Chapter 22

The room was silent for only a moment, stunned into silence, until Lord Fitzroy pushed himself off of the wall and called out, "Congratulations!"

Eliza was the next to offer her excitement, stepping over and wrapping Siena in a hug. "Are you sure?" she whispered in her ear, to which Siena could only nod, so overwhelmed was she by these sudden turns of events.

"You most certainly are not!" Lord Sterling burst out. "I will not have my daughter married to a—to a?—"

"To a duke?" Lady Willoughby supplied, arching an eyebrow and causing Lord Sterling to curse.

"It is too late. You have a marriage contract with Lord Mulberry. To break it would be of great offense."

Siena stood, staring her father in the eye. She was done with this, with being told what to do, being used as a pawn in these games between men.

"I love Levi, and if he will have me, then I will marry him," she said, lifting her chin. "You cannot tell me what to do any longer."

Lord Sterling began to chuckle lowly, in such a sinister manner that terror began to creep down Siena's spine.

"You think you know everything, but you have no say in this, Siena," he said. "You will see."

With that, he turned and left the room, Lord Hanson following behind him sheepishly. Siena and Eliza exchanged a look, both of them knowing her father far too well to trust that he was done with them.

Siena could tell that Levi's silence was an uncomfortable one, and she took a step toward him, placing a hand on his. "Levi, are you all right?" she asked, to which he gave a terse nod and said, "Fine," although he most certainly was not.

She tugged on his hand, leading him away from the others. Eliza and her mother were murmuring in low voices to one another while Lord Fitzroy watched them all with concern on his normally smiling face.

"I'm so sorry, Levi," she said hoarsely. "The last thing you wanted was company or attention and I have brought both upon you. I feel that all I have done since I arrived is place a burden upon you. Yes, there have been good moments, but overall?—"

Despite the others in the room, Levi leaned forward and cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"The good moments kept me going through any trying ones," he said. "I will do anything for you, Siena. Whatever you need."

Siena realized belatedly that she had just announced to everyone that she loved him. He had agreed to marry her, but he had yet to tell her how he felt about her in return. Would he think her foolish for saying so? Did he feel the same?

"Are you sure about this?" she asked. "About m-marriage? If you aren't, I understand. We – I will find another way. Eliza and Lady Willoughby will help as well. The last thing I want to do is to subject you to a life that you have no wish for."

He looked away from her for a moment, and she knew then that he had doubts.

"Tell me how you truly feel," she implored. "Now, before it is too late."

"Do I have concerns?" he said, his brow furrowing. "Of course I do. If we have children, are they going to fear me? Will you be able to live the life that you deserve, a life full of love, light, and people? I'm not sure that I will ever be able to give you that."

He took a ragged breath as Siena tried to calm her pulse, which had begun to beat quickly at Levi's mention of children. "If your other option was someone worthy of you, I would tell you to go to him. But I will not have you return to the life you left, nor a man like Lord Mulberry."

"So…" she took a breath, trying not to allow him to see how affected she was, "you would marry me only to protect me?"

His hands rose again to cup her face, as he stared at her intently, as though wishing that he could tell her exactly what he was thinking without actually saying anything. "Siena?—"

"I hate to break up this moment," Eliza said, her voice cutting through the circle of calm that had surrounded Siena, "but just where do you think your father went? It isn't like him to leave without the last word. What do you think he will do now?"

"I hate to think of it," Siena said, biting her lip, before looking up at Levi, wondering what he had been about to say to her, wishing Eliza hadn't interrupted them.

"He will try to coerce you to return to London with him, I would suspect," Lady Willoughby said, walking over to join them. "As much as it pains me to say this, he has a point. Your Grace might rank above him, but when it comes to you, Siena, you might have little recourse if your father has already agreed with Lord Mulberry."

Her eyes flicked over to Levi.

"There is one man who would be able to prevent him from doing as he wished with her — her husband."

Levi smiled grimly. "Well. How fortunate that we are so close to Canterbury."

Lady Willoughby's eyes lit with glee, confusing Siena.

"Canterbury?" Siena repeated. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Lord Fitzroy pushed himself off the wall. "Canterbury, my dear, is the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The one man in England who could grant you a special license to marry whenever and wherever you wish."

Levi's eyes met Lord Fitzroy's. "Could you go in my stead? I wouldn't like to leave Siena."

"Say no more," Lord Fitzroy said with a bow. "On my way out, I will ask Thornbury to send a footman for the vicar."

"What is happening?" Siena said, turning around in Levi's arms, looking up at him in bewilderment.

"We are getting married," he said, although he did not look at all like a man who was in the throes of love, about to take his bride. "Fitz will go seek a special license from the Archbishop, and in the meantime we will prepare so that we can marry as soon as he returns. Then your father will no longer be able to take you away. I suspect he has returned to London to gather forces to come and ensure that you have no choice but to go with him. We must be faster."

Siena froze at his words, captured both by a sense of how unfair it was that she had to endure this and buoyed by hope that there was an escape from her predicament – but at what cost?

"Are you sure, Levi?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper. "I know you wanted nothing to do with this and here I am?—"

"I would not have offered if I didn't mean it," he said, more gently now. "Why don't you and Lady Eliza go prepare for the wedding? I know it is likely not the wedding day that you envisioned, but perhaps you can make it bearable."

She nodded woodenly as Eliza threaded her arm through hers and led her out of the room. They were already upstairs and walking down the corridor when the severity of all that was happening hit her.

"Eliza," she said, stopping and staring at her friend. "I do not know if I can do this. It is all so sudden, and I am not sure if Levi actually has any wish to marry me or if he is doing it out of some strange sense of honor. He never wanted to be married, never even wanted anyone at his estate. What if we marry and then he grows to resent me and his life if this was just an act of duty, a lesser evil of the two choices? He had made a vow to protect me, but is ensuring that I do not return to Lord Mulberry worth sacrificing his wishes? Oh goodness, this has been one pre-wedding panic too many."

She finally stopped when Eliza wrapped her hands around her upper arms and stared at her intently.

"Siena, take a breath," she ordered. "You are overthinking this."

"Overthinking?"

"Yes. You are looking for faults when they are not there. The entire situation is not ideal, true, but I do believe the duke loves you – or, at the very least, cares for you deeply. He may say that he does not want this life, but maybe he is wrong. Maybe you have to show him what he wants and help him to understand that he is worthy of it."

"But—"

"He does not strike me as the kind of man who would do something he had no wish to do," Eliza said, and Siena nodded slowly, thinking back to the many times he had declined her suggestions. "In the very worst outcome, if you both truly decide that you have no desire to live together, then you can return to London — hopefully with the children you have always longed for —and live the life you choose while he remains here or wherever he will be. But at least your father will no longer have authority over you."

Siena swallowed hard. "I think that would be even sadder than not being married to him at all," she said hoarsely. "To know that he truly didn't want me, despite me being his wife."

Eliza smiled sympathetically. "I know, Siena. I do. Those are all valid concerns, and I know that you will solve them in time. But right now, in this moment, it is most important that you prevent being forced to return to Lord Mulberry."

"I love him," she said, her voice wavering now. "Levi, that is, although he has never said the same."

"Perhaps he doesn't know how he feels," Eliza said. "There is a good chance that he just hasn't yet realized that he needs you just as much – if not more – than you need him."

Siena brightened somewhat at the thought as Eliza continued.

"Perhaps it is up to you to show him that he is worthy of love, that there is more to him than what he looks like or the sum of his experiences. Has he changed since you arrived?"

"Most incredibly," Siena whispered. "But it is not that he is a different person. He has found who he truly is."

"With a bit more time together, you might be surprised at the life the two of you are able to create for yourselves."

"That could be," Siena said with a watery smile. She wanted to believe Eliza, truly she did, but it seemed as if the entire world was against them at the moment.

"He is fighting for you," Eliza said, giving her arms one last squeeze before standing and walking over to the wardrobe, opening it and placing her hands on her hips. "Now. What are you going to wear for your wedding day?"