Malina shrugged, not looking at him, looking uncomfortable.
‘Nevana is there. She does not like me. And,’ as she raised her eyes to look at him, he could tell before she spoke that she was deeply hurt, ‘she has told me that you tolerate my presence only because I am a child in your eyes, for whom you have made yourself responsible. She said that you have promised yourself to her-’
‘I have promised her no such thing,’ Ralph told her.
As though he hadn’t spoken, she continued. ‘She had said otherwise, as has her mother. She said that she came upon us sleeping together last night, and that she had seen, with relief, that our relationship was . . .’ she thought for a moment . . . ‘“nothing more than platonic.” That it will never be anything more than that. She told me that-’
‘When did you speak with her mother?’
‘She, too, was in the infirmary. They were together, visiting Nevana’s father. Her mother, Durus, called me dirty names. When she did, Arlon became very angry and told Durus to hold her tongue. He apologised for what his wife had said, but asked me to leave.
‘Before I could leave, Nevana, took me aside and told me that you had promised to be with her today, that I was responsible for preventing you from fulfilling your promise; that today the two of you had intended to consummate your relationship. I asked her what this meant, to “consummate,” and she told me that it meant having physical relations, after which two people were considered “joined.”