1
Ella Riddell’s engagement-party was supposed to be perfect.
Itwasperfect, she told herself firmly, as she shot a swift, searching smile up toward the tall, handsome man beside her. Alfred, Lord Tovey, the son and sole heir of Lord Culthen of Tlaxca, and quite possibly the most eligible, sought-after bachelor in the realm.
And soon to be Ella’shusband.
“All right, darling?” Alfred asked her, with a meaningful wink. “You’re looking a bit peaked.”
Ella fought back her wince, and pasted a broad smile to her face. “I’m fine, of course,” she said brightly. “How could one not be, on a delightful night such as this?”
Alfred replied with a brief, approving pat to Ella’s shoulder, and then turned his attention to their next well-wisher. An unfamiliar, but very beautiful, very stylish young woman, whose laugh seemed to ring through the room, and whose gloved hand had come to rest on Alfred’s arm with a light, comfortable ease.
Ella purposely pulled her gaze away, blinking toward the lights and music and chatter of the party all around. It was quite possibly the most extravagant soirée Ashford Manor had ever seen, full of well-heeled and well-dressed guests from across the realm — and objectively, it was a crushing success. It was the moment, finally, when Ella had made it. When shebelonged.
And shedidbelong, she told herself, as she held the smile to her face. She wasn’t just a sheep farmer’s daughter anymore. Her skin was perfect and porcelain, even paler than this beautiful woman’s. Her auburn hair was shiny and expertly plaited, without a single tendril out of place, unlike this woman’s. And she was lovelier than this woman, her bust filled out her own stylish dress far better than this woman’s, and the diamonds hanging from her own ears were larger, and far more expensive, than this damned woman’s.
But this woman was still chattering to Alfred, still touching Alfred, now leaning up to impishly whisper something in Alfred’s ear. Something that made Alfred laugh quite heartily, and then — Ella’s throat tightened — he leaned down and whispered something back, his cheek brushing close against hers.
Ella forced her eyes away again, but the party had seemed to blur slightly around her, and she drew in one deep breath, and then another. It was fine. She was fine. Alfred was sure to have many friends, too many to possibly introduce them all — and it was Ella on his arm, Ella who was wearing his ring.Ellahe was marrying.
And, Ella told herself, it washerhe wanted. He’d been the one to travel halfway across the realm to seek out her hand. He’d been the only man who hadn’t once mentioned her massive inheritance, or the peculiar circumstances surrounding her late father’s will. He’d made her laugh, he’d talked cleverly about books and horses and the theatre, he'd whispered reverently of her beauty, his affection, his regard.
And most importantly, late one night when they'd finally escaped Ella’s mother’s hawkish eye, he’d drawn Ella into the sitting room, and laid her gently down upon the couch. And then he’d knelt before her, lifted her skirts, and used his hands and his mouth to bring stars to her eyes.
And it had been —fine. Lovely, even. And in that moment, something in Ella’s mind had finally shuddered and slammed shut, locking away certain ancient, unspeakable longings deep inside. She had to face this. Move on. Accept the reality that Alfred was a perfectly handsome, appropriate, and desirable man. And since his father was technically an earl, he was a man of standing, just as her father’s will had required. And with this marriage, Ella would keep her home, and fulfill all her father’s wishes, and become what her family had always hoped and worked and yearned for.
She would be a real lady, wed to a lord. She wouldmatter.
“My deepest felicitations, Little Miss, Lord Tovey,” said a deep, familiar voice, and Ella gratefully turned toward the interruption. It was their elderly neighbour Mr. Kemp, one of her father’s oldest friends — and he was fixing Alfred with a keen-eyed look which, thankfully, finally sent the lovely woman scuttling away. “When’s the wedding-date?”
“In four weeks,” Alfred replied promptly, with a quick, rather red-faced smile down toward Ella. “A short turnaround, to be sure, but I simply couldn’t stand to waitmonthsbefore my darling could finally join me in Tlaxca.”
Left unsaid, of course, was the fact that Ella’s father’s will had only given a six-month deadline for her marriage — but thankfully, Mr. Kemp didn’t comment, and instead turned his beady gaze toward Ella. “So youaremoving away for good, then, Little Miss?” he asked, his already-furrowed white brows drawing closer together. “I had hoped you might keep a presence here at Ashford Manor. What with these lands being your family’s for so long, and you having spent your whole girlhood roaming about them like a wild little beast.”
Ella ignored the twisting pang in her gut, and opened her mouth to answer — but Alfred was already speaking, giving her another indulgent smile. “My lady’s well beyond such foolishness now, aren’t you, love?” he said smoothly. “We’d far rather sell these lands for a tidy profit, and make our home back east in Tlaxca.”
Ella flinched at that awful wordsell, and she fixed the smile to her face, held her gaze to Mr. Kemp’s visibly confused eyes. “I’m afraid you may have forgotten, Alfred, darling,” she said, her voice wavering, “that it is a specific term of my late father’s will that these lands are not be sold. They’ve been in my family for generations, and they’re to be kept for me, and my father’s grandchildren.”
Alfred shot Ella a narrow, sidelong glance, to which she kept desperately smiling, fighting not to betray the sudden, surging rebellion in her thoughts. She would move out east, but she wouldnotsell her home. She would not throw away her father’s beloved, beautiful house, its sprawling grounds and ancient forest, its breathtaking views of the mountains to the south. Of Orc Mountain, soaring craggy and majestic above them all, puffing out smoke like a rumbling, sleeping dragon.
“Ah, yes, darling, of course,” Alfred said, an instant too late, patting Ella’s arm with his hand. “We’ll rent these lands out to tenants, is what I meant. But we’ll most certainly be moving to Tlaxca, as it’s much more civilized there, and far safer, too. Well away from this ghastly Orc Mountain.”
He gave a practiced little shudder, which was a bit much, considering that it was Alfred’s own lord father who, only five months before, had played a critical role in signing an unprecedentedpeace treatywith said orcs. Halting what had become a near-constant series of raids and thefts and conflicts, in favour of giving the orcs full ownership of their massive mountain, and allowing them to freely wander the lands as they wished.
“Yes, those blasted orcs are a problem, all right,” Mr. Kemp agreed. “I can’t say I blame your lord father for wanting to put an end to all the raids and fighting, but seeing the big brutes running willy-nilly across the countryside has been quite a nasty jolt to us all.”
Thus began a heated discussion about the hideous orcs, and their devious natures, and their barbaric practices, and their horrible habits of stealing away helpless women, in order to sire their massive sons upon them. And while Ella could have participated — of course she properly loathed and feared the orcs, as any proper woman should — she instead found her eyes casting uneasily around the beautiful, bustling room. This was home, and it always would be, no matter where she lived. It would be fine. She would be alady.
“If you’ll excuse me, darling,” Alfred said to her, once Mr. Kemp had finally tottered away. “I’ll be just a moment.”
He didn’t wait for Ella’s reply, and instead just turned and strode off toward the door. Leaving Ella standing there alone, blinking at his back, until several more well-wishers appeared, offering congratulations and good luck. Asking who had made Ella’s beautiful dress, and when was she leaving, and her mother had been such a gracious hostess, and wouldn’t her dear father be so proud that his beloved only child had made such a spectacular match, so soon after his death?
But Ella’s heart had begun skipping oddly, her hands clasping hot and clammy together. And once the well-wishers had finally moved off, she sidled quickly, unobtrusively, toward the room’s small side door. Out into the servants’ back hallway, where she leaned her trembling body against the wood-panelled wall, and closed her eyes, and breathed.
You’ll be fine, my girl, her father had kept insisting, even as he’d had to wheeze for air, and wipe his mouth with his red-stained handkerchief. I’ll not have you lose your rightful home over these fool inheritance laws. I’ll see that you’re looked after. And I’ll even see you made a lady, while I’m at it. Just like you deserve.
Ella had held his shaky hand, and nodded and smiled, and joined him in enthusiastically disparaging his rightful heir, an awful distant cousin up north she’d never met. And all the while she hadn’t truly believed any of it, her wonderful, clever father would surely survive this, and go on to live a long, happy life…
