Page 66 of Two Blessings For His Duchess
“He asked, with that insufferable, mocking smirk of his, if the Duke truly knew the full extent of your upbringing,” Seraphina said softly. “He kept implying that you were not a proper lady, that you were entirely unsuited for the title, and he practically demanded to know if the duke was aware of the... gaps in your history.”
“We told him to leave, of course,” Leonora added, lifting her chin. “Seraphina and I managed to send the man away before he could cause a scene in front of the entire ballroom, but his tone was almost threatening, Effie. He was deliberately trying to intimidate us.”
Euphemia felt devastated, a cold, hollow sensation expanding beneath her ribs. She looked blindly toward the pond where the girls were playing, her mind racing. It was clear that whatshe had done in the past to offend Lord Finch, the man was completely incapable of letting it go. He was still holding a bitter grudge, and the secret surrounding his hostility remained a shadow hanging over her head.
If he continued to whisper these malice-dripping insinuations to society, it was only a matter of time before the rumors reached the very worst corners of theton.
“You must not let him frighten you,” Seraphina whispered, squeezing her arm reassuringly. “We handled him. He is nothing but a bitter, small-minded man.”
Euphemia offered a tight, fragile nod, though her thoughts were miles away. The threat of Lord Finch only magnified the profound isolation she had been enduring for the past month.
“Let us change the subject,” Seraphina said gently, adjusting her posture. “Tell us, Effie... how are you faring with everything else? Truly?”
Euphemia looked down at her hands, the energy draining from her entirely. She was at a point where she did not even have the strength to hide the truth. She was too exhausted, too thoroughly worn down by the warfare of the past month to weave a comforting lie for her family’s sake.
“Nathaniel and I are in a terrible place,” she confessed straight off, her voice cracking slightly before she steadied it. “He is not speaking to me, and I am not speaking to him. I am strictly keeping my distance because that is what he insists works bestfor us. It is what he wants. The truly maddening part is that I do not understand why. He refuses to tell me anything.”
Seraphina and Leonora immediately exchanged a long, heavy look... a silent communication that Euphemia caught instantly.
Her eyes narrowed, her defenses rising. “What does that mean? Why did you look at each other like that?”
“Well,” Leonora began slowly, smoothing a hand over her skirts. “It is odd.”
“Odd?” Euphemia asked.
“Yes,” Seraphina added. “It is not at all what we would have imagined would happen between you two, given how he reacted the day you swooned.”
Euphemia halted on the path, staring at them. “What do you mean? How he reacted?”
Seraphina drew closer. “We were not able to explain it to you properly at the time, Effie. Everything was so chaotic, and we had to leave the estate the next day. But the afternoon you fainted in the drawing room... when Nathaniel rushed into the chamber, he called you Effie.”
Euphemia felt her breath catch in her throat. Her heart gave a sudden thud. “He... he called me what?”
“Effie,” Seraphina repeated with a firm nod. “I mean, that nickname has only ever been reserved for the three of us. You can imagine our absolute astonishment when he burst through those doors using a name he had no business knowing, let alone speaking with such familiarity.”
“He did,” Leonora chimed in. “Also, he looked entirely beside himself with worry. The moment he saw you pale, all his grand composure simply vanished. He scooped you up into his arms and carried you all the way up the grand staircase to your bedchamber. Effie, it looked like something straight out of a romance book. He was completely frantic. He was yelling at the servants to fetch the family physician immediately, his voice booming through the corridors. Once the doctor arrived, he refused to leave your side. He stayed right there, watching over you.”
Leonora sighed softly. “It was just so deeply surprising. He looked like a man terrified of losing something precious.”
Euphemia stood entirely frozen on the gravel path, the warmth of the afternoon sun suddenly feeling entirely detached from her skin. Her mind raced backward, vividly painting the scene her sisters had just described.
For a wild, traitorous second, a tiny ember of hope flared to life in the deepest, darkest corner of her heart. Why would he do such a thing if he truly felt nothing? Why would a man so utterly obsessed with distance and protocol allow his walls to fracture so completely in front of the entire household?
But almost as quickly as the questions rose, Euphemia ruthlessly snuffed them out.
She was not going to do this to herself again. She refused to read grand, romantic meanings into a momentary lapse in his behavior. She had already learned the agonizing cost of building castles out of his fleeting warmth. When it truly mattered, when they had stood face-to-face in his study, he had made his desires painfully clear. He had told her that he was incapable of giving her anything more, that he refused to be responsible for her happiness, and that distance was the only path forward.
Perhaps his panic during her swoon had merely been a reaction to the sudden disruption of his orderly world, or a basic sense of duty to the woman who managed his household.
It didn’t matter.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said to her sisters. “Perhaps that is the problem entirely. He does not want to care. Even if, deep down, he is capable of being that kind of person, the man who would carry me or call me by a name meant only for those who love me, it is simply not who he wants to be. He has made his choice abundantly clear, so I refuse to read any meaning into what happened. It changes nothing.”
Seraphina and Leonora stopped walking, exchange another look before turning fully toward her. Seraphina reached out, gently grasping Euphemia’s hands.
“Effie, listen to me,” Seraphina said quietly. “If this is how it is to be, if he intends to remain this unyielding, you do not have to endure it. It is entirely acceptable if you want to end this marriage.”
Euphemia blinked repeatedly before lowering her head.
