No,” I said, “it is not. You see⁠—I⁠—care for someone else.”

“I see,” he said again. “And was that true at the beginning⁠—when I first saw you⁠—on the Kilmorden ?”

“No,” I whispered. “It was⁠—since then.”

“I see,” he said for the third time, but this time there was a purposeful ring in his voice that made me turn and look at him. His face was grimmer than I had ever seen it.