Page 30 of The Beast’s Unwanted Duchess (Icy Dukes #1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

" H is Grace has gone down for breakfast, Your Grace."

Alice smiled brightly as she looked over her image in the mirror. She had taken extra care with her morning ablutions and hoped Victor would appreciate her efforts.

She smiled when she recalled how he had looked the night before as he tried to cover up his jealousy. Her husband was not a man who would admit his feelings so easily, and she knew all she needed was to be patient with him. With time, perhaps they could have more than a cordial relationship.

She walked quickly to the dining room to join him, even though she was yet to be accustomed to eating breakfast. She stopped shy of the door to tamp down her excitement.

"Good morning," she greeted as she entered and allowed herself to be helped into a chair.

She tried not to let her disappointment show when he barely looked at her.

Now that she had arrived, he seemed to almost rush his meal, and she wondered if perhaps he had erected the wall between them again.

Her ire was kindled, but she didn’t want to give up so easily, so she pressed the feeling down.

"I was thinking we could-"

"I’m leaving this morning," he announced, interrupting her.

She set down the piece of bread she’d been buttering as well as her cutlery before looking up at him.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, unsure if she’d truly heard him.

He rose from his seat, setting his napkin down.

"I am leaving this morning," he repeated, meeting her eyes with expressionless ones.

"Why?" she asked incredulously, rising from her seat. "I thought… did I do something to offend you last night? I already told you I have no feelings for Edward."

"It’s nothing you did, Alice," he explained. "I see no need to stay as we’ve sufficiently put an end to the rumors circulating about us."

She scoffed, disbelieving that that was his excuse.

"Was that really your only reason for staying as long as you have? For defending me to my parents? For… everything?"

He winced and turned away from her.

"Please don’t make this harder than it has to be, Alice," he begged. "You are a practical woman, and you already know there wasn’t much to be expected from our match."

"I thought you had come to change your mind. If not concerning our relationship, then at least towards leaving."

"I truly am sorry to be leaving so suddenly, but it’s for the best."

"For whom?"

"Alice," he said, exasperated.

"You said you would at least stay till the end of the season," she bargained, refusing to believe he was really going to leave her alone again. "That’s not for weeks."

Tears were already pooling in her eyes, and it took everything in her to blink them back. He noticed her discomfort and looked stricken but was in no hurry to end his current plan of action. In fact, he looked even more resolved to leave.

"There’s no need to attend any more events. At least not for me. They already think we’re a couple madly in love."

She scoffed and wiped at her eyes.

How could she have been so stupid to think he would have torn down the walls he hid behind so easily for her when he was perfectly content?

"I don’t know why I find that so hard to believe," she stated. "You’re only running away because you’ve shown me a side of yourself you hadn’t planned to, aren’t you?"

"There’s no such reason," he stated tonelessly, and she could tell by the stubborn set of his shoulders that their conversation was now over. "I have asked Roberts to write to me if you need anything. Goodbye, Alice."

"You’re a coward, Victor," she spat at his retreating back. He halted temporarily but resumed as though she’d said nothing.

She found herself falling into her seat just as the tears began to fall. Once again, she had trusted Victor only to have that trust shattered.

She would show him that she could live without him just as easily as he did without her.

"Alice!" Her friends' voices pulled her out of the dreamless sleep she hadn’t realized she had fallen into.

"Are you well?" Lavinia said in a panic. "You look so pale."

"Why aren’t you in your bed?" Emma asked.

"I am well. There’s no need to worry," she answered, waving aside their concerns. "I didn’t know you two were coming."

"We decided to surprise you and the Duke," Emma smiled.

"And London’s boring now."

At the mention of her husband, the sour mood that has freed her at seeing her friends returned in full force.

"What’s wrong, Alice?" Lavinia asked with a frown.

A tear escaped her, and before she could think to hide it, she was sobbing into her friends’ shoulders, telling them about her latest encounter with her husband.

Knowing their tempers, she could feel the tension in their bodies, but they said nothing and let her empty her tear glands, not minding that she stained their dresses.

"I am sorry. I don’t mean to…"

"Speak nothing of it, dear girl." Lavinia smiled.

"Do you know how many of your kerchiefs I’ve ruined with my tears?" Emma asked.

Alice smiled as the warmth of her friends’ love for her seeped into her quicker than her favorite jasmine tea. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes.

"We are hardly girls anymore," she commented, which caused her friends to laugh.

"At least you’re married," Lavinia teased.

"Do not remind me," she pouted. "Would it be wrong of me to ask that we put him out of our minds for today? I just want to spend the day with you two without thinking of my husband. "

Her tone caused her friends to laugh, and they nodded, asking her what she had in mind.

She asked for a parlor maid and had her relay her instructions to the necessary household staff to set up a picnic for them by the lake. When she was done giving orders, she found her friends smiling oddly at her and inquired about the reason behind it.

"You’ve just matured, that is all," Emma smiled.

She shook her head and pulled them towards the lake at a run. They laughed in surprise and joined her nonetheless. It had been too long since she’d laughed freely or been away from prying and judgmental eyes.

They collapsed on the blankets set up, heaving deep breaths as they tried to recover from their run. Her body felt tired but awake for the first time in an age, and her heart was pounding with exertion.

"I hate these damned corsets," she complained, picking at the bones restricting her chest.

"Don’t remind me," Lavinia groaned, sitting up. "Whoever invented this must have hated women."

"Indeed," they agreed.

They soon helped themselves to the feast laid out for them, and when they were full, they lay down to enjoy the coolness of the day.

"I still cannot believe the Duke left you again," Lavinia said in a rage, sitting up. "After he played such a charming role last night. I was starting to like him."

"Lavinia…" she sighed. "I really do not want to talk about him."

"I would have given him a good piece of my mind if I had been in your place."

"I did and now I’m ready to move past it," she told her friends. "If he doesn’t want to be in my life then so be it."

"Alice…"

"Lavinia, please leave her be," Emma interjected. "Let’s not open up old wounds."

The stubborn girl sighed and lay back on their blanket, muttering under her breath. She shared a look with Emma before they launched themselves at her, tickling her till she laughed.

"All right. I surrender." She laughed, pushing at their hands.

"You’re much too stubborn," Alice laughed. "I really hope you marry a man much nicer than my husband."

"Please not you too," she groaned. "I am already weary of all this talk of marriage. My parents have talked my ears to near deafness at this point as if I were actively trying not to be married. It’s a wonder how I haven’t run away to come live with you yet. Even Jeremy has started asking questions. Isn’t that marvelous? "

"Jeremy asked about marriage?" she asked incredulously. "My! That is indeed marvelous."

Jeremy was Lavinia’s elder brother and a renowned rake who often expressed his opposition to the institution whenever he had the chance.

For him to inquire…

"I am sorry, Lavinia," she sighed. "It will come in time."

"That’s what I keep telling them." She frowned. "It’s not like there’s even a good batch to pick from. All that’s left are rakes and widowers old enough to be my father. I am truly not that desperate."

They laughed at that and soon settled back on their blanket.

"Emma, you’re oddly quiet," Lavinia noted.

The girl sighed and patted her cheeks.

"I cannot help but worry about my sisters."

"Cecilia and Dorothy? Has there been any trouble?"

"Hasn’t there always been?" she complained. "I ignored their willfulness as perhaps the rebellion that came with age but now they’re old enough to know better and they’re out right refusing instruction.

They’re only three years away from their debut and still have so much to learn.

Father cannot afford them both education at finishing school and has tasked me with it.

When would I have the time then to find a spouse? "

Her eyes widened in surprise at her complaint, and she found her expression mirrored in Lavinia’s face.

"Why have you never said anything?"

"I didn’t want to bother you two considering we were in almost the exact same situations."

They lay back, the silence heavy between them as they pondered on their lives and the way forward for all of them until Roberts arrived to inform them that their carriage was set to return them.

"I will miss you both dearly," Alice hugged them.

"We will miss you too." They hugged her back just as fiercely.

"We will try to visit as often as we can but with the season still in full swing…"

"I understand." She smiled, trying not to feel downtrodden. "Perhaps I will attend a few events myself."

They brightened and hugged her again.

"That will be marvelous."

"You truly must leave now or you will be late."

"Write to us."

She nodded and watched them be led away, opting to walk by the lake. She shivered slightly as a cold draft blew her and miscalculated her next step, trying to hop over a slippery spot. She found that she had sprained her ankle in her bid to catch herself.

Trying to balance her weight, she slipped again and found herself flying headfirst into the lake.

The feeling was all at once disorienting as the water made her dress heavier, pulling her deeper.

She thrashed around, unable to stay calm as she found herself in the deeper side of the lake but each time she was able to push her head above water, the weight of her dress pulled her down.

"Help me!" she cried once her head broke forth, slapping around again, a move she was quick to regret as once again she was pulled under and she hadn’t taken in a deep breath in time.

The pressure of the water around her and the water she had swallowed had her struggling again, and just as she began to lose hope, she felt hands around her.

Once they reached the surface, she heard the voices of frantic maids and footmen, but she could barely see as she coughed up water and tried to regain her breathing.

She let herself be wrapped in a towel and helped to her feet, remembering too late that she had sprained her ankle. Her cry of pain had her being scooped into someone’s arms, and she vaguely recalled Roberts asking someone to fetch a physician.

Once she was safely behind her chamber doors, she let herself be undressed, towel-dried, and tucked underneath her covers. It would take only a few minutes for sleep to claim her, but not before wishing Victor had been around to save her.