“Fate...” Hudson repeated the word with a growl, no longer keeping calm.
“I did not mean it to sound callous,” Caroline said. “I simply meant…”
“Fate did not decide this,” Hudson spoke over her. “Fate did not come to my home and poison my wife. Fate did not plan to murder my wife as it looked me in the eye and feigned compassion. Fate did not—” He caught his tongue, a glare nowheld on his stepmother. “It was you, Caroline. I know it was you.”
She leaned back as if struck. “Excuse me?”
“I know what you have done,” he hissed. “Do not lie to me.”
“What I have done?” She tried to pull her hand free, but he would not release it. “Hudson, dear, I understand that you are upset but?—”
“Upset does not come close to how I feel.”
“Which is why I am willing to forget this most insulting of accusations. To imply that I...” She scoffed. “To even think I might have something to do with this. You go too far.”
“Caroline, you have no idea how far I am willing to go.”
“I wish for you to leave.” She wrenched her hand free. “Now, thank you.”
“I am not going anywhere.”
“Do not make me take action,” she said. “You think you can...can intimidate me? You think I fear you? You might be a duke, but you are not above the law, and if you continue to threaten me, I assure you that it will be the last thing you do.”
“Why did you do it?” he snarled at her. “Tell me, why.”
“I did not do this! Your wife is sick, which has brought you despair. You are searching for a means to blame someone, as if that might make you feel better. I am saddened by this, Hudson. And it is only because of how upset you are that I will be willing to forget that this...” She scoffed again. “That this conversation took place.”
He was shaking, his hands curled into fists. “You hate me. You always have.”
“I told you, I do not hate?—”
“And maybe I do deserve it,” he spoke over her. “Maybe I should have treated you better than I did. God, I wish that I had. If I could go back in time and change my actions, I would do it in a heartbeat. But please, Caroline! Please! My wife is innocent in all of this. Do not take your feelings toward me out on her.”
She stood up quickly and stepped around Hudson. “As I have said, I had nothing to do with this. It is a tragedy from which I pray that your wife recovers.”
“You are really going to let her die?” he looked ahead, not willing to turn back as watch as she walked the room. “Are you so cold? So...so evil?”
“I am not letting anything happen! Now, if you do not mind...” She reached the doorway, turned, and pointed past it. “I would like for you to leave.”
He curled his lip, head bowed, still not looking back. “Then I was right about you. This whole time, I was right.”
“Excuse me?”
“And not just me...” He laughed bitterly. “My father too. I always wondered why the two of you married. It never made much sense. I thought perhaps that he loved you...” Another bout of bitter laughter. “Now I see there is nothing to love.”
“How dare you!”
“No doubt he tried,” he continued. “No doubt he did everything he could for you. My father was nothing if not resilient. But you, Caroline...” Finally, he looked back over his shoulder at her and snarled. “You are as unlovable as a corpse. My father, for all his faults, was at least a man of honor and integrity. But where you were concerned, he never stood a chance.”
Her eyes widened with anger. “Is that what you think?”
“I saw your marriage with my own two eyes. It is not what I think, but what I know.”
“Ha!” she cackled. “You saw what you wanted to see—as a spitting image of your father, it is no wonder you refused to seethe truth of it. You...Your Grace,” she spat. “You are the same as him, and here I am, forced to watch history repeat itself. I am saddened by what is happening to Florentia, do not mistake me. However, a part of me sighs with relief because at least she will not have tosufferas I did.”
“Suffer?” Hudson was on his feet, body shaking, hands clenched by his side. “You were welcomed into our home. You were given everything you could ever dream of. Do not speak to me of suffering.”
“Is that how you saw it?” she cried. “Welcomed into your home? I never felt like more of an outcast than I did under that roof! Forced into that marriage, held against my will like a dog on a leash...”
