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“I was hungry.”
“I can have the cook—”
“No need. I am finished and about to return to bed. You may go.”
Suddenly, there was a soft sneeze behind me, and I wished to close my eyes and hang my head.
“I see, Your Grace, pardon me. Good night.” He nodded and took his leave.
Aphrodite rose quickly, rushing to me. “He heard me? What if he—”
“He will say nothing,” I assured her. Had it been anyone else, I would be worried about gossip spreading among the servants by daybreak. “Though we must get you back to your rooms, as I do not know when the other servants awaken.”
She nodded. “Or my brother.”
Now that was even more concerning. “Stay behind me.”
She hurried behind my back, and I did my best not to smile as a memory of her playing with her siblings popped into my head—she always was the best at hiding.
I felt childish hurrying and sneaking through the halls of my own home…but at the same time, it was good fun, and I had not had that in so long that reaching her door was actually wretched.
“Thank you!” she whispered and dashed inside, but before it shut fully, I saw her face through the narrowest sliver of the door. “Good night.”
“Good night, though parting is such sweet sorrow,” I whispered back.
I stood there for a moment, trying to contain my delight. If not for the fact that I worried I would be seen, I might have camped outside her door.
Foolish. I was, but she made me so. And I did not realize when it had happened. At first, she was merely my friend’s sister, my godmother’s daughter. It was only when her mother had written to inform me that she had spoken to my father of a betrothal between Aphrodite and me that I realized I loved her. She was but sixteen at the time, and I was still at Cambridge. It was as if someone had brought light into a dark room. I was so delighted. And it occurred to me then why I had been so dissatisfied with all the other…encounters I’d had before. Why all of those encounters left me feeling more hollow than the last. It was because someone else had taken root in me. So, I wrote to my godmother in return, telling her that I would be pleased to do so but only if Aphrodite was just as eager. I did not know she felt for me more than a brother until I returned. Though she was too shy to have admitted it.
And it felt as though I had finally gotten lucky. My father would accept it. He cared only about himself, our family name, and line. As long as she was part of the nobility, she would do. When he died a year later, I was even overjoyed, for I thought Aphrodite would be spared seeing the ugliness of my family. I would rid myself of them, and we would all start anew. I wished to marry her just then; however, her mother insisted we waited until she was eighteen at least. I agreed for it was only a year away at that point. I would have agreed to anything to have her.
“Um…please…”
I heard it just as I walked past my sister’s door, her whimpering and sobbing.
Not this again.
“So dark…”
I knocked gently, but she did not hear.
“Verity?” I whispered, entering.
She froze stiff upon her bed. Sweat dotted her forehead, and she gripped the sheet.
“Verity!” I called, grabbing her, trying to wake her.
She sat up, gasping for air. “Uh…”
“It is okay,” I said to her as she looked to the left and the right. “You are okay.”
The terror in her eyes was evident, and at that moment, she hugged me, holding on to me tighter. This was the reason I would never forgive them. Not my father, not Datura, not Fitzwilliam. None of them. Ever.
Aphrodite
“Are you sure you cannot stay a moment longer? You have not even eaten breakfast,” Verity asked as I stood at the door. My father had sent a new carriage before first light and demanded we return.
“My papa is expecting us.” I smiled, looking upon her gently, and she hugged me. “I have behaved most irregularly as it is. I cannot possibly stay longer. It is not proper.”
