Page 25 of The Duke and the Hellion Bride (Duchesses of Convenience #7)

Chapter Twenty-Five

“E velyn, will you please ask my daughter what she is still doing here?” Diana’s mother said, looking down the table at Evelyn as she purposefully avoided so much as glancing at Diana.

“Mother,” Diana sighed. “There is no need to --”

“Evelyn, will you please ask my daughter what she is still doing here?” her mother spoke over Diana.

Evelyn shook her head. “I suspect that she is here to break her fast, as we both are.”

“Mother, can we please talk about this like --”

“Evelyn, will you please tell my daughter that she is not welcome to break her fast with us,” her mother spoke over her again as she continued to look at Evelyn. “Only those who live here are welcome at this table, and the last time I checked, Diana has a home of her own.”

“Aunt Teresa, is this really necessary?”

“A home which I toiled and broke my back to see her welcome into,” her mother continued hotly. “A home which any woman in her position would kill to be welcome – a home that I now see was above her, despite how much blood and sweat I poured into convincing certain dukes of the contrary.”

“You did no such thing,” Diana snapped, fed up with her mother’s behavior. “So do not pretend that you did. My marriage to His Grace was organized on his account, and had nothing to do with you, so please do not act otherwise.”

Her mother’s eyes widened in rage, and she very nearly turned to direct said rage onto Diana. But she stayed firm, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on Evelyn. “Evelyn, will you please tell my daughter that I do not appreciate being spoken down to in my own home, and that if she does not agree with what I have to say, she is welcome to leave. In fact, I would prefer that she did.”

“Diana, did you catch all of that?” Evelyn sighed. “Or shall I repeat it.”

Diana glared at her mother. “Oh, I caught it well enough.”

Sometimes, I wonder which of us is the adult and which is the child? The way my mother is behaving, one would think she was fresh out of the womb, as immature as a babe able to do little more than cry to hear her point made.

Why Diana had expected anything different from her mother, she really had no idea.

At least, Diana decided, her mother had past the point of yelling directly at her, as she had spent most of the previous evening doing – and screaming, and shouting. Compared to that, this little demonstration she was putting on was a welcome change that was almost pleasant.

It was a shame that her mother was even more obtuse than Diana could be during her worst moments. Last night, when Diana had come home in tears, she had hoped to be greeted with a loving embrace and compassion. That her mother, seeing how utterly shattered she was, would take her in her arms and listen when Diana told her that the marriage was over and there was nothing to be done.

Laughable, Diana now knew. Her mother had been furious, unwilling to listen. Even hostile, such that if Diana had anywhere else to go, she just might have. Worse that she couldn’t tell her mother the truth, for fear of what Lord Herrod would do if he found out. All Diana had been able to do was give vague excuses about the failed marriage, knowing full well it would not be enough.

She had hoped that a night to herself would provide her mother with perspective. Alas, her hostility might have dimmed but her tolerance for Diana’s actions was as dismissive as ever.

“Evelyn, will you please ask my daughter what she is still doing here,” her mother started up again. She sat at the head of the table, her chin pointed in the air as she spoke directly to Evelyn. “I am at a loss to understand why she thinks that she can waltz into this home after sabotaging a marriage that I worked so hard to --”

“Enough!” Diana erupted before she could help herself. On her feet, she was shaking with a rage that was a day in the making. “I understand Mother, that you are upset with me. Really, I do. And I understand that you cannot see how such a travesty as this has happened to you – because that is how you see it. Is it not? Who cares how I feel? It is you and you alone who you care for! Such that you would treat your youngest daughter in this manner, because you cannot for one second comprehend that I did what I did because I had no choice! I did not want it! I did not ask for it! But it has happened and acting this way, like a child, will not change anything!”

Her breathing was up. She could feel her face turned bright red. Eyes wide and wild, she bore them upon her mother, daring her to retaliate. Dammit, she wanted her to. Best that they have it out now and be done with it.

Her mother, however, looked upon her coldly. A curl to her lip, a warning glare to her eyes. The cold look held, and Diana braced herself, only for her mother to turn and address Evelyn once again.

“Evelyn, will you please tell my daughter that I am not to be spoken to like that in my own home. If she wishes to raise her voice, she has a home of her own in which she is free to do as she likes. Kindly tell her she may return there, if she so wishes.”

“Oh, for the sake of --!” Diana threw her hands in the air in frustration and stormed from the breakfast room. When she reached the door, she turned back and fixed her mother with a final dispassionate look. “I am hurting, Mother. Hurting more than I thought possible. When I came home as I did, my hope was that my mother would be there to support me – that she would understand what I was going through.” She locked her eyes onto her mother, silently praying that this might see the woman break finally. Rather, her mother continued to ignore her, which broke Diana down even further than she already had been. “I guess I was wrong...”

With that, she bowed her head and slunk from the breakfast room. No longer angry. No longer disappointed. Sadness was what overwhelmed her in that moment. A broken heart, no one to help mend it, crushing loneliness that she guessed would be with her for some time to come.

How had things ever come to this?

* * *

There was a soft knock at the door which Diana didn’t respond to. She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, doing what she could not to cry as she imagined the walls crumbling, the ceiling collapsing, and how simple things might be if she was just buried where she lay.

“Diana...” Evelyn spoke softly from across the room. “Might we talk? If you are up for it?”

“My mother isn’t with you, is she?” Diana asked, not bothering to look.

Evelyn chuckled. “Oh, no. After the way you spoke to her...” Another chuckle. “I don’t think she’d used to being attacked like that.”

“That was nothing,” Diana sighed. “I was holding back.”

“Do me a favor, will you?” Footsteps crossing the room. “Make sure I am there if the two of you go another round. I would very much like to see it.”

Despite how she was feeling, Diana laughed. “So long as you don’t mind being caught in the middle? I worry if it is to happen, the house might literally catch on fire.”

“Well, wouldn’t that be something to see.”

Diana sighed and sat herself up so she could better see Evelyn. The moment she did, an unexpected pang of guilt struck her. She loved her cousin and always had. Evelyn, forever playful and uncaring, liking to pretend that she cared not for romance or courtship or any of that nonsense, had been caught in the middle of this calamity for no reason that was her fault.

She watched her cousin for a moment, wondering how much she knew and how much pain she too was feeling. Diana was yet to tell her mother why she had ended the marriage so suddenly, and she wasn’t even certain that Evelyn knew what was coming.

“How are you feeling?” Diana asked cautiously.

Evelyn frowned. “Me? Compared to you, I imagine I could just about fly.”

Her chest tightened as the guilt compounded. “Evelyn, there is something you need to know.” She felt herself begin to shake and couldn’t bring herself to look at her. “The reason that I have left His Grace, it is not a simple matter – at least not as I have made it seem to Mother.”

“I can’t imagine it would be.”

“I...” The words caught in her throat, and she swallowed as she forced herself to meet her cousin’s eyes. “I am to marry Lord Herrod instead.”

Evelyn frowned. “You are... excuse me?”

“It is not what it sounds like,” she then hurried. “And truly, it is not what I wish. I do not want to marry him. I would rather anything else. But I have no choice, forced into it so that if I did not agree those I love would suffer.” She winced. “Although in doing so, those I love are bound to suffer regardless. It is a wretched situation and all I can ask is that you forgive me. But if you cannot, I understand. Truly, I do not deserve your forgiveness.”

“Forgive you?” Evelyn frowned. “Why on earth would I need to forgive you.”

“Because you and Lord Herrod. You are... the two of you are courting, are you not? Clearly, he has not told you what he plans to do. Which is not surprising, for he is a monster that deserves a stake through the heart and --” She caught her tongue and took a breath. “No, I am through passing the blame. Your anger should be for me, and I take it willingly.”

“Diana...” Evelyn crept closer to the bed. “I do not know what has happened, but I do hope that you know my courtship with Lord Herrod...” She scoffed and curled her lip. “It was not one that I was particularly excited for. In fact, since the day that he began courting me, my life has been so miserable that I am honestly trying my best not to smile right now at what you say...” She smiled softly but then turned it into a frown. “Perhaps I will save it for later? I do not wish to gloat.”

“Truly?” Diana perked up hopefully. “You are not mad?”

“Mad?” Evelyn laughed. “How you could think that I would ever want to be with a man like that . Urgh,” she sneered and then winced. “Sorry.”

“But... but... but then why? Why were the two of you together?”

Evelyn sighed and then came in closer to the bed, sitting down and taking Diana by the hand. “Why do you think? Your mother...” A shake of the head. “And my own parents, of course. My father borrowed quite a large sum from him, and where he did not force me to accept his courtship, the implication was plain. And with your mother whispering in my ear and forcing my hand, well...” A shrug. “I had little choice, really.”

“Oh, Evelyn...”

“The man is a pig,” she said firmly, nodding her head once. “And truly, I never got much sense that he even liked me. It was all very strange... made stranger now by this.” She looked worryingly at Diana. “Tell me what is going on, Diana. The last time I saw you and His Grace, I could not believe how happy you were. And I refuse to believe such happiness could end so quickly.”

“It is not a simple thing.” Diana looked away, the memory of it all crashing down on her like waves on the shore.

“Tell me,” Evelyn pressed on her, squeezing her hand. “At the very least, speaking it might make you feel better.”

“I doubt that.”

“It cannot hurt.”

She was right. All these feelings could not be kept bottled up and Diana felt that she needed to speak them. And knowing now that Evelyn hated the man she was set to wed as much as Diana did, well it might not change anything, but it might also make her feel slightly better.

So, with nothing else for it, she told Evelyn the full story. From start to finish. She and Magnus making love, his fleeing the room right after, the way he acted the next day, Lord Herrod’s blackmail, and Diana’s using of the previous events to convince her husband she wished to leave him.

As she spoke, Evelyn’s face turned from curious to concerned to disgusted to utterly tragic. Her chin began to wobble and by the time Diana was done, Evelyn was almost in tears.

“Oh, Diana!” She threw her arms around her, holding her close. “That is... it is worse than I thought!”

“Typically tragic, isn’t it,” Diana said bitterly, taking some sense of comfort in the way her cousin held her. “Worse that there is nothing I can do.”

“Can you not tell His Grace?” Evelyn asked. “Surely, if you were to explain to him what Lord Herrod has done?”

“Technically he has done nothing,” Diana said, for she had thought on this already. Of course, she had. “Words only, which Lord Herrod would just deny. My fear is that even if I were to go to Magnus and tell him of Lord Herrod’s threat, that Lord Herrod – you did not see him that day, Evelyn. He was incensed. Mad! I fear that if he suspected at all that I would not do as he asked, then he would not hesitate to hut the girls.”

“But His Grace, he can protect them.”

“For a time,” Diana agreed. “It is as I said, Lord Herrod has technically done nothing wrong, meaning that Magnus can do nothing more than warn him off. And once he does, there will be nothing to stop Lord Herrod from coming after the girls. It could be a week. A month. Even a year later. But the man is crazed, and I suspect that he would hurt them out of pure spite.”

“So, that is it, is it? He wins?” She shook her head. “I cannot accept that.”

“I have no choice...” Diana had thought long and hard about this, and she more than anyone did not wish to see Lord Herrod get what he wanted. Despite Magnus’ actions, she still loved him. Dammit, his pleas to her when she left still rung in her eyes and made her want to wretch, such was the guilt she felt! But the girls... she could not put them in danger. Even if it meant she was forced to suffer for the rest of her life.

“Then what? What shall you do?”

“As I am doing,” Diana said. “I suspect that in the next few days, Lord Herrod will come for me. And please, Evelyn...” She took her cousins hands and squeezed them as she looked pleadingly into her eyes. “Please, do not speak of what I told you. If Lord Herrod suspects I have told anyone, my mother especially...” She grimaced. “I will never forgive myself.”

Evelyn’s face was hardened and there was anger behind her eyes. The same stubbornness that Diana was known for, she feared for a moment that her cousin would not drop it. So, she continued to look pleadingly, begging her silently to do as asked.

“I do not like it,” Evelyn said finally. “But if it is as you wish... Oh, I just feel so horrible!”

“As do I,” Diana sighed. “As do I.”