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I had been trained up on the battle strategy of the ancient Chinese war general Sun Tzu.
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“Respectfully, Miss Donovan, it makes no difference to me whether or not you comprehend it. It is none of your business.”
Mm he kind of has a point.
“Saying respectfully does not automatically absolve you of the need to utter respectful words, sir.
Well put.
My advice to you is to accept both that role in Lucy’s life and my role in her life—and not to confuse them.”
“No matter is too small upon which to ask his opinion,
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PS Good day to you, Miss Donovan.
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“That doesn’t sound like me,” Valentine said. “Assist with what?”
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I suppressed a sigh. I would have to defeat them myself. And yet, I balked at the idea, hearing Sun Tzu’s words in my head. We can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided.
“You are upset,” he said, as though I hadn’t just threatened to kill him.
He smiled. “You needn’t worry over that. I successfully struck the fear of God into Mr. Pike on that account.”
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“The man who fears a confident woman is a man whose true fear is his own weakness being challenged.”
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My brow knit. I had never considered it that way, but the words hit a mark with me. Did I not use Sun Tzu for the same purpose? The only difference was that I did not utter my guiding sayings aloud. Perhaps I was more like Mrs. Westwood than I had ever noticed. I wasn’t at all sure how to feel about that.
to find a suitable song, preferably one that had a hidden message of hate I could sing while looking straight into Mr. Russell’s eyes. And perhaps a refrain for Captain Stokes about how little I cared for him. Why were so few songs written about such emotions?
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His words made my pulse race. “I do not understand.”
Is she being intentionally thick? First time I’ve seen it.
My mother once told me to embrace my spiritedness—to tame it and control it, but not subdue it entirely.
What I didn’t know was whether this was a game to him or whether there was any truth in what he was saying.
“One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own. Is that not what Sun Tzu says?”
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I always had to be difficult. It was something I was coming to regret more and more about myself. For some time, it had seemed like a strength. But with Mr. Russell’s presence over the last two weeks, it had come to feel like a petty weakness masquerading as a strength.
Was this what he had been hoping for all along? Tease and flirt with me until I lowered my defenses enough to do his bidding? Or was I so accustomed to seeing life as a battle that I mistrusted everything instinctively?
I wanted to be loved by him. Could I not just try?
stood still, facing him, my brows drawn together. Perhaps his age was beginning to affect his mind. “I live here, Father.”
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Protecting myself had come to feel more like a cage than anything.
surrender my key to him. Forever.
Taking the analogy a bit too far.
“I love the fight in you, Diana.
“I do not wish for a wife who needs to be taken care of, Diana. I want a wife who can take care of herself but who chooses to be with me because she loves me.”
“It was meant as a gesture.”
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I do not generally prefer to do my reading to a backdrop of flirting, but for the potential I saw between you and Russell, I was willing to make a sacrifice.”
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