Sebastian’s laugh was sudden and booming. Evidently, she’d surprised him. He threw his hands up, the final gesture of a man so absolutely destitute that there was nothing left to do but laugh and tell the truth.
“You were…amazing. Good enough to break the law.”
“You think so? About the law, I mean? I think I’d be crushed ifnothing changed from this.”
Sebastian thought on that for a bit. “The law is strange. Things don’t always have a clear cause and effect. But if something ever does happen for the Society or for medicine, then no one will ever be able to say that Lady Brightwater did not contribute.”
And that…well, damnit, that was just exactly the right thing to say.
Augusta, so quickly overwhelmed with an emotion toward her husband that terrified her - that sinking, encompassing love, that stupid, blinding affection that had gotten her into the worst predicament of her life - that she turned away from Sebastian and took a few steps.
She’d felt it at the rally, lying on the ground and looking over at him, but they’d been in the open, where the heat of her feelings could dissipate into the cold winter air. Here, the room was too thick with it all. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stave off the insanity of falling for the man who had so thoroughly destroyed her.
And yet, that was where this was headed. She had kicked and screamed against it, staying focused on the speech, but now it stared her in the face: she was married to Sebastian Brightwater, and she would fall in love with him again. Perhaps she was already in love with him.
“Since it appears I finally have you as a captive audience,” came Sebastian’s voice, his tone cautious, “I’d just like to say that, erm, well, I did love you.Dolove you. Early on, it was a lie, but now I don’t believe that any man could spend the kind of time with you that I have and not fall in love. That is why I was so upset with the Doctor, I think. I felt that he’d taken your time from me, and if he had your time, then it must mean that he loved you, too.”
Were she reading this in a novel, Augusta may have laughed atsuch a convoluted way of thinking. Hearing it said aloud - and to herself, no less - left her with that sensation of falling deep, deep, deep into something bottomless.
“I don’t know if I can believe it right away.” Even admitting that made her feel weak, but it also lifted a burden from her that she had not even realized she’d been carrying around.
“I understand. I know that I have a ways to go before my words mean anything to you, but I can’t seem to stop myself from saying them anyways.”
She had to be brave. She had to face him. In a rush, she turned back, and in doing so, caught the expression of absolute dejection upon his face before he composed himself.
“I think, when we do get out of here, I might quite like our time up north together.” It was the most that she was willing to put on the table for him.
One might think that she had handed him the world. He suppressed a smile that reminded Augusta just how handsome he was, when she did not hate him.
“If I kissed you right now, would you hit me?” Sebastian asked. “I might do it even if you do hit me, but it would hurt quite badly right now, and I’d like to be prepared.”
“If you could refrain, that would be nice, old chap,” came Reginald’s dry voice from outside the cell.
Augusta jumped at the sound of it. She had not noticed her brother approaching, and his presence broke whatever spell her husband had cast upon her, for she had just decided that if he did kiss her, she would not hit him.
“Oh, Reginald,” she sighed in relief. “Are you here to bring us home?”
“Yes, much to my surprise.” After a long-suffering sigh, he added, “I just paid for your bail, they’ll be here in a few moments with the keys.”
“Thank goodness,” Sebastian said. “Then we can go home and wash this place off of ourselves.”
“Not so,” Reginald said curtly, casting a deadly look at his friend. “The three of us will be going straight to the train station and heading north. I’ve already got both of our staff packing our bags, they will meet us there.”
He fixed his eyes upon Augusta then and added, “Word has already spread of the rogue viscountess in prison.”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly rogue,” she protested. “Lord Bancroft was there, too.”
“Oh, I am quite aware. I heard him ranting at the guards all the way from the lobby. His cousin will be here soon to post his bail. I could do it for him, but frankly I think it’s good for him to have a little time to sit and think, let the piss of this place really get on his clothes.”
Before Augusta or Sebastian could say anything more, an officer appeared, dangling keys from his hand.
Wordlessly, he unlocked the cell and swung the door open, gesturing for the two of them to step out.
Augusta was about to hurry when she felt something in her hand. Looking down, she saw that Sebastian had taken her hand in his, firmly, claiming ownership of his ‘rogue’ wife.
She said nothing, but warmth bloomed in her chest, and it felt quite like floating as the two of them exited the jail cell.
At the lobby, Sebastian paused. Casting a look back at Augusta, he stepped away, heading toward the front desk.
