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Chapter twenty-three

Alexander

Beatrice let go of his hand, and Alexander forgot propriety for a moment and wrapped his arm around her. Whether it was for her comfort or for his, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want to stand alone at the moment.

“They were heading into town,” Guinevere said.

“And you know this how?” Alexander asked.

“Rose told me,” Guinevere said. “Apparently she’s been sneaking out to fly around and look for them.”

Alexander frowned at Rose. “Are you trying to get yourself shot down?”

“Are they coming this way, or are they going to spend the evening at the inn?” Beatrice asked.

Guinevere looked at Rose, who started chirping. “They’re coming this way, and nearly here,” Guinevere interpreted.

“I thought we had until tomorrow,” Beatrice said, her voice shaky.

“I thought so, too,” he said, holding her tightly to his side, “but I suppose we weren't going to sleep tonight anyway.” His attempt at a joke to make her smile instead had her staring at him like he'd suddenly turned into a frog.

“Did you just make a joke?” she asked. “I knew I was going to rub off on you.”

Alexander smiled down at her, glad to see her smiling in return.

“I assure you,” he said, “you will continue to rub off on me for many years to come.”

“And you're being optimistic?” she asked, her eyes wide. “What happened to you, and where is the pessimistic lord I married?”

“He realized that he has important things in life still to do, and giving up is not an option,” Alexander answered.

And he's fallen in love with you , he thought. If Dietrich and Guinevere hadn't been standing there, he might have been brave enough to say it out loud, but the words would be hard enough to say to her alone—with an audience, they were practically impossible.

“Go get dressed,” he said to her.

“In my wedding dress?” she asked, frowning.

“No,” he said, “but the most ladylike gown you have other than that one.”

“I'll see to it,” Guinevere said.

“Alexander,” his wife said, clinging to him.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, closing his eyes and breathing in the floral scent of her hair. If this was to be the last time he would smell it, he wanted to remember it for the rest of his life. “Go get ready, Lady Dunham,” he said, releasing her. If he didn’t let her go now, he wasn’t going to be able to.

Guinevere took Beatrice’s hand and led her toward the stairs. He didn’t want to watch her leave, but he waited and watched anyway as she ascended the staircase.

She paused at the top and looked down at him, emotions warring on her face, before she followed Guinevere. Alexander took a deep breath as she disappeared.

They had to win, because he couldn’t let this be the last time he saw his wife.

He looked over at Dietrich, who was grinning at him.

“I see you,” Dietrich said.

“You see what?” Alexander said, glaring at the man. “You don't see anything.”

“You're right,” Dietrich said cheerfully, “I don't see you falling in love with her. Not at all.”

Alexander glared, and Dietrich grinned, completely unrepentant.

“Your secret is safe with me,” he said, “but I would suggest telling her before too long. I don't know how long she'll wait before she gets upset that you haven't told her.”

“I didn't know myself,” Alexander growled, glaring at Dietrich, who simply turned and walked away toward the study.

“Are you coming?” Dietrich called over his shoulder. “We'd better hurry.”

The plan was for Dietrich and Alexander to wait in the study, and Dietrich would get Beatrice when it was time.

How they would know when it was time, Alexander wasn't sure, but Dietrich seemed to think that everything would be okay. And for someone who was completely unused to optimism, he chose to believe Dietrich and follow his lead…because the alternative was trying to figure out how to be optimistic himself, and he was not prepared for that.

“I think,” Dietrich announced as they entered his study, “that you should be reading a book when he comes in.”

“I don't want to make him mad right away,” Alexander said. He still wasn't used to being able to speak about the sorcerer plainly. “I thought I could meet him in the foyer.”

Dietrich shook his head. “I don't think so,” he said. “That would be a man waiting to meet his future father-in-law. He is not your future father-in-law, nor is he a peer. You wouldn't go to the foyer to meet me if Beatrice didn't ask you to. You treat him the same way.”

Alexander could both see the sense in Dietrich's argument and be terrified of it at the same time.

“What if it doesn't work?” he asked, allowing himself to be vulnerable with Dietrich for a moment.

“Then the girls are safely upstairs, and Guinevere will get her out through the servants’ staircase,” Dietrich said simply. “And I will be here with you.”

“Why?” Alexander asked. “You could leave now, and he wouldn't know any different.”

“Because Beatrice loves you,” Dietrich said simply. “And if I left now and left the two of you to figure this out on your own, I would never forgive myself.”

“She loves me?” Alexander asked, oblivious to everything that he had said, except for that part. “How do you know?”

Dietrich sighed. “I should have known that would be your key takeaway. Yes, you fool. She loves you.”

“Why?” Alexander asked.

“I don't know, but I look forward to figuring it out. In the meantime, I look forward to saving the two of you.”

Alexander should have been able to focus more, but all he could think of as he sat in his chair with a book open before him, not seeing the words, was what Dietrich had said. Beatrice loved him, and he loved her, and he would do anything to have a future with her, including facing down the man who had murdered his parents and cursed him.

Time ticked by so slowly that it felt like an eternity before he heard the foyer door open and Jenkins answering gravely, “He is in his study.”

Alexander glanced at Dietrich, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the pages of the book. Dietrich simply nodded, as if encouraging him to stay the course.

Alexander could barely breathe. Was Beatrice safely hidden away, or had she grown tired of waiting and decided to come downstairs? He wouldn't put it past her—hopefully, Guinevere had been able to keep her away.

All he wanted was for her to be safe.

“I don't like to be kept waiting,” the voice he had heard so many times in his nightmares said as his study doors were pushed open and the sorcerer walked in. “Why are you hiding here?” he sneered. “Too scared to come out and greet me like a man?”

“Simply busy,” Alexander responded, standing up and putting his book down. “Running an estate takes quite a lot of work.”

Across the room, Rose stretched lazily in her kitten form. Her posture screamed ignorance, but her attention was fixed on the sorcerer, and that gave him hope.

Perhaps Rose would be able to help them. She certainly had enough reason to want to.

“You didn't care to come and meet your bride?” the sorcerer asked with a scowl as a young woman entered the study. Alexander glanced at the young woman in surprise. Could she even be an adult? No wonder it had been so many years between the betrothal and the wedding.

She looked absolutely terrified.

“I’m sorry,” Alexander said, “but she cannot be my bride.”

He wished he still held the book and had something for his hands to squeeze as he stared down the man who had the power to destroy everything—and everyone—he loved.

“For you see, I’m already married.”

At his words, the young woman let out a choked sigh of relief before turning pale and glancing at her father, who was slowly turning a bright shade of red.

“You cannot be married,” Lohndrey said. “I’ve been checking every time I travel through. You think you can lie to me, but I see no wife.”

Alexander glanced at Dietrich and nodded, and Dietrich slipped out of the room, smiling at the young girl as he did so.

Now that he had seen her, Alexander no longer felt hatred toward his intended bride. If anything, he felt sorry for her, for she clearly didn't want this any more than he did. Perhaps that was something he could use to his advantage.

“You are to marry my daughter,” Lohndrey said, “and I will not hear any different. Besides, if you are married, why are there preparations for a wedding happening in your foyer? Surely you do not decorate that way in everyday life.”

“I am renewing my vows with my bride tomorrow,” Alexander said. “You asked for a wedding to be prepared. You didn't specify who the bride would be, and the position of my bride has already been filled.”

Movement in the doorway caught his eye, and Alexander smiled at Beatrice as she entered the room, Guinevere behind her, and made her way to his side. She looked beautiful, wearing a stunning golden gown that swished around her ankles as she walked, her hair up in a fanciful arrangement.

She looked every inch like Lady Beatrice Dunham.

His wife slipped her hand into his and looked up at him with a gentle smile.

The trust she was placing in his ability to protect her was astounding, and he didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t sure he could keep her safe, and the thought made him move to stand partially in front of her.

“Meet my wife, Lady Dunham,” he told the sorcerer, who was a shade of red that Alexander had never seen on a human before.

“I won't stand for this,” the sorcerer said, raising his hands and pulling a wand from his pocket. At the bottom was an egg that looked remarkably similar to the cracked shells Alexander had found near Rose when he'd found her in the garden.

Was that where he drew his power from?

The sorcerer began muttering, and Rose stood and sauntered over, jumping onto Alexander’s desk before transforming into her dragon form.

The sorcerer stopped talking, staring down at her with wide eyes.

“I'm going to assume you thought she was already dead when you abandoned her egg in my roses last spring,” Alexander said, as the dragon flew to perch on his shoulder. “But as you can see, she hatched. And it turns out that a dragon is quite loyal, and she does not take kindly to you threatening me or my wife.”

The sorcerer glanced nervously from Rose to Beatrice, then back to Alexander, but he raised his wand again and began to chant.

For once, Alexander didn't feel afraid. He could feel power surging through Rose, and as the sorcerer's wand began to glow, so did Rose.

When a spark of light shot from the sorcerer's wand, it met Rose's halfway, and the two sparks of light danced for a moment before the sorcerer simply disappeared with a flash of light.

Everyone in the room gasped.

“Is he gone?” the girl asked, after a moment of everyone staring at each other. “Am I free?”

“You’re free, Miss Lohndrey,” Alexander said as he glanced down at Beatrice, who immediately hurried to the girl and offered her arms for a hug. The girl collapsed into Beatrice's arms, bursting into tears, and Beatrice rubbed her back and murmured something in her ear.

“Where did he go?” Dietrich asked.

Rose began chirping, and everyone turned to Guinevere for a translation.

“She simply says, ‘He is far away,’” Guinevere said, confusion on her face. “I don't know what that means.”

There was more chirping. “She says that he will not bother us again,” Guinevere added.

“Are we going to get any more explanation than that?” Alexander asked, and the tiny dragon shook her head.

“She talks to you?” the girl asked.

“She talks to Guinevere,” Beatrice said. “Now let's get you taken care of, dear. I think we need some tea. What's your name?”

As his wife led the girl out of the room, Alexander collapsed into his chair.

It felt rather anticlimactic that after all those years of fear and worry, it was just…over. He was safe, and his wife was safe, and Eldenwilde was safe.

Perhaps Lohndrey would come back, but they had time to learn more about magic before then, and they would be better prepared.

Alexander took a sigh of relief for the first time in years.

It was over. They were free. He could discover what he and Beatrice were going to be. And he couldn't wait to find out.