Page 25 of A Duke for Hire (The Devil’s Masquerade #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“ S he’s not here,” Leah stated, her tone cold as she met Hugo in the foyer of Merrivale Hall.

Disappointment and loss funneled through Hugo as he still glanced around the vast hall. He had been told that she was no longer at the Briarwoods, and when he’d checked his house in London, she was not there either.

“And what are you doing here?” He replied coldly, turning his gaze back to his little sister.

Leah tilted her head to the side as she looked him over, only annoying him even more.

“Let me ask you something, brother,” she said, crossing her arms. “Why do you insist on saving women like Seraphina and me from cruelty if you are only going to inflict your own viciousness upon us? What is the point?”

Leah’s question took him aback.

“Well?” She insisted.

“Leah, not now,” he retorted. “Where is she?”

“Not a word until you answer me,” Leah replied, her tone stern. “All this time you have refused to tell me, to tell anyone the truth of why you act as you do. I have given you grace, I have given you my patience, but now I am out of both.

“I know why you pushed her away, brother. And I will not let you or anyone else near her until I have some answers.”

Hugo gave her a vicious look, but felt his insides begin to unravel. How, after so many years of keeping it all inside, was he supposed to just let it pour out?

“Come,” Leah urged, “Sit down with me. We will have some tea.”

Knowing he no longer had control, Hugo followed her numbly into the sitting room, where a tray was already waiting for them.

“Start from the beginning,” she prompted, pouring them both a cup.

Hugo’s hands began to shake as his nerves got the best of him. But he knew she was right. It was time.

“I never thought I would end up this way,” he began, looking down at his hands as he clenched and unclenched them. “After seeing what Father did to you. After feeling what he had done to me. I would have sworn that I would not follow his menace.”

He paused, glancing over at Leah. She only looked at him with a quiet urge to continue.

“And then Charles happened. What he did to you was bad enough. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if he had come to the duel and handled it like a man. I wasn’t going to shoot to kill. You need to know that. I am… an excellent shot, and I was planning on only winging him. But when I discovered that he had tampered with my pistols, that he had intended to kill me, all that rage that I had kept hidden deep down in order to take Father’s abuse- it all erupted. Violently and without control.

“It was bloodlust, Leah. I lost myself, and when I finally stopped, when I was able to come back to myself and see what I had done. In front of you of all people. It…it took something from me. Any power I had regained since Father’s death, it was all gone again.”

He stopped, and brought his hands up to his face, rubbing aggressively.

“Please, don’t make me say anymore. Not when I don’t know where Seraphina is. I’ve made a terrible mistake. I know that now. And Leah. Leah, I am so sorry that I have pushed you away all of these years, and I promise I will work to remedy that. But for now, just tell me where my wife is.”

Leah took a long moment to look him up and down, agitating him greatly.

“We will remedy our relationship together,” she said at last, her tone adamant. “Because I am moving back to Merrivale. Not just for you, but for Seraphina. I like my new sister and I want to spend more time with her.”

“You’re going to leave Aunt Rita alone?” was his only defense.

Leah perked her brow in amusement as a smile twitched on her lips.

“Oh do not worry, she is not alone. In fact her present company keeps her quite entertained. If anything I am starting to become a bother there.”

Hugo balked at the idea, and he wasn’t at all sure he liked what his sister was hinting at. However, knowing how stubborn his sister could be, he nodded.

“Fine,” he sighed.

Leah beamed at him, and reached forward to grab his hand.

“We will all get through this brother,” she said cheerfully. “Together.”

Her smile slipped a little as she then added, “Though, I will warn you that you will not gain Seraphina’s trust easily. When I found her she was heartbroken. For multiple reasons.”

Hugo frowned.

“What does that mean?” He demanded.

He knew he’d inflicted plenty of damage on his own, but had something else happened?

“First I want to say that she is fine,” Leah stated matter-of-factly. “There was a small incident but she walked away from it.”

“Leah, would you stop stepping around the subject and tell me what happened?” Hugo snapped.

“She went to visit her mother,” Leah explained, “apparently Ms. Kinderson had been visiting her at the Briarwoods and she had seemed most kind, so Seraphina agreed to visit her at her home. Their conversation grew quite heated and when Seraphina tried to leave, Mary threw a vase at her.”

The color red started to leech into Hugo’s sight, and he balled his fists. He knew that woman was no good from the start, but he had no idea she’d take such liberties as that.

“Seraphina was hit in the shoulder and a little on the head, but the wounds are superficial and should heal in a few days’ time. I had gone to London to visit her when this happened and thought it was best to get her out of the city, so I took her back to Aunt Rita’s. That’s where she is now.”

A brief wave of relief swept through Hugo before it was replaced his rage again. This was his fault, he realized. But he was going to make up for it. For all of it, and he was going to make certain no one harmed his wife again.

“I’ve got to go,” he murmured, heading toward the door.

“Don’t let me stop you,” Leah called after him.

Oh no, he thought. No one was going to stop him from getting to her ever again. Including himself.

Seraphina sat numbly on the third floor terrace of Aunt Rita’s country house. Below, she could hear the combined giggling of the older woman and her much younger paramour. At another time, she would have smiled and giggled along with them. She found it quite bold and wonderful that a woman of Aunt Rita’s age had found such a handsome and devoted younger paramour, but try as she might, no mirth would pour from her spirit.

Just sadness. Longing. And heartbreak that came from two powerful points. Her husband had abandoned. And her mother only wanted to use her. Both facts brought tears to her eyes, and she sniffled as she contemplated her future.

A cloud of dust at the end of the drive caught her attention, and she watched as a horseman raced up the long road and toward the house. Her heart began to thrum like a drum as she recognized Hugo, and without thinking, she raced off of the terrace and headed toward the stairs.

Seraphina reached the door just as Hugo was about to knock on it, and before she could say or think anything, he swept her up into his arms.

“Let me see,” he demanded, his hands roaming over her shoulders, her neck, even her hair.

“See what?” Seraphina replied, caught off guard at his insistence.

“I know what your nother did,” he barked back, pulling the shoulder of her dress down. “Leah said it was not bad but I need to see for myself.”

Emotion poured through her aching heart, finding his concern for her almost cruel after the way he treated her. She calmly untangled herself from his grasp, and took a step back.

“Leah should not have told you anything,” she said, trying to stay as calm as possible. “I really am fine. She didn’t even manage to hit me.”

“I will make her pay for this,” Hugo seethed, appearing wilder than ever. “For everything she has done to you.”

“Trust me, God is making her pay already,” Seraphina stated, steeling herself against the passion of his words. “It is you that must pay now.”

That seemed to stop Hugo, for he immediately dropped his hands to his sides and took a step back.

“Seraphina,” he began, still sounding out of breath. “I need to apologize. I need to explain.”

“You may do so after the divorce,” she replied before he could go further. She tried to make her voice sound as numb as possible, but a quiver still passed through her vocal cords as she said the word divorce.

Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks again, but she swallowed hard and took a deep breath, and forced her eyes back to Hugo’s. They were wide with shock and something else. Worry? Fear?

Hope started to trickle through her mind, but she mentally cut it out.

“Divorce?” He echoed.

She forced a single nod.

“I will not be asking for much. I believe that what is fair is fair and-”

“ No,” Hugo said, his tone adamant.

“ No?” She asked, feeling her own shock. “You have removed me from your life, Your Grace. You told me you never wanted to see me again. How can you say no?”

“Please,” Hugo implored, holding a hand out to her. “Take a walk with me.”

The urge to do take his hand and do just that was incredibly strong, but Seraphina fought it and held her own hand to stop herself.

“You don’t want me, Your Grace,” she answered as numbly as possible, trying her best to ignore the agony such reality brought. “I thought you would be relieved to hear my request.”

“The only relief I feel right now is that you are here and you are safe,” he replied. “But other than that, I am in as much agony as you are.”

Seraphina scoffed, though her eyes grew glassy with tears.

“I very much doubt that, Your Grace,” she rasped.

“Please stop calling me that,” Hugo whispered, taking a tentative step toward her. “ Please let me talk to you. Let me explain.”

Seraphina was about to close the door when she realized just how much she wanted that. She wanted to know why he’d spent so long pursuing her only to throw her away. Ignoring the hand he still held out for her, Seraphina stepped away from the doorway and headed toward the garden gates.

“Why do you want a divorce?” He asked, quickly falling in to step with her. “Do you truly want to be away from me that much?”

Seraphina glared at him.

“It was you that could not wait to be away from me, remember?” She hissed. “Why wouldn’t you want a divorce? You still need a wife, a rightful heir. With a divorce you can go find a woman you don’t despise so much and have both. Clearly you were disappointed in your first choice.”

Hugo suddenly stepped in front of her, stopping her.

“No I was not, and do not put words in my mouth ever again, Seraphina,” he warned.

In her right mind she would have taken note of his tone, but in her current state, she paid it no mind. She was too hurt.

“Come now, you find me so simple minded to not know such things? You laid with me one time and then promptly kicked me out. I may be more of a novice than you in this particular subject, but your words to me that day were quite clear. You only married because I got you caught up in a scandal with me. I was that poor thing that needed saving. That was clearly not enough for you. I was clearly not enough for you.”

Pain, bright and evident flashed through Hugo’s eyes, dissolving the anger that shined there.

“I had no right to say that to you,” he told her, “And if anyone got trapped into a scandal, it was you, Seraphina. I pursued you, seduced you, even when others warned me not to.”

“So you made a mistake,” Seraphina retorted, pushing herself to take another step as she wiped her tears away. “And I am not only forgiving you for that, but also giving you a way out.”

She moved to take another step further into the gardens, but Hugo grabbed her with surprising gentleness, and turned her to face him. For a moment she was startled, for as she looked into his eyes, she saw they were blurry with tears.

“Please,” he begged, his voice tortured, “Let me explain what truly happened. If afterward you want to still divorce me- well, I will give you whatever you want.”

“Why are you doing this?” She asked, her voice breaking as her heart cracked in two. As much as she despised him for the pain he’d caused, she realized that she hated seeing him in pain much more.

“Because I do love you, Seraphina,” he confessed, “And because you deserve to know the entire truth.”

Seraphina drew in a shaky breath and looked away from him, unable to take the pain in his eyes. She took in the staggering difference of the warm, beautiful garden surrounding them and the cold, ugly pain that consumed them from within. Something needed to end. One way or another.

“Very well,” she agreed at last. “Let us walk. Let us talk. And let us discover what we are to do about our futures.”