AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, Ness, my heart aches for you.” Juliet reached out to grab her leg again. “But you must hold on. I know you are drowning in the darkness and there doesn’t seem to be any hope. There is. I believe every day will get better, bit by bit. It will. And if you can’t believe it, then I will believe it for you.”
Her bottom lip jutting upward, Ness swallowed hard and then nodded. “I want to believe you. I do.”
Juliet smiled. “To that end, you have some color in your cheeks. Which is better than yesterday. So today is already a little bit better.”
A soft chuckle came from Ness’s lips. “I do see.” She pointed to Juliet’s right arm. “Now tell me what is wrong with your arm? I haven’t seen this before.”
“The bandage?” Juliet looked down at her right arm. She’d had the dressmaker remove the right sleeve on one of the dresses she brought so the wrapping wouldn’t have to fit under a sleeve. She’d then tugged on a long glove she’d modified by removing the hand. The rest of the glove stretched from her wrist upward to keep her arm warm, and it was so much more comfortable.
Now was not the time to mention Gilroy shooting her with an arrow.
Juliet shook her head, dismissing the wound. “This—it is nothing. Just a slight accident that happened days ago, but the bandage has been covered under my clothes.”
Ness’s eyes went to slits as she studied Juliet’s face. “A slight accident with who?”
“Truly, it is of no concern, Ness. Just an unfortunate slice across my arm that needs to heal with this bulky wad of bandages. The wrapping makes it look harsher than it is.”
Ness nodded, but then her head stilled and she pinned Juliet with a desperate look. “Be careful around him, Juliet.”
“Who?”
“My husband.”
“What?” Juliet waved her left hand in front of her, her brow furrowed and still trying to dismiss the accident. “Why?”
Ness’s head shook. “I should have told you earlier. He’s talked about you.”
Her head snapped back. “He has?”
“He’s wondered out loud whether you are already with child.”
“With child? Why would he care?”
“I don’t know what he plans.”
Juliet’s chest tightened. “And if I was with child?”
“I don’t know that he would let it stand. He has said as much.”
“Not let it stand?” Juliet’s head shook slowly, not quite believing what Ness was telling her. “What exactly did Gilroy say?”
“That you being pregnant would not do. It would have to end.” Ness leaned forward, her voice in a whisper. “He’s evil, Juliet. He’s never been right, not in all the time I’ve known him. If he says something needs to end. It does. People disappear.”
“What?” An icy chill ran down Juliet’s spine. “Why did you marry him?”
“I wasn’t given a choice.”
Juliet nodded, stiffly leaning back in the chair.
So many women weren’t given the choice. Ever.
That had been the one saving grace of leaving her family to become the viscount’s mistress—her father never had the chance to sell her hand off to the highest bidder, which had been a very real possibility for the amount of debt he’d been in.
A crooked smile cracked Ness’s lips. “I do not want you to leave Whetland, for you have been the only friend I’ve had in the last four years. But I worry for your safety.”
“As I worry on yours,” Juliet said, and then stood. “I will think on all of this. And I will help you in whatever way I can, I swear it.”
Ness nodded, picking back up the comb she had set on the bed minutes ago, and started through the rest of the wet snarls in her hair.
