Page 24 of Haunted Hearts

Seven

“What did you say?”Blaze thought at first that he’d misheard Lillith and that she had said he was betrothed to her sister. Then, when he saw her eyes close and the tension on her face, he knew that he hadn’t misheard a thing. Lillith twirled the end of her hair around her finger the way she always did when she was bothered deeply.

“She said you’re marrying her sister, not her,” said Emery, leaning closer to Blaze and speaking in a low voice.

“I heard what she said, you fool,” said Blaze with a clenched jaw. Everyone watched from the filled trestle tables, all still holding their goblets of wine in the air. Blaze began to panic. “Lillith, what is going on?” He talked to her but kept his eyes out on the rest of the people. The smile remained on his face but it was far from real.

“I’m sorry, really I am,” said Lillith. Tears formed in her eyes. “My uncle purposely didn’t write Serena’s name on the betrothal proposal, knowing you would think he meant me.”

“Obviously. Now, tell me everything before I explode.” Blaze looked directly at her now. She had opened her eyes and was staring up at him too. Sadness showed in her big blue orbs that seemed to change from the color of a summer’s sky to that of an approaching storm in a matter of seconds. It was evident that this deceitful act was not to her liking nor of her doing either. That should make Blaze feel better he supposed, but it didn’t.

“Uncle Arthur . . . he really wants an alliance,” she continued. “I mean, now that Father is gone and Uncle Arthur has no real qualms with you, he decided it would be a good thing to do.”

“Did he also think it was a good idea to enter into an alliance with such deception?” asked Blaze, biting off his words. He felt so frustrated he was ready to shout, but tried to keep his voice down so the entire manor wouldn’t hear his private conversation.

“Well, no,” said Lillith. “I mean, I don’t agree with his methods at all.”

“I can’t align with someone I don’t trust.”

“Blaze, to be fair, that is what alliances are for, aren’t they? To bring enemies together.”

Blaze shook his head, unable to believe this was happening to him. Just when he finally thought his troubles were behind him, now they were staring him in the face instead. “What your uncle did is not right at all.”

“I believe my uncle only did it because he thought if he put Serena’s name down on the contract, you might say no.”

“And he would have been damned right about that.”

“Oh,” said Serena, holding a hand to her mouth, looking like she was about to cry.

“No disrespect to you, Lady Serena,” Blaze told her. “I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful wife to some man someday. Just not me.”

Serena whimpered.

Lillith reached out and placed her hand over her sister’s arm to try to calm her and then glared at him. “Blaze, you are scaring her. Now, please stop it. She did nothing wrong.”

Blaze lowered his cup, staring down in anger at Lillith. “Nay, that was your uncle who did something worthy of starting not just another feud, but a battle this time. Possibly even a war.”

“Stop exaggerating,” she scoffed.

“Lillith, I didn’t agree to marry your sister. I was led to believe I was agreeing to marry you.”

“I saw the contract,” Lillith told him. “It said Lady Bonnel. Why didn’t you ask which one before you signed it?”

“I didn’t think I needed to,” he replied, now feeling like a fool. “Everyone knows we planned on marrying one day. We had a verbal agreement from our fathers. I won’t go through with this wedding unless my betrothed is you, Lilly.”

That only seemed to make Lillith even more upset. Especially since he called her Lilly. This was something that only he called her. It had always made her feel special in the past. Now, it seemed to make her feel miserable instead.

“My lord, everyone is waiting,” said Emery under his breath, still holding his cup in the air and forcing a smile.

“Let them wait. I need this settled, and fast.” Blaze banged his cup down on the table, waiting for answers and solutions to this newfound problem.

“I knew I shouldn’t have stood up,” said Serena in a meek voice, hurriedly sitting back down and keeping her eyes lowered.

“Lillith, you need to get your uncle to change the betrothal,” he told her.

“H-he can’t,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Why not?” asked Blaze. “I want to marry you. Don’t you want to marry me?”