Page 79 of Song of the Caged Duchess

Eugenia.

Her cousin looked up when she entered. Immediately, her face went bright red, and her gaze dropped to her plate.

Good. She should feel embarrassed!

But even though Esther was pleased to see her cousin’s reaction, she was also dismayed. She couldn’t have asked for clearer evidence that Eugenia had, in fact, betrayed her. She had hoped that somehow she was wrong.

“Esther,” Aunt Tabitha said. “Sit.”

Esther remained standing. “Did you ask your servants to enter my room while I was asleep and begin packing up all my things?”

“I did,” Aunt Tabitha said evenly.

“May I ask why?”

“Enough is enough,” Aunt Tabitha said. “When I accepted you into my home for the Season, Esther, I thought you would be more grateful. More appreciative.”

“What do you want from me?” Esther demanded. “I’ve been perfectly respectful since I arrived.” She wasn’t going to stand here and allow her aunt to rewrite history. She had done nothing wrong.

“You are ruining your cousin’s prospects,” Aunt Tabitha said. “And you know it. You delight in it.”

“I’ve done nothing of the sort,” Esther said.

“Claiming the most eligible gentleman of the Season for yourself? What do you call that?”

“He was interested in me, not in Eugenia,” Esther said. “That is certainly not my fault, Aunt Tabitha. And by the way, Eugenia has never been interested in him, either. She told me as much.”

“Eugenia would have said anything to please you,” Aunt Tabitha said dismissively. “You have no idea where her heart truly lies. The poor girl was far too ashamed to admit to you that she harbored feelings for His Grace. How could she, when she knew that as soon as he laid eyes onyou, her chance with him would go away?”

“I don’t believe that,” Esther said.

But her voice came out in a whisper. Could it be true? Was it possible that Eugenia had wanted Hugh for herself all along?

It must be true. That’s why she told her mother about everything that transpired between Hugh and me.

And to think she had always believed her cousin was sweet and kind and harmless.

That had never been true.

She couldn’t look at Eugenia. Her cousin’s betrayal stung her even more painfully than Hugh’s rejection. “I wouldn’t have done anything to hurt Eugenia,” she told Aunt Tabitha.

“Really?” her aunt asked coolly. “So if Eugenia had told you she wanted the Duke for herself, you would have stood aside?”

“He loved me,” Esther whispered. “I couldn’t force him to love anyone else.”

Aunt Tabitha shook her head. “He doesn’t love you, Esther. He maybe thought he loved you, but that was when he believed you to be someone else. Someone more simple and pure than the conniving lady you are. Someone, in fact, more like my own daughter.”

Esther felt as if she was choking.

She could detect no falsehoods in what her aunt was saying. And yet, it felt all wrong.

“You couldn’t have expected that I would simply stand by and allow you to lay claim to the Duke when I could see for myself how much better suited he was to Eugenia,” Aunt Tabitha said. “Of course, I know my brother, and I know that you are his daughter through and through. I knew to expect games and trickery from you when you came to my home. But when your machinations harm Eugenia—well, things have gone too far. I can’t keep you here any longer, Esther.”

Esther felt dizzy and confused. What her aunt was accusing her of—it wasn’t the truth. She hadn’t set out to harm Eugenia. She wasn’t the kind of person her father was, prone to manipulation.

But it was difficult to point to the problem with her aunt’s argument. It made sense. It just wasn’t true.

Aunt Tabitha was still talking. “If you need proof that your selfish manipulations are the only thing that kept the Duke’s attention away from Eugenia,” she said, “consider this—Eugenia and I paid him a visit first thing this morning, while you were still in bed. The two of them are now engaged.”