Lan, Maddy and Jude betaed this on short notice and I bugged Kirsty about bits too :) Much love to you all!

It was over.

Cythera leaned her head against the side of the carriage and closed her eyes.

It was all over.

The very air had been dead that morning when she had entered the magistrate's room. He had already been there and he hadn't looked back at her, had just bent down and begun to sign automatically.

She wished now that she had agreed to go with Sacherell and Douglass. They both would have gone to great lengths to divert her on the road, and she would have had no time to reflect on the paper. When she had left the room, the ink on the page had still been wet from where she'd signed her name, where she'd finished her marriage. The room where the silence had been deafening. She had never felt quite so empty as she did now.

Cythera pressed her cool fingers to her eyes, which felt like they were burning. She would be at Roxanne's soon. Roxanne was distracting enough for anybody.

"So. You've come to see Cythera."

Raoul was beginning to wish he hadn't. Roxanne had already said that at least seven times - or, well, it felt like it anyway.

"If you'll let me."

"And the Queen sent you? Well, she might well have, though I daresay she's got no remorse for what she's done to my poor sister. She's not left her bed since she arrived, I'll have you know."

Raoul tried very hard not to remark that he really wasn't surprised, given the company that awaited her should she venture downstairs.

It was lucky that Roxanne never expected a response, or Raoul would have been forced to submit to a tirade on the faults of the common man. "She's been crying all this time." Roxanne paused and eyed him critically. He fought the urge to just leave and find Cythera by himself. "When she's not being sick. She's very ill, you understand, this business has been such a blow to her health. If she dies, well, then he will be sorry!"

"Roxanne," Lord Martin said coolly, glancing up from his work. "Cythera is in no danger of dying."

Roxanne looked entirely put-out that she had been undermined. "Yes, quite," she said huffily. "She's just going through what any pregnant woman goes through - I tell you, with my Cornelius, I had the most atro-"

"Cythera's pregnant?" Raoul asked, his voice cracking with disbelief.

She seemed pleased that finally, she was having an effect. "And confined to her room, so I'm sure you can see why-"

"Roxanne, I'm her friend," Raoul snapped, tiring of her. "I'm not about to try anything with her."

"Pity," a gap-toothed boy informed him, hanging off the back of one of the large armchairs. "She could use it."

"Telemachus, that is quite enough!" Roxanne said sharply. "Take Lord Raoul up to your aunt now."

"I don't want to, he's too big," Telemachus whined. "Make Scar do it."

A petite brunette tugged on Raoul's arm. Putting on a show of reluctance at having to leaving Roxanne's side, he gratefully allowed her to drag him off.

"Mama says you have not yet given yourself to marriage because they will not permit you to marry a man," she said brightly. "Is it true?"

He choked on his laughter. "No," he assured her.

"Excellent," Scarlet said, swinging his arm enthusiastically. "I shall allow you to marry me, in that case."

"Thank you," Raoul replied, grinning. "You're too kind."

"It is all right. I was planning to marry the King, but he went and died, so I do not really think that I would like to anymore, so I am available. She is in here."

Raoul blinked. Despite the careful, oddly formal way Scarlet spoke, she had switched topics too fast for him to understand what she meant until she gestured at the door again.

Carefully, he pushed it open, letting out a soft groan when he caught sight of yet another of Roxanne's offspring. They bred like bunnies.

This girl - he vaguely remembered her name being something ridiculous like Alexandrina - got to her feet slowly, gave Raoul a disapproving look and left with her head held high.

Only now did Raoul begin to consider the distinctly uncomfortable possibility that he might not be welcome. The fear was banished instantly, however, on seeing Cythera's face light up.

She pulled herself up in bed, glowing with pleasure. "Raoul!"

He was wondering what he had been worrying about as he knelt at her side and hugged her tightly.

"I can't believe you're here - it's so good to see you."

Raoul pulled back, his grin fading as he got a proper look at her. It was almost as though she was literally wasting away. Her usually glowing complexion was pasty white, her eyes were dull and she looked thinner.

He nearly blurted it out before he thought of a more tactful way to phrase it. "Roxanne says you're pregnant."

She frowned, adjusting her pillow so she could sit up comfortably. "My monthlies are late," she said quietly. "And I can't keep anything down."

"What are you going to do?"

Cythera half-laughed, fixing her eyes on her knees. "Ask a difficult question, why don't you? I don't know. I don't know how to keep Gary from finding out. He wouldn't stay if he did; they're not married yet. He'd come here and I - I wouldn't stop him. And even if he didn't, there would be all these questions and I can't deal with that."

Raoul hadn't meant to say it; it seemed to be his day for inconveniently letting his mouth take charge of his brain. It seemed to slip out in the place of his intended comforting words.

"Marry me."

Her shock was evident as her eyes widened and she sucked in a gasp. "What?"

At that word, he almost took it all back. Almost. This was Cythera, he'd loved her since before Gary had even mentioned he was interested. He had never quite managed to tell her the little things her presence did to him, and that had made it all the more acute somehow.

Raoul had never acted on it, though. He had always told himself that in time, he would get over it - he had to get over it, because she was married to Gary.

Except now, she wasn't.

"Marry me," he repeated, this time with more conviction. "We'll tell people it's my baby, nobody will question it. You'll be safe from the gossips and Gary won't try to come after you."

Cythera nodded and paused for what seemed like an eternity. Raoul tried to wait patiently, but he couldn't. He couldn't bear it; it was as though the very air was pressuring him to prompt her. Instead, he got up and moved to the window, peering out. She was going to say no, and that would be fine, except now they would always remember this moment and he had just driven them further apart.

"All right."

His thought processes had taken him further than the conversation, so he was entirely surprised when she spoke. "I'm sorry?"

"I'll marry you," Cythera confirmed, giving him a small, tremulous smile.