“I understand,” Celeste murmured. “And I think that sounds very brave.” She kissed Leah on the cheek, then hopped up into the carriage. All the sisters waved as the carriage began to trundle away, Vivian’s carriage right behind it. Leah waved aswell, her heart surprisingly light. Even though it was sad to see everyone go, she felt more hopeful than she had in a long time.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to live a life for herself, without Dorian. For the first time, she was beginning to see how it might have an appeal. She could host parties here, in the countryside, with her friends and family. She could find a female companion and maybe even travel. It would be difficult to move on from her feelings for Dorian, but with time, and the support of her sisters, perhaps she would.
I can still have a life I love, even if I can’t live it with the man I love.
It was a warm day, so she decided not to return to the house, but instead, to take a walk. The lake would be beautiful in the temperate weather, so she headed away from the house and down the hill, humming to herself as she did so.
There’s so much I can still do,she thought, as the lake came into view,I am better off this way than unmarried and without children. At least now I have a position and wealth. There is so much I have to be grateful for.
She crested the top of the hill and the lake came into view, blue and glinting in the autumn sunshine. She felt her heart leap. Maybe she would go for a swim, now that she was free to do so. Dorian wasn’t here to stop her and tell her that she might drown or catch a cold. She could make her own decisions now. This surely had to be another upside to living a life without him.
She began to walk down the hill, passing a cluster of trees, the house now invisible from where she stood. It was just as she was passing the trees that she saw something odd. At the opposite side of the lake, half-hidden behind more trees, appeared to be a carriage.
She stopped, then squinted down at the lake.Am I seeing that right? Why would there be a carriage down by the lake?
Then her heart leapt. Could it be Dorian? Had he come to surprise her? But this thought had just begun to take shape when she felt something hard press against the back of her head. Something hard, cold, and metallic, was pressing exactly where her head met her neck.
Leah froze. Even without turning, she knew exactly what it was that was pressed against her head. And she had a terrible feeling she knew who was holding the gun.
“Stay quiet,” a ragged voice said. She knew to whom that voice belonged. It was Lord Benedict Dubois.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Your Grace--are you alright?” The butler stared at Dorian with alarm the moment he crossed the threshold of his London townhouse. “You look as if you were in a fight!”
“I wasn’t in a fight,” Dorian slurred, swaying back and forth on the spot. “I was just--”hiccup“--drinking at the club! And then I attempted to walk home, because I could not find my--”hiccup“--driver! The carriage is lost, I tell you!”
The butler frowned at Dorian, then glanced over his shoulder into the dark night. “I am sure the driver is looking for you, Your Grace,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to arrive home at any moment worried out of his mind.”
“There’s nothing to w-worry about,” Dorian hiccuped again. “I’m fine!”
“My lord… you are clearly not fine.”
The butler didn’t usually take such liberties, but as he helped Dorian out of his jacket, it was clear that things had gotten bad enough that he was finally taking charge. “You have been coming home drunk every night for the past few days. Not only is it not suitable to your rank , but it is downright worrisome! The staff and I are deeply concerned for your wellbeing, especially now that Her Grace is gone, and we think--”
“Do not mention Her Grace to me again,” Dorian snarled, suddenly and irrationally angry. His butler took a step back, his eyes widening. “I am going to my study.”
Turning abruptly, Dorian marched away from his butler, leaving him looking confused and guilty. Dorian knew he would feel bad for his behavior in the morning, once he sobered up. But for now, he could not bear to hear the man talk about his wife. It was too painful.
When he reached his study, Dorian immediately poured himself another drink. He threw back the brown liquor, then set his hands on the sideboard and tried to catch his breath.
You’re drunk,a voice said behind him, making Dorian nearly jump out of his skin. Whirling around, he saw no one. The study was dark--he hadn’t lit any candles--but he could still tell, even in the gloom, that no one was there.
The only person he could see was the painted portrait of his father, above the desk.
“Ahh, so you’ve finally decided to start speaking to me,” Dorian said, a cold smile licking along his mouth. “I really must be drunk then. That, or I’m finally losing my mind.”
I wouldn’t be surprised,the portrait said, without moving its lips.It runs in the family.
“Liliana didn’t lose her mind!” Dorian shouted. “She wasn’t depressed or hysterical or mad! She was just miserable married to a man who abused her. She showed me the bruises ! You would have killed yourself, too, if you had no escape from someone who treated you thus.”
The portrait just seemed to sneer down at him.Many women have married men they didn’t like. Not all of them were so weak as to destroythemselves. Not all of them were so disobedient.
“If anyone in our family was out of his mind, it was you,” Dorian snapped. “You were the one who was cruel to us for no reason, who treated mother as if she were lower than a dog. You are the one who should have been locked up in Bedlam.”
His father’s portrait laughed.It wasn’t your sister I was referring to, you know.
Dorian glared up into his father’s cold, loveless eyes. “Of course it was. You made a speech about it at her funeral! About how she had always been weak in the head, how you had suspected there was something wrong with her, even when she was a child. It was all hogwash, of course! She was perfectly sane and normalbefore you married her off against her will. But you slandered her in public, in order to preserve your own reputation.”
