AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Noah woke up with a start. As his consciousness returned, he slowly lowered himself back into bed.
When he had gotten home last night, he’d simply escaped to bed in spite of his father’s yearnings to talk with him. He’d still been shaken and sought to be by himself with his thoughts. It was the only way he could make sense of what happened, while ensuring the next steps he took were the right ones.
Navigating the waters was going to be his greatest challenge yet, especially after the happenings of yesterday. As it stood, he didn’t even know if he was in danger or if the aggression directed at him yesterday was only as a result of his siding with the Marquess of Walsrock.
He was going to need to wait and see what levels of hostility he’d managed to attract. Only then could he ascertain his safety.
News must have eventually filtered into the manor about the happenings at parliament as his father had made one last attempt in the night to try and talk with him.
He’d pretended to be asleep when the message had arrived that his father wanted to have an audience with him. However, when the messenger had left, he’d stayed awake long into the night, reliving the events over and over again in his mind.
When sleep had finally come, it had been sudden and unexpected. One minute he was deep in thought and the next, he was jumping awake out of bed from a sleep that was filled with nightmares.
He looked at his window and found that daylight was streaming in. Even though he had no idea whether it was morning or afternoon, he had no intention of getting up out of bed to do any business.
As he rolled in his sheets, his mind returned to the events from yesterday. None of them in Lord Walsrock’s caucus had seen that defeat coming. If it had stayed at the defeat, it would have been fine. However, what followed next had been complete madness.
Is Lord Walsrock all right?
His mind suddenly centered on the Marquess’ safety and well-being. The truth was that he had no answer to that question. In their haste to leave after witnessing the aggression of the angry Lords, they had separated to their various carriages, as everyone fled for their lives. The Marquess had gone off with Lord Calbrook and that was the last time he had seen both of them.
So a bill that sought to better the lot of others, caused this nonsense?
If he had ever been disgusted with or felt uneasy with the way British high society conducted themselves, yesterday had proved it once more. It had been a nightmare which was years in the making.
Ordinarily, he stayed away from thetonunless he absolutely had to, especially in matters of parliament and very important occasions. His mother had always found his preferences odd and tried till her last breath to get him to imbibe the excessive and superficial culture of their social class. He loved his mother dearly, but even he knew that her priorities were off.
His father’s wealth didn’t help matters, either. It meant that even amongst high society, they were still exalted. In fact, there were very few gentlemen in Britain who were wealthier than his father. This wealth and its availability had not only spurred his mother’s excesses on, but had also encouraged her superficiality.
How he had managed to remain level-headed and not get swept up in the glamour of it all had remained a mystery. And the truth was, he had always been this way, preferring the realities of a normal and prudent existence, to that of an entitled and pretentious one.
It was also the reason why he had fallen for Anna.
Not oblivious of the grudge between both families, he’d watched on for years. His discovery was as amazing as it was confusing;
Like me, Anna never cared for the resentment between both of our families.
He’d begun paying closer attention to her and was further relieved to find out that she, just like him, was pretty level-headed. Of course, she had her mother to thank for such an influence.
Her mother is and has always been the most level-headed member of Britain’s high society, after all.
Her priorities weren’t misplaced and she, like him, avoided the shackles of triviality and frivolity. And then the questions within him began.
Why did he have to avoid her because his own mother couldn’t let things go when she didn’t have her way? Why did he have to inherit a grudge he didn’t support in the first place? Why couldn’t his mother see that she was the only one who wanted this war and it was ruining the lives of their family?
In any case, he stayed away till that fateful incident at the time they’d become young adults.
When he had arrived at the party, he remembered feeling so much relief at finding out that she was also in attendance. However, when tragedy struck, he had been overcome with worry at her absence. It was because he was, in fact, paying such close attention to her that he had noticed when she was no longer with them.
Without a moment’s thought, he had set out on his own to go find her. His heart had raced when he saw her lying in the ditch almost lifeless. She must have screamed for help continuously till she was drained.
He’d rushed to her side and rescued her, yet she couldn’t stand on her own. She’d hurt herself and needed to be carried away from there.
I could easily have gone back to get reinforcements. Instead I chose to pick her up and take her back toward the house.
That had been their first contact.
