"Forgive me Miss Widdowson but then why not look for another way? You speak as if you accept such a thing as inevitable, yet to behave as such is to have already admitted defeat. To have given up."

He frowns at her a moment longer, unhappy, then drops his eyes to his drink.

"You say you do not know what I had expected. I expected better of you, Miss Widdowson. I had hoped to find you ready and willing to outwit Miss Redbright and keep fighting for your Circle. Battles are not only fought in blood. They are fought in words too, in politics."

Lancelot tilts his head, lifts his eyes to her then inclines it in acceptance.

"Perhaps we should speak another time, when I have not caught you by surprise."