Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

F or a good part of the ride, the only sound Victoria could hear was that of the carriage wheels thundering along the uneven road.

Her wrists were bound tightly with a coarse rope that chafed against her soft skin with every jolt of the vehicle and she was certain that they were going to be terribly bruised.

The carriage swayed again violently to the right as the horses galloped at full speed along a curve, their hooves pounding against the dirt road in the dead of night.

She could hear the wind howling through the cracks in the window, as well as smell the musty scent of damp earth and leaves.

It was already dark outside with the moon shining weakly through the thick clouds, casting faint, flickering shadows over the passing countryside.

Inside was dark except for a single low hanging lantern that kept swaying in tandem to the moving carriage.

It was under this flickering light that Theodore’s face was shown as he sat opposite Victoria, his expression a mixture of regret and stubbornness.

His posture was unnaturally calm, with his hands resting idly on his knees as though they were on a simple evening drive, rather than a desperate flight from her war worn husband.

The fine leather of the carriage seats creaked beneath them even as the crimson upholstery darkened in the low light. Every so often, the wheels hit a deep rut in the road, causing the entire vehicle to lurch, sending Victoria’s already tense body into the side of the carriage.

He sighed, as if trying to draw sympathy from her, his voice barely audible above the rattling of the wheels.

"Victoria, you must know that I am truly sorry for how I handled you earlier. For how you are tied up now. You know… I never intended to cause you pain or frighten you. I hope in time you’ll understand that I did this for your own good. That everything I’ve done- and I am doing- it's because I love you."

Victoria remained rigid, silent, her eyes burning with fury as she glared at him across the narrow space.

His words, nonsensical as they were only helped to fueled the anger raging inside her.

In response, she tugged futilely at her bound wrists, the rope digging deeper into her skin, as if to show how his feeble apology paled in contrast to her situation.

"I’ll never forgive you, Theodore," she said, her voice low and shaking with rage. "You are wrong… so terribly, terribly wrong. You think you are saving me… but you’ve taken me from the only man I’ve ever loved, and for that, I will never…never- forgive you."

His face twisted at her confession of love, his jaw tightening even as he forced a soft smile back on his face, as if he could smoothen away her fury with mere words.

"You are naive. He is the only man who has shown any interest in you and such you only think you love him, Victoria. You don't know what love actually is. A man like Anthony cannot truly love you. He is a beast, a screed monstrosity, completely undeserving of you. Can't you see that I am saving you from a life of misery, can’t you see that all I want is your happiness? No? I understand that you feel grieved but… in time, you will thank me for what I’ve done."

She let out a bitter laugh, her breath shaky and filled with disbelief.

"Thank you?!" She sneered "Thank you?! For this?" She looked pointedly at her bound wrists, raising them slightly as the rope bit into her flesh, leaving angry red marks. "For tying me up like a criminal? For dragging me away in the dead of night? What you’ve done, Theodore, is unforgivable. A terrible scandal! One that would ruin not just me, but Anthony. This is not love! And… you’re delusional if you think I will ever feel anything but disgust for you after this."

He flinched at her words but quickly masked his reaction even though a trace of hurt flickered in his eyes.

"I never wanted it to be like this," he muttered, almost to himself, his hands tightening into fists on his lap. "I had hoped… you would understand. I still hope that you will. That you would come to understand that I have only ever wanted to protect you."

Victoria looked away from him I disgust, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to steady her breath and unwilling to hear any more of his words.

The horses surged forward over another bump in the road causing the carriage jolt violently once again

Her body was thrown slightly to the right, almost sending her to the floor, but she managed to quickly right herself, refusing to show any sign of weakness.

She clenched her fists, the bindings cutting into her palms, as she stared blankly at the darkened countryside speeding past the small window.

Her heart ached, not from the physical discomfort, but from the profound betrayal she felt.

How could she have been so blind to Theodore’s madness?

To the twisted possessiveness that had now reared its ugly head?

How… how did she never see it?

"You may think you are saving me, Theodore," she said, her voice low and bitter, her gaze still fixed out the window, "but in reality, you are destroying any chance of friendship or respect I ever had for you. You cannot force me to love you, no matter what you do."

His face hardened at her words, though he tried to maintain his composed demeanor. "It is because I am your friend that I am doing this. Do you think that I would risk all this if I wasn't convinced it was the right thing to do?"

She gave him no reply wielding her silence as a weapon to him.

She had finally come to the understanding that there was no point trying to make him see reason.

As she watched the carriage hurtled further and further away from everything she knew, she knew she had to focus her energy on one thing and one thing only.

She had to figure out a way to get away.

She had to find a way to escape before Theodore actually carried her off to some foreign land, far from Anthony and far from any hope of rescue.

Theodore leaned forward, his hands clasped together as though he were praying for her understanding, his voice soft but insistent. "Victoria, please listen to me," he said, his eyes wide with a kind of wild desperation. "You cannot truly love Anthony. It’s… it is impossible. Remember how you must have felt when you first saw him. He is… he’s a beast, a brute. Everyone says so. And if you can't see it… then… then he must have done something to you… tricked you, cursed you, maybe lied to you. But it is not real. Men like him, they have ways… ways to blind women to the truth, to make them think they are in love, when really, they are trapped in some kind of wicked spell. I know this. You know he went to war right… he must have… picked up some things from there. Yes! That must be it."

Victoria couldn't help but turn and stare at him in disbelief, her mouth falling open in shock.

Curses?

Really?!

She could hardly comprehend the words coming from his mouth, each one more absurd than the last.

How could this be the same man she had called her friend for so long?

If anyone is cursed or under some mad spell then he is the one.

Not her.

"Do you hear yourself, Theodore?" she said slowly, her voice heavy with irritation and disbelief. "Do you… truly believe this nonsense? Do you think I have been bewitched… bewitched!... into loving my husband? Do you even hear the madness of what you’re saying? Do you understand how absurd that is?!"

Her words hung heavy in the air, but his expression didn’t even change. His eyes still held that mad light even as he reached out to touch her, but she recoiled, her face contorting with disgust.

"Don't touch me!" She snarled as she moved further back into the leather chairs.

"I can see the truth, Victoria. I know what’s happening. You cannot love him. No woman in her right mind could love a beast like Anthony. You know his first fiancé… a childhood friend actually broke up with him. Ended the betrothal when she saw him. And that was someone who knew him as a child. How does it then make sense for you to just accept him." he continued, his voice shaking slightly as if he were desperately trying to make her see some twisted logic. "He’s dangerous. He has blinded you to who he really is. But I… I see it clearly. I see what you cannot."

She shook her head, her rage rising with each word he spoke. "You… see what I cannot?" She let out a sharp, bitter laugh, her voice rising in pitch as her anger finally boiled over. "Oh, how manly of you. How can you presume to know me better than I know myself? Do you think me a fool? Us that how you see me? That I am so weak-minded, so easily manipulated that I could be bewitched into loving someone? You insult me, Theodore!"

"Victo-"

"And more than that, you insult Anthony. A man who has fight for this country. Bled for it. Lost for it. A noble, honorable man. He is not the beast you claim him to be. See, despite all of that anguish and pain he must have gone through, he is still kind and loving, and he treats me with more respect than you ever have… certainly more respect than you are showing me now. And I love him."

His face twisted, a mixture of anger and frustration crossing his features.

"Stop it. Stop saying that, Victoria, just stop it. You don't love him! You think you love him, but it’s because you’ve been deceived! Can't you see?! You’re too good for him. He’s not worthy of you, and he will ruin you. He is already ruining you!"

"Ruin me?" she repeated, her voice cold as ice. "Anthony has only ever sought to make me happy. He respects my independence, my choices. You, on the other hand, would seek to cage me, to tear me from my life, my marriage, because of your own selfish desires. Of anyone was going to ruin me it is certainly you. Kidnapping a married woman from her own home in the dead if the night, what is worse than that? I dare you tell me a worse scandal that can ruin a woman."

Theodore’s mouth opened in protest, but she cut him off with a sharp, bitter tone.

"And how dare you claim to love me, Theodore? How dare you sit there and pretend that all of this… this madness is because you care for me? If you truly loved me, you would have wanted my happiness. You would have supported my marriage, not plotted to destroy it. And why now, huh? Why now, after all these years? Why now, when I’m married and happy, are you suddenly declaring your feelings? You let me grow old as a spinster, watched me live my life without saying a word. And now…now… when I have finally found happiness with Anthony, you decide to reveal your affections? Why didn’t you speak up before? Why didn't you ask for my hand then? Why didn’t you say something when it would have mattered? Why stay silent?!" She screamed at him, her whole body shaking with the violent emotions growing inside her. "What kind of friend are you, Theodore? What kind of man claims to love a woman but does nothing for years, only to show up when it’s too late, to ruin everything?"

He swallowed, his hands twisting in his lap as he attempted to reach out to her with words once more. "I… Victoria, I couldn't. I didn’t know how to… I couldn’t find the words then. But when I saw you with him, I couldn’t bear it. You don’t belong with him. He’s wrong for you, and I had to act. You know me. You have known me for years. We… are perfect for each other."

"And that’s it, isn’t it?" she snapped, her voice cutting through the rattling of the carriage. "It’s all about you, isn’t it, Theodore? Your feelings. Your desires. You cannot bear to see me happy because it wasn’t you who made me happy. You’re trying to ruin everything I have because of your own selfishness. So don't insult me by pretending all this is for me. At least have the guts to be a man."

Theodore’s expression faltered, and for the first time, she saw the cracks in his composure.

He looked at her, truly looked at her, and for a moment, there was a flicker of something- shame, perhaps- in his eyes.

"I didn’t want to hurt you," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. "I only wanted to save you from making a mistake."

She shook her head slowly, her chest tightening with the overwhelming mixture of anger and disappointment.

"This is not love, Theodore," she said, her voice strained with the weight of her emotions. "What you are doing to me now... it’s not love. It’s manipulation. You dint kidnap someone you love. You don't against the wishes of the one you love. You celebrate with them in their happiness. And you are ruining not only my happiness but any shred of respect and dignity I had managed to get." She looked him in the eye, her gaze unwavering. "You say you’re saving me from a mistake? No. The only mistake was trusting you."

Her words seemed to cut through him, and for a moment, he appeared to be lost for a reply. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his hands clenching and unclenching as he struggled to find some response that could justify his actions. But there was nothing he could say.

The damage had been done.

They continues in silence for a while as the carriage continued to run down the road, the bumpy terrain only adding to the uncomfortable tension between them.

Victoria once again turned her head away from him, staring out into the dark, endless night, her heart heavy with betrayal. There was no turning back now.

Whatever friendship they had shared was gone, shattered like glass.

And no matter how much Theodore tried to convince her otherwise, no matter how many times he apologized or promised that she would one day thank him, she knew deep in her heart that she would never forgive him for this.

And then his voice broke the silence, dripping with cold certainty as he looked at her, his eyes narrowing. "Very well then, we’ve agreed," he said, as though the entire conversation had been settled by his mere decree.

Victoria’s eyes snapped with fury.

Agreed?

Agreed to what?!

She could hardly believe her ears.

His condescending tone, as if her thoughts and feelings were a mere trifle to be dismissed, as if this whole abhorrent situation had been decided without her say, was infuriating beyond measure.

She felt the blood rush to her face, her pulse quickening with rage. How dare he speak to her as though she were a child, as though her will meant nothing!

Without thinking and driven by pure madness, she launched herself at him, her hands raised, fingers curled like claws, intent on raking across his smug, self-assured face.

"You insufferable- " She bit back the words, holding onto the little control she had left as her body surged forward, her fury fueling her every movement.

But Theodore had seen her coming.

His reflexes allowed him to dodge just in time, her hands swiping at the empty space where his face had been moments before.

Victoria, however, did not stop.

Her anger urged her forward, and she spun on her heel with surprising speed.

She rushed toward the carriage door, her heart pounding as she reached for the handle, desperate to throw herself out into the cold night air and away from this madness.

Away from him.

But Theodore was faster.

Before she could open the door, his hand slapped down on her wrist with a grip that was so tight it made her wince in pain.

And with a swift, brutal movement, he yanked her back toward him, pulling her down into the seat beside him.

He had used so much force that the motion knocked the breath from her lungs, while she gasped and struggled against his hold. His hands were strong, painfully strong, and as much as she fought, he overpowered her with ease.

"I shall not sit still, Victoria, while I eat h you try and throw your life away" he hissed, his breath hot against her cheek as he rose over her. His voice was low, dangerous, as though a storm had been brewing beneath his calm fa?ade, now breaking through in full force. "If I must use force to make you see reason, so be it. But mark my words, you will not leave this carriage. Not until we get to our destination"

Her response to that was to continue thrashing in his grip, her body twisting in vain to escape him, even though his strength was far greater than hers.

Annoyed with her behavior, he- swift motion- pinned her arms down, holding her in place, his body pressing her back against the plush cushions of the carriage seat.

The weight of him was suffocating, and for a moment, her chest tightened with panic.

"Let me go!" she spat, her voice strained with the effort of fighting him. She glared at him, eyes blazing, but her body betrayed her—it was too tired, too weak from the struggle.

And Theodore was relentless.

"Victoria, stop," he murmured, his tone softening into something dangerously gentle as his hands, still holding her down, shifted ever so slightly. His grip loosened, but only enough to allow him to brush his fingers against her skin, an attempt at tenderness. "I do not wish to hurt you."

She recoiled at the touch, disgust flooding her veins. How could he even dare to caress her after all this?

The intimacy of the gesture was revolting, a sham of the affection he claimed to feel for her. She thrashed again, but his hands only tightened once more, holding her firmly in place.

"You will understand in time," he whispered, his face inches from hers. His eyes bore into her with an intensity that sent a chill through her. "Everything I am doing is for you. You will thank me for it. One day."

"That day will never come, Theodore," she spat, her voice trembling with rage. "I will never thank you, Theodore. I will never forgive you for this."