Adele’s thoughts returned to the woman she’d met last night—Cassandra. The woman Lysander had been in love with, and to whose presence he to some degree still reacted. She could see what would have attracted him; the woman was so entirely assured of herself and her position—two things Adele had never been. She’d never truly belonged to the society of her husband and he’d hidden her away. She’d always thought her origin in trade had driven his actions, but the answer was actually worse. Cassandra was married and Adele tried to turn the situation over in her head, to find a way for Lysander to be with her, but the truth was that he’d lost the chance—she was married, and seemingly, happily so. Adele felt pangs of discomfort and guilt as she thought of it. As she knew from experience, living as man and mistress had some severe drawbacks, but a man and woman who belonged together sometimes needed to be with each other, marriage convention or not. It did hurt her to think that the Alterstrong marriage would have to disintegrate for Lysander to be happy, likely causing the misery of Lord Alterstrong in the process. Why couldn’t people just be happy? Why must someone always get hurt when love was involved?
