Ava found herself doubting that there could be a reason behind the action that would appease her distaste for it, so when Mikino did not offer anything beyond an assurance that she had not been the cause of withholding the announcement, she let it stand at that. It would prove not to matter in the long run, as any image it had been meant to create had already been created and could not be revoked.
Ava, for all her insistence that she did not enjoy those subtle games of court, could spot them easily enough. The suggestion he left for her had her momentarily confused. Her eyes narrowing just slightly as she studied him, shifting through her memories to a time she could recall discussing anything of the sort. As one particular encounter came to mind, her features smoothed out with the recognition, her jaw tense for but a moment before that too smoothed. "The probability of your interest in me wavering and a simple reminder that I am not the late Lady Alcaeyn was once brought to my attention," she admitted, responding to the question he'd asked with little reason to hide the truth. "If that is what you're hinting at." She would have preferred him to speak plainly with her, but she was not handicapped because he did not.
She did not miss the way he referred to the former Chaldean's words as outside the realm of idle gossip. It seemed they had a similar outcome, in the end. "If you're curious as to my actual response it was that if you required such an open arrangement then we would discuss it; a discussion between the two of us and the two of us alone. Is such a discussion needed?"
She supposed she should get used to this feeling of intrusion. She was well aware that a good portion of his life was here at Court and she would not ask he change that, even if she thought him capable of it. Should they go through with this union, she had the sneaking suspicion that there would always be that third presence pressing in on them. "You are the only possible draw for me in this situation," she admitted, reigning in any frustration she had felt moments before. "However, if I wished for a husband who wished me to simply warm his bed when it suited him, I need not leave the West. I wish to move forward with this because there are few I can trust myself to in the way I am able to do so with you. I do not foolishly believe that love will magically manifest itself simply because we are married. The respect we have for each other now, however, it has to be there."
She wished, somewhat ruefully, that this did not have to be so complicated. It was a pointless wish, as nothing was without it's complications. "I keep finding myself facing the question of what I want from you and my answer has never changed." She sighed, glancing back toward him, "So let me ask you what it is you wish from me?"