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“Because I am!” he screamed. “I am the most misfortunate one, and you are the villain you so clearly wish to make me out to be!”
He was mad, truly and deeply. “You see no fault in yourself? You sincerely believe the world to be your enemy? Fitzwilliam, do you not see the ruin you have left in your wake! And now you dare call me the villain! Me!”
“You are—”
“Evander!” Aphrodite rushed up behind me.
“Get back inside.”
“But—”
“Go!” I snapped. She did as I ordered.
“You suffered one setback in your life.” Fitzwilliam laughed bitterly, his whole body shaking. “Only one, Evander, and yet you grieved and sought to chase me to the end of the world. Now look at yourself. In the end, did you not still get what you desired? In the end, is not all the world at your feet? Why must you seek to poison my life?”
“It is you who poisons yourself!” I hollered back. “It is your greed! It is your desire, your viciousness, and your cruelty that has brought us to this point! You had other paths before you and chose not to accept them. You and your damned mother. Had she known her place, your life would not have been so! Blame her if you seek someone to admit fault!”
“You—you, curse you!” He spat in my face. “I shall sue you and proclaim it is all a lie, and I am sure the magistrate shall hear my plea! You have slandered me. And you shall pay!”
“I know nothing of what you speak,” I lied, dusting off my clothes. “Once more, I must tell you to get off my property, Fitzwilliam, for you are a mad fool, and I shall not tolerate you a second longer.”
“And you are the bigger one, little brother. The greatest and cruelest of them all!” He cursed before marching down the stairs and then was upon his horse with ease.
“Fetch me my horse,” I ordered.
I needed a plan.
“Where are you going?” Aphrodite asked from behind me.
I did not have an answer for her. When my horse arrived, I was upon it and took to the forest myself. My mind reeled as I sought a way to prevent this from going even further out of control. For if Fitzwilliam could trace the papers back to Aphrodite, he very well could press libel charges against her, and the magistrate would most surely refuse to look the other way. I could prove the truthful parts of her words, but what I needed now more than anything was another witness. Proof of my claim. And my only chance to acquire it very well might have been gone now, for Fitzwilliam seemed more likely to be returning to town than his home.
I was just about to come upon Ponsonby when I saw her from the corner of my eye, standing over a rocky bank above the rushing river below.
No! No! No!
“Marcella!” I called out to the girl, riding faster toward her.
She turned to me, her eyes swollen red and tears falling down her cheeks. Jumping off the horse, I sought to get closer. “Marcella, it is all right. Come back this way.”
“It is not all right,” she cried out, grabbing her head. “I do not know when it went wrong. How it all went so wrong.”
“You surely will not find out like this,” I explained. “Come, let us talk…”
“He is so angry. I cannot go back,” she sobbed, shaking and taking another step back.
“Then you do not have to. Come, let us talk. This is dangerous. Take my hand.”
She shook her head. “He is my husband. I have to go back…I do not want to.”
“Marcella! Please, do not let him do this to you. There has to be another way, we—”
“There is no other way.” She wiped her face and inhaled.
“Marcella—”
“Tell the duchess thank you for being kind to me,” she said. With all my might, I ran toward her.
“No!”
