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She sighed heavily as we parted. “Very well, we will just have to wait to have breakfast together when you are married to my brother.”
My eyes widened, and I tried to find the words to speak. “I—I have yet to accept…I mean your brother has not asked or…”
“I was not allowed to listen to your conversations, but seeing your reaction, as well as the fact that our brothers are now speaking”—she nodded to where Damon and Evander stood at the carriage—“I am positive you shall be my sister at long last.”
“I—” The amused look upon her face reminded me of her brother. “A lady ought not to be smug,” I finally managed, at which she curtsied to me.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Verity!”
She giggled, spun around, and skipped off, completely unaware of the nerves she had left me in. For could it be that easy? I once thought that, and everything had come to a painful halt. What if that were to occur once more? What if it were, as my brother said, ill-fated?
“Odite, are you ready?” Damon called out.
I nodded, hugging myself gently as if to keep all the emotions from spilling out. I was so happy and at ease with Evander in the kitchen. Every time he looked at me, it felt as though he were touching my soul. When I reached the carriage, he outstretched his hand, as did my brother, to help me inside. I took Evander’s hand, and our eyes locked for a moment.
“I shall call on you to speak to your parents,” he stated before my brother could even sit down. “Will you permit me to see you?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
The corner of his mouth turned upward. He nodded and stepped backward, and the driver, with no sense of my desires at all, moved immediately, forcing me to turn to look at him.
“Temper your expectations, sister.”
The look upon my brother’s face troubled me. “I expect nothing—”
“You do. So remember, nothing is set until it is set. Even now, knowing the truth.”
I did not respond, as I knew not how to. Instead, I found myself just thinking and waiting, as always. Waiting to see Mama and Papa so I could tell them all I had learned, thinking of what the information now meant for me—for us. But most of all, wondering why it had happened to him. How long he had suffered and withstood it all alone. How misunderstood he had been.
I was so distracted that the trip back home was nearly instant. I expected everyone only now to be rising for breakfast. The house was still, except for my mother, who stood in the foyer, awaiting us. Upon seeing me, she smiled.
“Well?” She rushed to me. “Did Evander propose?”
“Is that not too soon, Mother—”
“No! It is much overdue,” she snapped, interrupting my brother and taking my hands. “My dear girl, tell me everything. What happened? What did he say—”
“It matters not,” my father interrupted as he walked down the stairs.
My father rarely grew angry with me. Even when I was wrong, he left discipline to my mother. So I was not used to the severity on his face.
“Your behavior, Aphrodite, was unacceptable. Return to your room.”
“Papa, hear me first. This has all been one great misunderstanding—”
“Your room,” he replied sternly.
“Yes, sir,” I muttered.
“And while you are in there, make other arrangements for your future,” Father said as soon as I passed the stairs. “No matter the reason, I shall not accept the duke.”
“Papa!”
“Charles!” My mother gasped.
“Papa, you do not know what—”
