Page 32 of Noble Charms

“How dare you,” said another. “Someone call a copper. This must be reported.” The crowd picked up, then. Some standing to their feet, some making their way towards Aria at the door. He heard the words magic muzzle. Police. Arrested. Forbidden.

Aria took a step back as his world narrowed to a point around his broken heart. He met Romy’s eyes behind the bar. She mouthed the word, “Go.”

He didn’t remember making the decision to sprint away, down the cobblestone street, dodging carriages and pedestrians. He couldn’t outrun his fate, but still, he tried.

NOBLE

Across the city, Earl Noble Yves sat with his fingers steepled, elbows upon his knees, staring with incredible focus at his wife.

His…ex-wife.

Virginia paced back and forth, her short black heels clip-clip-clipping upon the thick plank hardwoods of their luxurious townhome in Harbinger Bay, positioned only steps away from the expansive West River that ran through New Hieroph City. “It’s for the best, Noble. You know that it is.” Her hands tightened upon her many thick layered skirts, maroon red to match her lips.

Noble took a breath before he said, “You’re right. I do know what’s best, and I’m sorry, Virginia, this isn’t it. We can work through this. We haven’t even tried anything different yet, anything that may satisfy whatever desires have you running from me.”

She threw her hands to the latticed ceiling above, as if speaking to the choir of Elysium. “Stop. Noble. Stop. This doesn’t need to be hard. It’ll serve us both to walk away peacefully. As friends.”

Noble wanted to drop to his knees—nearly did—but his chest ached so deeply that he had to brace a hand against his sternum, and couldn’t move for fear of making it worse. “How could we ever possibly be friends? You’re talking about divorce. You’re my wife, and you no longer want to be.”

“I don’t want to leave.” For the briefest of moments, Noble’s frozen heart pulsed with hope. But then she clarified. “I am leaving.” She then clip-clip-clipped her way across the room and crouched in front of Noble. She hesitated before placing her hands upon his arms, pulling his hands into hers. “It’s over, Noble. I have to do this. I’ll go mad if I don’t.”

A bell rang from the front door. Noble couldn’t even muster a reaction at the unexpected sound, staring deeply into the powdered face of his soon-to-be ex-wife.

She pursed her lips and said, “I’m going to give you the night to cool off.”

Noble raised his brows, more confused by that statement than anything else she’d said the whole evening. He was cool—unreasonably calm, given the circumstances. He was confused, yes, but not once had he raised his voice. He couldn’t. His voice barely worked at all. He had managed to choke out one question after the next—did I do something? Can I do something? Will you please give me another chance?—and had gotten no answers. “Just tell me why.”

“Tomorrow, at Cafe DuLonde. Ten in the morning. We’ll talk about the finer details then. Okay?” The bell from the front door rang again. Virginia stood up and said, “That’s my carriage. I’ll be staying at our estate just out of town.”

Our estate? How could she use the word our for anything? She was leaving him. But Noble couldn’t manage any reply except, “Fine then, Virginia. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She gave him a watery smile and took off, snatching a carpet bag off a settee. She opened and closed the front door with record speed, and he heard her heeled shoes clip-clip-clip down their front steps. His front steps. His alone.

Noble sat in quiet awe, perhaps quiet horror, for an hour. And then Morgan arrived.

“Noble? Why are you sitting in the dark?” Morgan turned the dial on the wall-mounted gas lamp, which turned on all the connected lights in the sitting room. When the shadows peeled from Noble’s face, Morgan jolted in alarm. “Noble. What happened?”

“Virginia,” he said, voice hoarse. He swallowed a frog, took a breath, and said, “Virginia has left. She’s divorcing me.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“She told me tonight. Packed up a bag and… She’s gone to stay at the estate out of town for the night. But we’re having breakfast tomorrow. Cafe DuLonde. Ten.”

Morgan grabbed hold of Noble’s shoulder and shook him. “What else? What did she say?”

The touch did the trick, pulling Noble out of his daze. He blinked a few times, and looked into Morgan’s face. An anger that had been hiding behind a blanket of awe roared within his chest. “Nothing. She told me nothing. I asked. I even—gods, humiliating as it is, I begged. But she left without a word. I don’t know why she’s doing this.” He stood up, marched to the foyer, and grabbed the coat hanging there. “But I’m going to find out.”

“Whoa, whoa. Where are you going?” Morgan already pulled on his coat. “Sorry. I meant: where are we going?”

“The estate.”

“Is that a good idea?”

It was a terrible idea, Noble knew. But his anger and frustration overrode every other sensibility. He had to know what Virginia was doing out there, by herself, at the estate. “I’m not going to barge in. I won’t even talk with her, if she doesn’t want to.”

“Then…"

Noble chewed his lip for a minute before rounding to Morgan and facing him directly. “Do you think Virginia has someone else?”