“I…was? That’s why you sent me away. This is what I lied to you about. You’re angry about that, remember?” Rufus waved his hand in impatient dismissal. “Balls to that. You didn’t say it was a sodding fortune!” Luke looked at him, and then he started to laugh. It bubbled out of him, helpless and stupid and absurd, great choking gasps of laughter so racking that it was inevitable they should turn to sobs. His shoulders heaved violently, and then Rufus’s arm was around him, warm and strong, easing him over to a settle. “Come on, sit down. Stop. It’s all right.” It wasn’t all right, and Luke
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