"Lovers and Beloveds" chapter 3.2 is live

In which an unexpected kinship is revealed:

"A by-blow!" shouted Ansella.

"You've been at the Keep all of three days, and your dramatics are already boring me! What now?"

"A by-blow, a bastard," she said. "You promised me! You promised me no child would come out of all your whoring!"

"I prefer the term 'engagements,'" said Harsin. "And no child has come of any of them."

"That you knew, apparently!"

"Annie, you attack me in my ignorance," said Harsin, sitting down. "Please enlighten me."

Ansella trembled, her fair brows low. "Do you perhaps remember in all your 'engagements' a maid at Whithorse named Tellis Ambler?"

"Tellis Ambler? Tellis..." said Harsin, rolling the name around his mouth as if calling up the memory of a wine.

Ansella let out a disgusted breath. "It would have been about the time Temmin was born."

"Ah!" he said. "Oh, yes. I remember her."

"You have a daughter. Her name is Mattisanis."

"Do I!" said Harsin with a surprised smile. "Is she as pretty as her mother was? What's she like?"

"She's a maidservant, is what she's like!" said Ansella. "Until this morning, she worked at Meadow House for my mother!"

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