"How would she even know?" He paced the floor of his study in front of her, a look of anguish upon his face. She had her arms crossed over her chest, nervous for what was to come.

"I honestly don't know. We have been more than careful, especially around the children." She ran a hand through her hair. She hated when he panicked, because she fed off his energy so quickly. He was supposed to be the calm and practical one in their relationship.

"She wouldn't talk at all?"

"No, she only said she was angry with me. She would hardly look at me." She felt a tear run down her cheek at the admission, and she wiped it away furiously. She had been bottling up her emotions all day, and they were threatening to erupt like a volcano.

"Then how do we really know? Perhaps she is upset with you for something else?"

"I don't know what. I haven't done anything differently." She thought hard, wracking her brain for any possible alternative solution. She felt herself shiver with nerves, her stomach hurt. "Georg, what do we do?"

"Hey, come here." He rushed to her and took her in his arms, holding her close for comfort. She couldn't stop herself from crying against him, his hands caressing her back. "If she was going to tell anyone, she already would have."

"That's not it." She wiped her eyes, pulling back to face him. "I've lost her trust. She no longer feels like she can come to me with things."

"Children her age go through a lot of changes. Eventually she will need to talk, and you will be there to listen." She sighed, not believing him for a moment. She didn't have much longer as their governess, and she desperately did not want Liesl's last impression of her to be a negative one.

"You know this means we have to stop."

"No."

"It's one of the rules we laid out. Frau Schmidt knows, and now Liesl. Imagine if anyone else finds out?"

"No. We made the rules, we can decide against following them." She stepped out of his embrace, crossing her arms again to distance herself from him. His eyes bore deeply into hers as he recognized exactly what she was doing.

"At what cost? Soon enough she's going to realize she's angry with you too; maybe she already has. What if the Baroness finds out? Didn't you see how she looked at you when you sneezed during breakfast?" She wanted to be calm and kind, but her words were becoming more harsh as they flowed from her mouth. "What else is worth losing, just to bed me a few times a week?"

"How does someone like you have the ability to make it sound so vulgar?"

"The whole thing is vulgar, Georg! It means nothing more to either of us than easy pleasure. You can't get that somewhere else?" She was holding back tears, wanting nothing more than to rush into his arms and apologize for what she was saying. She didn't want to end things any more than he did, but she knew it was the right thing. He looked harshly into her eyes, deeply hurt by her insinuation that their time together wasn't the least bit important to her.

"You really can be a bitch, Maria." Her heart burst at his words. Nobody had ever called her that before, at least not to her face. He was trying to hurt her, just as she was trying to hurt him. Somehow that made things sound easier.

"Yes, I suppose I can." She turned to leave, her hand reaching for the doorknob, before his voice stopped her.

"No, we are not ending it like this." He turned her around forcefully, his hands gripping her upper arms as he made her face him.

"Yes we are. I...I don't want you anymore." He gave her a shove as he walked away, her back hitting the door from the force. She gasped. "How dare you!"

"How dare you!" He turned back to face her, anger in his eyes along with something else she had never seen from him. Desperation, perhaps. "You're the one person I can always count on to completely disregard rules and propriety, and here you are suddenly full of discipline? You are running away from this, just like you ran away from being a nun when things started feeling a little too hard. Quite ironic, if you think about it."

"I'm running away? You're one to talk. You're the one who couldn't stay home long enough to look his children in the eyes for years, and you're the one who can't propose to the woman who so desperately wishes you would. You just keep stringing her along while you're busy fooling around with me." She approached him, ready to give him the final blow. "You say I run away. You're the biggest coward I've ever met."

"Get out."

"Hypocrite."

"Get out, Maria, I mean it!" She turned to leave, her tears on the brink of overflowing. In all the arguments they'd ever had, he had never spoken to her with such cruelty. She supposed he could say the same about her.

Suddenly, he had a handful of her hair, and she gasped in surprise. His lips were upon hers in an instant as he pulled her face to his. His tongue jammed into her mouth as she roughly pulled him to her by his jacket. He backed her against the wall behind her, pressing her hard against it, his hands roaming over her breasts and down to the hem of her dress. She ran a hand over the front of his pants, eliciting a groan from his lips as she found him to already be extremely aroused.

Her hands were fast to work on his belt, sending his pants to the ground without much effort. He pulled her from the wall, biting at her lips and backing into a table. Glasses fell and shattered against the floor, the table falling to its side. They simultaneously tripped over his pants that were around his ankles and fell to the floor, each groaning at the impact. He rolled on top of her, their lips continuing to attack one another as he positioned himself between her legs. His hand roughly reached up her dress, and with one swift pull, he ripped her panties from her body. She tried to pull away from their kiss, gasping in surprise, and frustration at the fact that he ruined her panties, but he pressed harder against her mouth to silence her.

He pushed his own underwear around his knees and pinned her hands above her head, entering her swiftly and moving immediately. He thrust deep and hard into her, his anger taking over his mind. She wanted to slap him or yell at him for being so rough with her, but her body was too far gone, she hated to admit that she was insanely aroused by the way he was taking her, so savagely. She knew he would've stopped long ago if she wasn't. As rough as he was being, he would never do anything to hurt her. She met him thrust for thrust, wrapping her legs tightly around him and biting at his neck when he moved his lips to her ear.

"I thought this perfume made you feel like a whore." His words were punctuated by hard thrusts, her body sliding against the hardwood floor with each one.

"It's you that makes me feel like a whore, you bastard." She freed her hands and pushed him, rolling them over and grinding atop his erection. He shoved her skirts up and grabbed her hips, his fingers digging into her flesh as she moved. It was hateful and rough, yet so passionate that they felt as if they were melting from the sheer heat enveloping their bodies. She rode him hard, her hands gripping and wrinkling his pristine white shirt. She knew he'd be angry about a wrinkled shirt and crumpled even more of it in her hands to spite him.

He grabbed her around the waist and rolled them over again, slamming into her body. The sounds of flesh against flesh were reverberating off the walls of his study, their breathing out of control, and she was vaguely aware that anyone walking past would certainly hear. That knowledge couldn't stop the moan that escaped her lips, which he bit back with a rough kiss. Her body began to quiver.

"Don't come until I say." His words were gruff, possessed with rage and passion. Her body ached for a release.

"Make me then."

"I'm in control."

"Never of me. And you hate it." He thrust harder, deeper than before, placing his hand over her mouth. Before she could protest and push him away, her body felt like it was collapsing. She cried out beneath his hand, which effectively stifled the sounds of her pleasure as intended. She was never one to make much sound when they were together, but the way he was taking her was too savage for her to control herself.

He thrust once more before he felt the explosion of his orgasm as well, losing enough control that he pressed his face into her shoulder, biting to keep himself from being heard as he cried out. They convulsed together, sweat pouring from their skin as their bodies climaxed in unison. It could have gone on for seconds or hours, she wasn't sure, but her body felt like it would never stop pulsing with pleasure. When it finally did, he collapsed on top of her, maintaining their tight connection as his hand slid from covering her mouth.

She took a deep breath, gasping for the air that had been denied to her. Her chest nearly ached for air. After what felt like torturous moments of silence, he moved his face from her shoulder to look at her. He gently pressed a kiss to her lips, lingering for a moment before meeting her eyes. He had tears in his; she'd never seen a man cry before, and it was unsettling.

"If I only have you in my life until September, I want all of you. I won't be well for quite a while when you leave."

"Georg, I..." She didn't know what to say, tears falling from her eyes as well. She was overwhelmed with the urge to ask him if he was in love with her, it was on the tip of her tongue, but she was truly terrified to know the answer. "I don't want this to end. I'm so sorry for the things I said."

"I'm sorry too, Maria." He kissed her, their tears mixing as they wrapped their arms around one another. When he pulled away, he looked deeply into her eyes. "Did I hurt you?"

"No. Well, a bit, but it was good." She seemed confused by it all, but he only smiled, knowing exactly what she meant.

"I would never hurt you intentionally."

"I know you wouldn't." She kissed him again, pulling him as close as she could. He finally pulled out of her body, pushing her dress down to cover her before moving to stand. He reached a hand to her, and she accepted his help standing as well. As he put himself back together, she wiped a few remaining tears from her cheeks, looking around for the remnants of her panties. She found them next to some shattered glass, which she began to gather and clean.

"No, I'll clean that. Please, come here." She stood, leaving the glass on the floor as instructed. He pointed to the torn fabric in her hands. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"Are you fine?" She shook her head, not even attempting a smile as she normally would.

"Will you hold me tonight?" She felt vulnerable asking, wishing she didn't feel so in need of him at the moment. After coming to his study with every intention of calling things off, she was confused by not wanting to leave his side. He smiled and nodded, wrapping her in a tight embrace.