He had known, watching her die, her last second miracle cure, he had had time to realize and accept it. When she died, that would be a wound his heart would not recover from.
He would not falter, he would do his duty – lead this fleet to a safe haven. Caroline, Lee and others had hated him for the ability to put aside his emotions, convinced he loved them the less for it. She understood. Duty was the only thing that would keep him from coming apart, from giving in to the pain in his heart that would never end.