Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Mistake

Maxine

As I hadn’t had a tour of the house, I got lost trying to find the drawing room.

But considering there were a bevy of servants around, I startled one by coming on him as he was rushing to do something. He stared in shock at my cheek (which should have shared how bad it was, but I was so out of it, I didn’t take this in) as I asked him to point me to the drawing room. He did as I asked.

It’d take me a minute to realize, in my daze, I was making a huge mistake.

In my defense, I had, as yet, not given myself time to process all that had happened to me, to Mom, seeing a me who was not me, but was ill, having a father who proved what I’d known all my life, but had struggled against, he was inherently vile, learning I had another father who was worse.

And so on…

I also had not been around Lord Remington or the Duke of Dalton very long. I didn’t know what made their character (but spoiler, I was about to find out).

Last, I had never been struck.

The pain was subsiding, though it lingered and there was a tightness so I knew it was swelling. That said, I was in a state of shock that any human being, much less one who looked like my dad, would take his hands to me.

So, I had an excuse when I did what I should not and glided in my gorgeous gown into the drawing room.

Edgar was the first to see me.

He turned, paled immediately, only for big splashes of angry red to suffuse his cheeks, and he hurried my way.

“Daughter,” he bit impatiently, even if he was trying to make it sound concerned, “You’re to be abed. It’s lovely, you wish to keep us company, but let’s get you back to your chamber.”

He was crowding me, pushing me backwards, hiding me from the others with his body, and I was still partially in a daze, not to mention a little freaked at seeing him.

I was backing up.

“It’s my understanding,” I heard Loren drawl, “that the countess doesn’t like to be backed somewhere she doesn’t wish to be.”

His voice was coming around our sides.

I turned my head that way.

And stopped dead.

This was because, if I felt his anger singe my skin in the stables, his fury now was burning me alive.

“What’s this?” he whispered sinisterly, his attention locked to my cheek.

His father came up to his side, got a look at me, and his face turned to stone.

Edgar took hold of my upper arm and started jostling me toward the door.

“I’ll return after I see my Maxine to bed,” he said, trying again to hide me with his frame.

“You’ll take your hand off her, or mark me, Derryman, you’ll find it difficult to use after I crush every bone in it,” Loren threatened.

Edgar’s eyes narrowed on me, and he hissed under his breath, “Punished.”

And poof, my daze cleared.

Shit, what had I done?

He turned to the men, holding me at his side, and in an ingratiating tone, lied, “Maxine took a bit of a tumble. I didn’t want to say. It’s embarrassing to her. She can be quite awkward.”

“She didn’t take a godsdamned tumble,” Loren gritted.

Edgar made a frustrated noise.

I belatedly started freaking out.

“I think we can all agree she needs to be resting with a compress,” Edgar rejoined.

“I think you need to step away from your daughter, Derryman,” Ansley stated flatly.

His fingers on my arm tightened.

I winced.

“If you gentleme—” Edgar began.

He didn’t finish because he, and I (he took me with him because he didn’t let go), reeled back.

Though it was only he who was slammed against the wall with Loren’s hand wrapped around his throat, and Loren in his face.

“Release your daughter, sir,” he clipped.

Edgar let me go.

“Father,” Loren prompted, not moving from Edgar.

I felt my elbow taken with gentle fingers and I was carefully pulled away.

“Was it spending time with me in the stables? Or how she spoke to you before then? Or both?” Loren demanded.

Edgar made low choking noises.

“Loren, my son, step back,” Ansley called.

Loren didn’t step back.

“Have you hurt her before?” he pushed.

“Loren,” Ansley persisted.

“Answer!” Loren thundered.

“Loren! Now!” Ansley commanded.

I held my breath.

Loren didn’t move.

Edgar kept choking.

Loren pushed off and stepped back.

After he did, instantly, he turned to me, and tenderly ordered, “Come here.”

I had no idea why (that’s a lie, I did, that tone in his lovely, rich voice was mesmerizing), but I went right there.

When I did, he took my hand, lifted it, tucked it against the side of his chest and led us several feet farther from Edgar.

“We shall call your valet, Derryman,” Ansley announced. “You’re leaving tonight.”

No!

I tensed.

I felt his regard as Loren looked down at me.

“Your daughter will remain,” Ansley finished.

Oh God. Oh shit. Oh no.

“I did. I d-did. I t-tumbled,” I lied (poorly).

“Countess,” Loren murmured.

I looked up at him, feeling my eyes were huge, and desperately kept at it. “I did. I’m clumsy that way.”

Loren’s intelligent brown gaze roamed my face.

He then lifted it to his father.

“He goes, she stays,” he decreed.

Damn it, he knew I was lying.

“Lord Remington, may I speak to you?” I asked urgently.

“Good, Eaton, you’re here,” Ansley said, and I whipped my head around to see him addressing a man who had a slightly more important outfit than the other servants. “Find the Count’s valet. He and his staff will be leaving this eve. His daughter and her maid will remain.”

Eaton nodded smartly and left the room.

Ansley looked to Edgar and delivered the final blow.

“It will be up to your daughter and my son if they should make their own union, but Derryman, you and I, the House of Dalton and the House of Derryman, will have no such public alliance. Consider this the cut direct, sir, and please do me the favor of never corresponding with me in any way again.”

My gaze swung to Edgar, who was staring death at me.

Fix this, he mouthed.

Frantically, I turned full body into Loren, pressing into him.

“Please, your grace, I need to speak to you.”

Loren looked down at me.

“Please,” I begged. “Privately.”

He glanced at his father, then back to me and nodded.

Okay.

All right.

A start.

He began to draw me from the room as I thought, Now what did I do?

I caught Edgar’s eyes, he narrowed his at me warningly, and I started to breathe funny.

I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was going to have to come up with something.

Loren didn’t take me to the yellow, cream and green sitting room. He took me to a room that could only be described as a kind of this-world family room. It had warm, deep colors and comfortable-looking furniture, but was still stately and refined.

He closed the door behind us.

And as it would seem was his way, he got there first.

“Countess, you’re safe here. I can well imagine what your life has been like with that man, and I’m now realizing the answers to a number of questions, including why you remained in Fleuridia as long as you did. But there are laws against this type of behavior. This isn’t your mother’s times. We have a new king. And you have my promise, we will see what is to come between us, but my father and I both will be certain you are seen to in the manner to which you’re accustomed.”

“You can’t make him leave,” I blurted.

“My lady—”

I tugged my hand from his, wrapped both around the sides of his neck, pulled him down to me, got up on my toes, met him nose to nose, and whispered, “Loren, you cannot make him leave. We must mend this. Now.”

He stared into my eyes and said not a word.

“I can’t explain it, just, I beg of you, play nice. Go back to that room, share with your father that I’m a klutz—”

“A klutz?”

“Clumsy. Awkward. Two left feet. Whatever…just—”

“I don’t know what hold he has on you, my lady,” he said gently. “But you shall understand freedom. He will be sent from here, but we will be calling the royal inspectors immediately to investigate this. He’ll be jailed, he’ll be fined, and he won’t be able to get to you again.”

Oh my God!

It was getting worse.

If Edgar was jailed, I’d never find Mom.

And even worse, he might do something to her beforehand, or if he wasn’t around at least to pay whoever was giving her gruel, she’d starve to death.

And the same would befall Maxine.

“Lor…your grace, don’t.” I squeezed his neck. “Honestly, it’s not that I fear him, or I’ve known nothing but this so I expect it, or anything like that. I just…Dad and I have a weird—”

He lifted his hands to wrap his fingers around my wrists, and he carefully pried away my hold.

“You must know, seeing what we’ve seen, it’s our duty to attend to you, sweeting,” he said gently.

Shit, shit, shit!

Why did this guy have to be a good guy? Tall and strong and interesting and tender and principled.

Fuck!

“Stay here,” he bid. “It’ll all be resolved shortly. I’ll come to get you, we’ll have dinner. In the meantime, I’ll send someone to pour you a sherry so you can calm yourself, and bring you a cold compress, to perhaps contain some of the swelling.”

With that, he gave my wrists a squeeze then let go.

He started walking away.

Goddamn it.

There was nothing for it.

“He’s holding my mother and sister captive until I marry you,” I said to his back.

Loren froze, statue still, his back to me.

I sounded like a lunatic.

I had no choice.

“I know it sounds insane, because it is, because he’s a huge di…I mean, uh, cad, but it’s true. I didn’t want to…didn’t want to…come home. From Fleuridia. Because, obviously, he’s awful. And my sister, she’s…not right. She needs to be somewhere where they can look after her. And…and…and…”

I trailed off because he’d been turning, slowly, as I spoke, and now he was facing me with a carefully blank look on his face that was scaring the beads off me.

“I know I sound mad,” I said quietly. “But it’s true. And I was playing his game until I could discover where they were, rescue them, spirit them away, and then…um, I don’t know. I was making it up as I went along. But then he hit me, and it hurt a lot…”

I got off that tangent fast when his mood started heating my skin again.

“And I was dazed and made a mistake and now we have to go in there and pretend it’s all right and…uh…your grace?”

I called after him in the end because he’d turned on his shiny, black evening boot and was prowling out of the room.

Uh-oh.

“I think I just made mistake two, goddamn it,” I snapped to myself.

And then, with no other choice, I gripped silk and crystals and beads in my fingers and flew after him.