Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

H ow . Elizabeth turned and walked back on her steps for the twentieth time. How could this have happened. How could it have been Annie.

There was a cold little thought at the back of her mind, a suspicion that she was ignoring as hard as she could because every time it surfaced she felt her heart shrink from it.

Annie had been so normal, so natural. She had been chattering away like there was nothing wrong. She had been listening to Elizabeth talk about how happy she was, how much she loved her new life and all along she had been planning and plotting and intending -

How.

But Annie . Her little sister in every way that mattered. A baby she had held when she was just born, a toddler she had taught how to count, a little girl she had played pretend with in the glades around the big house.

Annie.

Her heart ached and she paused in her pacing and leaned against the wall, pressing a hand to her chest as though that would soothe the pain flaring there. How could she bear it, losing her Annie? Losing her sweet sister? She had barely had her back, just had her for a little while!

“Elizabeth,” Stephen said, standing in the doorway to her room, his face grave. “Come, don’t wear your shoes out.”

She darted to him and then paused, hesitating. She wanted to wrap around him, hold him to herself and beg his pardon for bringing nothing but pain and terror to his life, tell him how sorry she was that he had been caught in this deadly game by her family. But at the same time holding him felt like a luxury that she could not allow herself.

Was it fair to cling and to tell him how much she cared when every moment she was near him was another moment that he was in deeper danger.

He stepped forwards and put his hands on her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles into her skin as he bent to kiss her forehead. “Now, none of that. You look as though you are expecting a funeral. I gave you my word, did I not?”

“I don’t doubt you,” she said quickly, leaning towards to rest her head against his chest. Her temples were pounding with pain, a headache that had been ebbing and flowing since the day Stephen had collapsed. “I am so worried for her. She is so young to have this over her head.”

He hummed, stroking her cheek. “She’s a bold little thing, brave too. I wish she had come to us when she arrived here. Surely she must have realized that no news could have been carried back to reveal what she was doing.”

“Maybe,” she felt herself melt as he ran his fingers through her hair, massaging at the sore points on her scalp and soothing away the tensions of the long days without him. “I think sometimes it is easy to get trapped and forget that help is present if you ask for it.”

She could sense that he was looking at her searchingly then, but did not meet his gaze and he said nothing for a moment, guiding her to the bed so he could sit them both down, pull her against his chest and continue to work the aches out of her scalp with his strong safe hands.

How could she feel so safe with him? It was as though her heart had accepted him too deeply and too thoroughly to ever consider that he might hurt her.

“What have you decided?” she asked eventually.

“I am sending her to the Sandhall Estate in Somerset, one of my properties. She will be safe there for the time being and it will allow me to manage what is happening here so that no further consequences find her.” He paused, and his voice when he next spoke was gentle. “She won’t be brought to cold justice, sweetheart. I will keep her secrets.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth felt the sound rip out of her and she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and allowing herself to finally give in to the tears that had been building for days. “Oh thank you, Stephen. She means the world to me. I - I don’t want you to think I would have sheltered her here and never told you what she did. I was going to send her away myself, but I was so scared for her.”

“I know,” he wrapped his arms around her and held her safe and warm, rocking her gently. “It’s all right. I know. I know what you were doing. I would have done similarly had it been a loved one of mine in her place.”

“She is a sister to me,” Elizabeth blurted, finally letting that truth free. “I was not allowed to be with the family, I was kept apart in my own small rooms. I barely ever saw the Duke and his wife, and only sometimes saw my siblings until we were older. It was Mrs. Adams and her children who loved me and cared for me and they are the closest thing to a family I have.” She sobbed and then laughed, bitter and cold. “That is the wife you got, Stephen. A cast-off. An outcast. I had never been out in society before the other night. I can never be a duchess worthy of you.”

“Hush,” Stephen said, drawing back and bending to look in her face. His eyes were fierce but their anger, their coldness did not hurt her. He was not angry with her, she knew that well now. “You are stronger than I could ever have imagined to have made it this far with so little help. I will summon a tutor for Diana’s season and you can sit in with her so she has support and company. You will learn enough that way to be able to manage anything that comes before you, for you have the spirit and the wit to do this well with nothing.”

Elizabeth let out a breath as a rush of relief swept through her. “I have been so frightened of letting you down.”

“You could never. If anyone judges you they will judge us all and we shall laugh at them, for we are stronger together than some snide gossip.” He stroked a hand over her hair. “I have sent Annie away immediately with one of the maids. She will have a way to travel but there is a letter going with her which will mean she will be taken care of and treated well.”

Elizabeth felt her heart twist at the thought of not being able to bid Annie farewell. “Will she ever return?”

“Of course! Why in heavens does everyone act as though I am banishing her to the new world? It’s Somerset. There is naught ill there, just apples and sunshine. She will come back after the business with your family and the hunting party has been settled, it will be too dangerous before then.”

“Oh of course,” she relaxed, letting herself settle against him properly. “Have your plans changed now?”

“What, upon finding out your father’s son was trying to blackmail a child to poison me?” he grimaced and his eyes, beautiful eyes that they were, flashed with danger that made her shiver a little. How was it that he could be so deadly, thrumming with threat and fire and yet it made those parts of her that were so newly awakened yearn for his touch?

“Dudley?”

“He told her that he would murder her mother.”

Elizabeth paled, clinging to him. “Mrs. Adams - is she - what if she -”

“Do not concern yourself, he will simply think she has not had the chance yet and all the servants have been instructed to tell him that I have sent her away briefly to fetch some cider for my natal day next month. Do you think he would take such action without being able to see the person he is hurting experience the pain he is doing to them?”

She shivered. “No. He likes to see his bolts go home.”

“Then he will not act against Mrs. Adams until he is certain he can do so in a way that will draw every bit of satisfaction from it. If it was ever anything but an empty threat. He will want to wait for Annie to return in the hopes that she has not acted yet. The news of my collapse has not been spread, there is no need for him to know.”

Elizabeth nodded, feeling her pulse thrumming with fear. It was too real, too clear how easily Dudley could hurt Mrs. Adams. He must have made the threat knowing it would hurt her just as much as it would harm Annie. “No wonder Annie was afraid,” she said softly. “Dudley can make it feel like there is no escape from him, like no matter what you are thinking he is ten steps ahead and he will always win.”

“Nonsense, he couldn’t even win a duel against Herbert,” Stephen said briskly. “Herbert is a strong fighter, but he’s impulsive and he had never dueled before. It should have been simple if your father’s son were as smart as he thinks he is, to work him into a rage and then overwhelm him with cunning. Instead he was wounded as badly as Herbert was and drove his father into a peace treaty with me.”

Elizabeth huffed a weak little laugh. “I suppose that is so. It is hard to describe how he does it. I have always been frightened of him, ever since I was a girl. The way he looked at me sometimes made me feel cold.”

Stephen tightened his arms around her. “I do not blame you for that. He is a man who knows how to goad his targets to feel shame or despair or rage. But he is not infallible and he is not good at long plans. In this situation what was he planning for the aftermath? Were you to be executed for my death, thus pointing a long finger of shame at his own family? No. He can be beaten and I shall do so myself. He will learn not to meddle in my affairs.”

If she had to make a wager between Stephen and Dudley, Elizabeth felt that it was obvious who would win. Dudley had never had the calm cold center that Stephen had, he didn’t plan things out meticulously, he did not have the determination to do even what was uncomfortable for himself in order to make his plans come to fruition.

No, Dudley would come to fear her husband and she would enjoy watching.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you for everything. You have been so kind to me, even though my father sent someone to harm you. You have no obligation to be gentle to Annie. It means so much to me.”

“You are my wife,” Stephen said firmly. “I will do what I can to make you comfortable and happy as I should. Is all this the reason I woke up to a cold bed this morning? Fretting about young Miss Adams?”

Elizabeth felt her cheeks go red as she remembered their night and all the strange and wonderful things he had made her feel and the sounds she had made, the things she had said. “Once I had my suspicions I did not want to waste time in seeing to matters,” she said. “But I am sorry that I left you, I did find it hard to escape your embrace without waking you.”

“Mmm,” he leaned down and kissed her temple. “I have no doubt of that. I remember distinctly going to sleep with you in my arms.”

“It was a very pleasant way to sleep,” Elizabeth admitted. “And also a pleasant way to wake.”

“I shall want to repeat the experience so that I can have the pleasure of waking to it too,” he murmured.

She lifted her head to look at him and his eyes were bright, shining as he looked at her as though maybe he really cared about her beyond all the plans and truces and treaties and politics. He cupped her cheek with one hand and brought their lips together in a kiss that felt like absolution and security, that felt like warmth and affection.

She let her eyes flutter closed, pushing away the thought that she did not deserve any of his affection. She had brought her brother’s murderous rage to his door in a way that might never have been accomplished had she not married him.

Before this the Wilkins family had only had to fear the Barnes family in social settings where a duel might be demanded as a matter of honor, but now the Barnes family could send agents into the very heart of the Westall Estate. It was no longer bare swords and open battles, but poisoned foods and knives in the dark that they had to fear.

And it was her who had made it possible.