Giving Prince Wilkin a sardonic look, and to deflect attention away from Dorain, Brogan said in a reasonable tone, "This has been a difficult time for her. I have been a friend of her family for many years. They have never been so long apart, nor has she spent so much time separated from her people."
With a quirk to his lips, Damond interjected, "Though they do say that `Home is where the heart is.'"
Prince Wilkin smiled at that, and to Brogan drawled ironically, "I suppose you are not susceptible."
"I am not ruled by my heart," Brogan told him, facing his words squarely as though they were an accusation.
"Only a man with a heart of stone could make such a claim!" Wilkin rejoined with mock-disdain.
Brogan smiled at that. And then, unnoticed by the others, Dorain caught her breath at his next words. "I am careful to keep my heart in check . . . so that it cannot be broken by all the things that will soon happen that cannot be borne."
At that, Prince Wilkin seemed lost in thought a moment, and sagged fractionally where he sat. Passing a hand across his brow, he said at last, "My friends . . . you must have noticed, by now, a sense of hopelessness that seems to permeate this place, and the manner in which this coming Winter acts upon the senses! There is a feeling of sadness and ending in the air, and a foretaste of bitterness and bereavement."