She would use his carriage, then send it back for him, and hopefully she wouldn’t see him again for a while. She needed time to digest everything she’d been told before she spoke with him again—if she ever spoke with him again. At the moment, she couldn’t imagine her reaction if she had to listen to another taunting, derisive remark from him, when she knew now that it was all for effect, because he wanted her to despise him. But it wasn’t all lies. What he’d told her about the way their marriage would be was undoubtedly the truth. As Nina had pointed out, most aristocratic marriages were exactly like that, though usually the terms weren’t spelled out, just mutually understood. And every time he’d pushed her to break the betrothal, he’d been expressing his true feelings. And his lecherous inclinations were also all true. She did stop by the training field before she left the palace. She’d been unable to resist, and in the space of minutes, she watched Vasili defeat one opponent after another with his sword skill.
