Page 12 of Lord of the Lost

“You kissed her!” he cried, his face bright red. “I witnessed it, Your Grace. I witnessed it and I will not keep a scandalous secret! All of England shall know of it, I say, unless you do the right thing! Yes, Your Grace, the right thing!”

Devlin sighed. He had known where this was leading, although he had hoped to prevent that demand. He considered the idea, watching the intensity of Roland’s reaction, and wondered how he, himself, could feel so little about it. That grey ice had closed around his mind and heart again, born of shame – for he had brought this upon himself, and upon Mona, who deserved far better. Surely, he should have reacted to Roland’s demand with more than cold acceptance? Where was the spark of indignation? Were his words manifestations of aught real? Or was he a spectre pretending to be a man?

“The right thing,” Devlin echoed. He sighed. He had not planned to kiss her. He had not planned any of this. He had hardly planned to send her the note. He had been curious. That was all. Curious to see if Mona could make me feel a blasted thing. “The right thing,” he repeated, and sighed again. “Yes, yes, of course.” He waved a hand. “I will do the right thing.” He turned to Mona, bowed his head. “You would do me great honour, Lady Desdemona, if you would agree to be my wife.” He turned back to Roland without waiting for her reaction. “With your permission, of course. Are you satisfied, Lord Eldwood?”

“I…”

Roland looked dumbfounded. He had not expected it to go along as easily as that, Devlin saw. What Roland didn’t know was that it mattered little to Devlin who or when or in what circumstances he married. Nothing mattered much to him, in the haunted grey place that he inhabited, nothing but dreams of infantry formations and bloodied limbs and dying children and jeering generals and poor young men with frayed breeches being slaughtered by the dozen for this or that piece of mud.

“Are you satisfied?” Devlin repeated.

“I… yes.”

Roland looked as if he was about to say more, but Devlin, with only a single glance at Mona’s shocked face, turned and walked off into the wet darkness.

~~~~~

One moment, Mona was being kissed by Devlin, just as she had dreamed she would be, for all of those lonely years, the next, he had spun away from her, pushing her behind him as he drew out a knife. She went where he pushed her, as her mind sorted through the last few moments, and realised what she had heard.

Roland!

Roland had, obviously, followed her down the hill. Her luck had been terrible – he must have been still up, probably in his study, and heard her on the stairs. She turned her attention back to Devlin as he called out, and realised, in that moment, that Devlin had been startled into thinking that he was back on a battlefield. What terrible things had he experienced, to be so triggered into action by a single unexpected shout?

She needed to get through to him, lest her brother come too close, and something terrible happen!

“Stop, Devlin, stop! It is Roland!”

Devlin froze where he stood, shook himself, as if shaking away something which cloaked him, then turned to her, just as Roland stepped through the gate. From there, everything which happened took on an even greater sense of unreality than had the moments leading up to that kiss.

All of the warmth she had seen in Devlin, all of the hints of the boy he had been, disappeared. He became cold, almost haughty. He did not even look at her when her brother demanded that he ‘do the right thing’ – he simply turned to her, offered her a formal proposal without waiting for her answer, then, after her brother’s acknowledgement, simply stalked off into the darkness.

Mona could barely breathe, she was so shocked. Neither of them had even asked if she wanted this! The fact that, perhaps, she did, did not change that omission on their part. She had always wanted Devlin, but Devlin as he was now… that thrilled her and frightened her in equal measure.

The silence extended, then Roland turned to her. She could see, from his expression, that he was about to lecture her – and suddenly she couldn’t bear it – he was four years her junior, and he had become utterly impossible since their father’s death, and taking on the title.

Anger rose within her.

“How dare you! Did you even think to ask if I want to marry Devlin?”

Roland stopped, his eyes widening, and his face becoming rather red.

“Why should I need to ask? I would have thought that the fact of you permitting him to kiss you was quite enough evidence that you would be happy to marry him! And, for all that’s holy, I’m not blind to the fact that you’ve been pining for him for eleven years! Regardless of all of that – it’s done, you will marry him. Mother will be beyond shocked that you have behaved with so little propriety, but she’ll be delighted about the fact of you finally marrying.”

Mona felt the anger drain out of her. He was right – how else could he have interpreted the situation?

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Now come home, and we can face telling Mother in the morning.”

With that, he turned and went back through the gate. After a moment, Mona trailed after him, her mind in turmoil – of all the things she’d thought might happen tonight, ending up betrothed had not been on the list.

~~~~~

A month had passed, and late March had brought the first signs of spring, with brighter days, and the early spring flowers. The banns had been read the requisite three times, to many whispers in the church and then in the village – not that anyone objected, for there was no cause, but everyone was fascinated, and a little scandalised that the betrothal had come so fast after the Duke’s return, while he was still in mourning.

Now, today, she would be married. She had woken with the dawn to prepare, yet was barely ready in time – nothing seemed real, even now, when she stood before the huge cheval mirror in her dressing room, looking at the apparition it reflected back to her. She had never looked so beautiful – surely that woman was not her? Yet she knew that it was.

Her dress was of a soft misty green, embroidered with dark green leaves around the hem, and the neckline – green leaves which made her eyes seem brighter, so closely did they match in colour.