Thank you so much for the wonderful and thoughtful comment! I'm so happy to hear that Augusta's veiw of her world worked for you. When I thought of this pairing, immediately, imagining them as having some kind of past feelings was what made it work for me.
I'm so, so glad that you liked the characterization of Augusta. Obviously, as my main character, that was really important to me. Your summary of this is really lovely and made my day!
I really enjoyed writing them and bringing them together. Thank you so much!