*Under Revision*
The silverware seemed to clatter loudly against the creamy patterned plates set around the ornately laid dishes spread across the large table in the dining hall. Words had barely been exchanged, muttered and awkward greetings as I went to sit at the opposite end of the long table as His Grace, I hadn't seen him since I had fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning, staring at the outline of his form in the orange glow of the rising sun. When I had woken not even three hours later his side of the bed was long cold.
Before my skirt could even brush the fabric of light blue cushioned, gold dining chair a warm firm arm slid around my waist and pulled me into an equally firm chest, looking up in shock only led to my lips being caught in a passionate embrace with the Duke's pleasantly full lips, his tongue slipping out only slightly to trail my lower lip for a single sinful moment before he was taking my pleasure away from me and moving back, leaving me in a dazed state as he led me by the waist to the chair directly to the right of his at the head of the table.
Clarissa and Penelope were seated in the two seats closest to my own, Clarissa sending me a taunting smirk no doubt telling me with her expression that she was going to want details of that kiss later, Penelope smiled brightly at me, I could see that something about that moment made her happy for me. She was buying into the act I was convinced the Duke was putting on for my own sake, his heart truly was so good. The same as when he married me despite the obvious disadvantage of being connected with me and my family, he was now protecting me from my father and Bianca during their stay by displaying a united front. He wanted them to think I was untouchable because he was watching me, he cared. My heart ached with repressed longing for him.
Father and Bianca were seated left of the Duke, they sat quietly like scorned children sent to the corner. That didn't seem to curb their appetite though as I watched in mild disgust as my father ate his third plate of the ample breakfast spread out courtesy of our cook in honor of our guests. "Mary" I whispered to my trusted friend needing to look away from my father before I became sick watching the grease from the meat drip down his chin, Mary came over from where she had been setting down another tray of sweet steaming rolls of bread, honey drizzled over the top of each airy heavenly creation. "Please tell the cook to prepare cold cut sandwiches for a light luncheon and to take the rest of the day off please. I am quite certain she outdid herself this morning" Mary smiled admiringly at me with her young face before she dipped into a curtsy and left the room to carry out my wishes.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Duke clenched his fist as the same muscle ticked away in his jaw, only this time instead of rage his eyes pierced my soul with heat as his whole body language shifted with barely contained lust for me. My face flushed, I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of this man wanting me the way he seemed to incline that he did, the way he reacted to my very existence. As though the very air I breathed was a drug to him and every action I made and word I spoke enraptured him. I needed to remind myself that it was an act for the benefit of my safety.
Breakfast passed after my heated eye contact with the Duke rather uneventfully and after a few tense moments of sitting in lost silence, the Duke raised the suggestion that my sisters might want to see a tour of the grounds. Bianca made to leave the room with us as I led Penelope and Clarissa out of the room, excited to show them my garden and introduce them to Mary and Lach. Bianca had not even moved more than a step before my husband's voice halted her movements entirely.
"I have matters to discuss with you and your wife, Earl." There was disdain dripping from every word that he spoke and my spine shot straighter with tension as my eyes drilled into his, he sent me away with a simple nod of his head, gesturing his desire for me to leave. My heart went cold, he wouldn't tell them he was done with me would he? Why would he tell me he would protect me only to send me back? Calm down, I scolded myself. He wasn't like them, I didn't need to not be so quick to judge his actions. Trust, something I was unused to giving people. It had been so long since I had even entertained the idea that there was someone in this world I could share my burdens with.
I, albeit begrudgingly, left the room with my younger sisters. As much as I had to swallow past waves of nausea at the idea of my father and Bianca in the same room as the Duke, I had to trust him. It was my chance at survival not just for me but for my sisters, I had already written up several ways I could beg with the Duke to let them live with us. I was sure he didn't want silly young girls living on his estate, being responsible for the safety of two children that were not his. But I had to try and I also had to accept that he might be my only chance for them not to be sold to the highest bidder in their parents schemes to avoid the debtors prison.
"Wendy!" Clarissa practically squealed in my ear and I winced as she gripped me by my wrists and swung us in a circle before twirling away from me, my hand moved over my stomach and I had to focus on a spot on the floor as the room tilted. "That was the kind of kiss mothers warn their daughters not to get caught having and the kind that daughters dream about on lonely nights!" She cackled and I gasped out at her.
"Clarissa!" I clicked my tongue and my eyebrows furrowed together as a curl escaped my pinned up-do "Careful what you say so openly, my dear." I didn't ever want to discourage my sisters from developing into the wonderful young women that they were, I knew Bianca would much rather they remain pretty items to sell and never be heard from but I saw diamonds that needed to shine, not locked away from the world. Still I worried about just how open Clarissa could be, her mouth often saying words before she had put a thought into it, often though she spouted out the most brilliant ideas that I was sure if she had been a man she would have already advanced far in academies and I worried about shy and sweet Penelope, so naive and trusting. Seeking Bianca's approval for most of her life had left her insecure of her every move and word and yet her kind heart shown through like a ray of sunshine, painting, singing, dancing, and playing every instrument that she could get her hands on so beautifully I had often been moved to tears.
"You have to forgive her this once sister," Penelope soothed as she looped her arm through main just as our trio stepped into the fresh morning air leading out on the manicured path to the gardens. "We're just so pleased to see you so happily situated in life, we were quite worried for you marrying someone we knew so little of but he seems to love you so deeply!" Her words caused my heart to race. I couldn't possibly clue them into the shame of the truth. My husband barely spoke to me, took me to the height of pleasures I had never known before, and then left repeatedly shrouding me in the darkness that my ignorance to his true feelings left. I tried to hum back happily to her response and as we continued down the path, falling into a comfortable silence.
The day passed blissfully for me, I picnicked a midday meal with my sisters on Thornberg's sprawling and beautiful estate. I could see the longing to see this beauty every day in their eyes and I knew how they felt, remembering back to how amazed I had been when I first arrived what seemed like a lifetime ago and yet it could have easily been yesterday.
As the sun began to set and the servants had just finished lighting the candles, my sisters and I were seated in the library, laughing as we fell into a heap at Clarissa's recounting of a few of the gentlemen she had disastrously attempted to converse with at the balls and dances they had attended for their first season. She painted a comical picture of their inept intelligence and my ribs sliced with pain at how hard I was laughing.
As we settled into relaxed silence again the air seemed to grow heavy as the fire crackled loudly all of a sudden. "How has it been?" I whispered hoarsely, I wasn't sure I could ever forgive myself if I had left them to endure the same torture as I was accustom to before that fateful night I fell into the Duke's arms.
Clarissa and Penelope's arms wrapped around me from either side as they hugged me tightly "They haven't touched us" Clarissa whispered and my body sagged with relief as hot tears slid quickly down my cheeks to splash against the girls hair. "Father was quite mad that there had not been any offers of marriage for Clarissa and myself this season but the Duke's invitation seemed to put him in better spirits." Penelope finished.
I squeezed them tighter to me, my resolve to convince my husband of their residing with us growing stronger, there was still a chance for me to save them from ever feeling that kind of pain. "They will call us for dinner soon, why don't you both go freshen up and I will see you then." They both agreed, each of them giving me one more embrace before making promises to be quick and return shortly.
Their absence plunged the room into silence and I shook the sudden tension from my shoulders as I cleaned up the teacups left around the small table from my sisters and I.
"You must think you've really won, don't you?" Bianca's voice was slurred, I had not seen her since leaving the dining room at breakfast and the strong smell of spirits wafting from her pores left me with little doubt as to what she had been doing in the hours since then. "You think you found that happy ending, the one they tell you about as a child. The prince comes and he saves the damsel and the evil, wicked, step-mother is done with." She laughed a wheezing shriek that sent the hair on the back of my neck of edge "Your foolish father is going to take that sellout offer from your annoying husband, that's always been his biggest flaw. His inability to see beyond the current situation. I thought the Duke was our key to a better future, I was mistaken." She suddenly seemed feral as her words turned to hisses "But I was also mistaken in my belief that you cared about your family! That you cared whether or not I would have to let someone of questionable motive marry your sister..." She suddenly trailed off and the threat cut me to my core.
If I didn't start to produce some kind of money to Bianca then she would not hesitate to doom my sisters to loveless and quite possibly abusive marriages, my temper flared "His Grace would never let you get away with that!" My false bravado was not convincing and my guard was down, unsuspecting of the punched that was hurled towards my stomach, my body crumpling to the floor at the pain as vomit filled my mouth and I forced myself to swallow it back down. A kick was aimed at my stomach but clipped my left shoulder sending me flying back, the corner of the settee stabbing sharply between my shoulder blades.
Bianca let out an airy laugh from above me as I struggled to breath through the pain, laying on the carpet and watching the black dots dance in my vision as a blinding pain tore through my shoulder and up my neck. "I did so miss our discussions, Wendy." The mocking words just barely registering in my brain as the world faded out from existence.