[ "adequate" is the highest praise he has ever given anyone. it might as well be a marriage proposal. he can't think of anything... more that he would say, to anyone, because he certainly wouldn't be caught dead saying complimentary things regarding beauty or the like. he has not ever thought about what he might say if he was trying to get somebody into bed for real, as gideon says, because his efforts have mostly involved staying out of anyone's bed, not for lack of attempts (one-sided, the side being decidedly not him).

change the law? even injured and soused, he manages a haughty scoff. ]

Adopt a baby? The child would be a false heir, a bastard and a scourge upon the royal bloodline. [ he pauses. despite everything, a bastard would still be better than one with the tainted blood he carries in his veins. only auguste was pure. ] I will not bring forth an heir. My bloodline ends with me.

[ then gideon says something that makes him take notice, even through the persistent fog in his head. that she has known that sort of deep solitude plucks at some invisible thread in him, maybe a feeling of kinship that he immediately attempts to snuff out. his thoughts turn to harrow instead, hearing for the first time something serious in gideon's tone. ]

So you did not lie with her. [ nailed it. ]