Laure’s face was one he was used to getting- everyone seemed to have their own idea of what the best part of France was, and Henry could understand that. He would’ve been similarly disgusted if someone told him that London was their favorite place in the U.K.
“You’re not wrong; I’ve never been to Aurallic, but Marseilles in the winter is stunning,” he said. “Paris just happened to be where the work was. And I liked the bustle. Are you from Aurallic?”
He’d liked that something was always happening, that there was never time to stop and think, that he could go from one party to another to a shoot to a stranger’s bed and back again in less than twenty-four hours and feel as though he’d lived a week. But that was hardly a first-conversation topic.
Her blush was endearing, and Henry only kept his smile as she took the papers back, not wanting her to feel any further embarrassed.
Too. He couldn’t help but feel satisfaction rush through his chest at the admission that she found him pretty all on her own, though the mention of another, a twin- gone?- made it gutter out like a candle cut out by a sudden gust of wind. Laure seemed to have gone from flustered and embarrassed to mournful, something stuttering in her speech. Henry didn’t really do empathy- he relied on other people to do such things for him, had never been adept at navigating out of the maze of his own feelings let alone dealing with others’, but this was something he understood and it seemed inconceivable that they’d been so similar and stepped around each other for so long, when they had a tragedy in common.
He reached out and put a hand on her arm in an attempt to ease her frenetic energy. “I lost my twin sister,” he said softly. “I know I can be- overwhelming, without trying,” thank you, anonymous veela mother, “But it’s alright.”
“I do love Marseilles in the winter.” She agreed. Granted she had only seen it in person the once, they spent their winters in Aurallic for the most part. But it really had been something to see. “Oh, yes. It is my hometown. Perhaps one day, you will visit? It is charming. Were you a lawyer researcher in Paris as well?”
She couldn’t imagine anyone not telling Henry anything he asked. He was so charming and his voice so beautiful, and he wasn’t even using his Charm. Or at least she didn’t think he was. Would she notice if he did? Laure didn’t mind either way. She was just glad to talk to him. He really was so elegant and amazing.
At his touch and the admission of their shared loss, Laure stilled. She did not wish her current aching loss on anyone, not ever. Even if it meant she could find someone who actually understood what it felt like to get rent asunder.
“I wish---” She said, tears hot behind her eyes on his behalf instead of her own, “I wish that you never had to lose her. What’s her name? If you would like to talk about her, I would love to listen.”
