Page 75 of Project Duke

“Neither would I,” she whispered, standing up from her seat by the fireplace and moving closer to gently brush the tears from Nathaniel’s face.

Which meant she needed to be more careful and more considerate. Perhaps, with their enemy so bold as to send men to kidnap Nathaniel’s sisters, it was wiser to lie low for a while. And Violet needed care.

“I won’t leave her side until next Wednesday,” she said.

Nathaniel turned to her, his eyes glaring with unspoken fury. “Indeed, you will not. The investigation must be over now altogether. We put my sisters through enough danger!”

Cold shock washed over Calliope. “No, we cannot stop looking for my brother. Punish me! Do not punish him!”

Nathaniel closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “You’re right. Your brother still needs help. Well then.” He looked at her coldly. “I will resume the investigation. You may no longer accompany me at all. You must stay at home like I asked. You must not go to Thorne. If there’s any investigation before Wednesday, I will do it alone.”

“Nathaniel…!”

“And if you disobey me, I will be so heartless as to stop helping altogether. I must look out for my sisters’ safety—and yours.”

Fury rose in Calliope’s chest. “This is not what we agreed on when we married!”

“Exactly. That can be said for both of us. Will you promise me?”

She swallowed hard. It would be difficult for her. If she really wanted to, she could escape and continue her investigation. But there was truth in his words. She was responsible for this. For Violet being hurt, for Poppy almost being kidnapped, for men breaking into their home.

He needed her to stay put. She would give him what he needed, even if it made her feel broken.

“Yes,” she said, the word like gravel in her throat.

Over the next few days, Nathaniel came to her, intent on getting her pregnant, but didn’t sleep with her in the same bed. It was strange…to be angry with him, to feel guilty, and yet to want him like mad, unable to resist his lips, his arms, his cock. They spoke with their bodies—that they still needed each other, craved each other like air—and yet, they did not talk.

Clearly, Nathaniel wasn’t getting much sleep. He had dark circles under his eyes, hollow cheekbones. Seeing him like that, Calliope felt the worry grow in her stomach. She kept her promise and stayed at home, caring for Violet—who was more excited by her success than bothered by her wound. Following her promise to Nathaniel, she had asked him to please let her pay for the repairs to the floorboards, given that the men that had caused the damage had come because of her.

Nathaniel shivered at that, but instead of yelling at her, he simply nodded. He didn’t argue. He didn’t get angry. It was as though he looked at her from behind ten castle walls, shielded and protected.

It would have been better if he had fought with her. Somehow, this silent compliance was worse.

It was as though he’d given up because that break-in had finally showed him who she truly was. That he didn’t want her as a person anymore, just as a vessel to create the heir he needed.

As she looked at the empty place in her bed where Nathaniel used to lie, so happy and so gorgeously hers only a few days ago, her heart was breaking.

Was she nothing but a womb for him?

She ached to ask him that but was terrified of his answer. What if he’d say yes, she was? What if he’d wonder why she was surprised since that was exactly what they had agreed on from the beginning?

Would he think she was silly to have…what? Cared for him? Started to feel like he was essential to her very existence?

The thought was still like a knife in her belly when the day finally came to see the man Harvey had mentioned—the one who may have helped press-gang Spencer. Calliope and Nathaniel climbed into the Seaton carriage to drive to Portside. It was as though he was with her…but also not.

As the carriage rolled down the street, Calliope noticed a man on a horse who seemed to follow them for a while before disappearing a few streets before they arrived in Portside. It was probably nothing, she told herself. But unease washed through her in a chilly wave.

Calliope’s heart beat fast as she and Nathaniel walked through Portside, the room packed with men drinking and yelling. She stared with fascination as two women dressed in men’s trousers fought each other. Respect rose in her, and she wondered how it would feel to stand in that ring, facing an opponent, and fight…like Nathaniel had fought for years to support his sisters.

When they reached the owner, Harvey shrugged and looked at them with a somber face. “You just missed ’im.”

“Just?” demanded Calliope. “When did he leave?”

“Saw a boy come up to him, and then ’e rushed out not a minute ago.”

Calliope and Nathaniel exchanged a glance.

“Goddamn it,” cursed Nathaniel, and he and Calliope darted through the crowd, pushing people out of the way. They ran outside, frantically looking around. Nausea rose in Calliope’s stomach when she got a whiff of stale urine. There was no one outside.