Ari/Kiernan
"I was starting to wonder if you intended to lose this very simple game on purpose," Ari said with another laugh. "Really, I should say it was a man -- just to watch your crestfallen expression. But a deal is a deal, after all." And she was quite happy enough about that to talk about it, if he really chose to pry for details.
"Alas, the rumor onagers are not incorrect in some things," she said. Not the social climbing, and certainly not the alleged three-way relationship between hersel, Aspel, and Drake, but some of those rumors were based on fact.
"So, darling, just what do you want to know, pray tell? It stays between us, you understand."