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Chapter 16
Annalise sat by the window in the drawing room and fingered the edge of a correspondence she received earlier that day from Caroline. Caroline had sent her regrets that she wouldn’t be able to attend Annalise’s grand ball, not that Annalise expected her to since Caroline was in mourning. In the letter, she insisted that she needed to be alone, so she’d withdrawn to the Marquess of Roth’s country seat in Devon right after his funeral to stay there until her inevitable marriage to Kensington.
Everybody’s lives had turned upside down in a matter of weeks. Her friends were miserable without a fault of their own. Annalise’s inner turmoil was wreaking havoc on her sanity too.
She hadn’t seen Blake since the night he’d gifted her the kitten. He hadn’t come to her bedroom since, and she wondered if she even wanted him to. The fact that he even for a moment suspected her involvement in his disappearance hurt her beyond any words. She wasn’t certain she was ready to forgive him. He’d said he trusted her with his life, and yet he kept so many things from her. She was the one with the reason not to trust him, not the other way around.
With the day of their grand ball approaching, however, she didn’t have much time to contemplate her feelings toward her husband. She’d deal with it all once the ball was over. Then, she’d be free to leave him if she thought it was her best option.
What about a child?her treacherous heart whispered. Annalise squeezed her eyes shut, praying for there to be a babe in her belly.
The door opened, and Blake entered the room. The kitten followed in his wake and then jumped on Annalise’s lap.
“I see the fiend followed me. We both missed you. Although I more so than Sir Meows-a-lot.”
“Actually…” Annalise chuckled. “It turns out she is a lady. I found out when Ruth and I were bathing her.”
Blake sputtered a laugh. “Are you going to rename her?”
“Well, I am not going to call her Sir.”
“It’s not like she is acting at all like a lady.”
“Hmm.” Annalise thought as she stroked the kitten’s black fur. “Not a lady then. How about Galinthias?”
“I like it. She seems formidable enough to stand up to a Goddess.”
Annalise picked up the kitten and looked into her glowing, green eyes. “Are you Galinthias? Or I can call you Miss Gale for short?”
The kitten meowed, and Annalise laughed. “I think Miss Gale has spoken.”
“Well, I think it fits perfectly,” Blake said.
He continued to say something more, but Annalise felt warm liquid seep out between her legs, and she stilled. Her eyes widened, making Blake halt mid-sentence.
Her courses.
She put the kitten on the floor, excused herself, and rushed to her room. She raised her skirts just to see that she was right. Her courses had started.
Annalise swallowed and blinked back the tears. The hope she was harboring that she might be with child had been dashed at the sight of her blood. She walked to the washing closet to arrange for a padding made of linens. Tears burned at the back of her eyes. and Annalise wanted to scream in anguish.
She rang for Ruth, who helped her dress into her chemise and a dressing gown, and settled into bed. Miss Gale jumped onto the bed the moment Annalise drew the sheets over her body and lay on her belly.
Annalise wiped at her tears. There’d be no babe, at least not soon, and the thought depressed her more than she’d thought it would.
About half an hour later, just as Annalise was drifting off to sleep, a light rap on the door startled her awake.
“Who is it?” she called irritably.
The door opened, and Blake peeked inside. “Are you all right? Your maid told me you prepared for bed… you didn’t even have supper.” He walked into the room and toward the bed with sure strides.
“I am well. Just a little light-headed, that’s all.”
Blake sat on the edge of her bed, startling Miss Gale. She hissed at him, turned a couple of times in place, and settled back on Annalise’s stomach.
“Darling, what is wrong?” Blake looked at her with such tenderness that she felt tears forming at the back of her eyes.
She closed her eyes, and tears streamed down her face. “My courses started today,” she whispered.
