Henry studied her, then sighed. He suddenly looked exhausted, aged beyond his years. She tried to remember a time when he hadn’t looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was sad to realize she had very few memories thus. Though Isobel knew her own plight, and that of any woman, she rarely thought about what it must be like to carry all the responsibility. She imagined herself in her brother’s place. Between maintaining his social standing, runningan estate with a country home or two added in, and caring for his strong-willed daughter alone, he barely had time to read a book of poems. Did he ever have an attack like she had last night? Did he ever wish he was somewhere and someone else?
She opened her mouth to ask just that but thought much better of it. Instead, she asked, “Did he inquire about my well-being?” If she had been born a gentleman and in a similar situation, she’d have left the theater immediately with her betrothed. And if not, she’d have at least come to the house as soon as the carriage returned. She was grateful that he hadn’t, of course, as she wouldn’t have been at home anyway, which would have caused a much larger fuss. But that was the thing. He wouldn’t. Even last night, she’d known there was no danger of him coming to check on her.
Perhaps because he was no gentleman at all.
Henry sighed. “He does care for you, Isobel. Richard isn’t always open with his emotions, especially after the passing of his wife, but I assure you he cares. Men often—”
“I do not want a lecture on men and their mysterious ways,” she exclaimed. What it really boiled down to was the fact that most were emotionally stunted and overly arrogant while walking around claiming they were the superior sex. One such lecture was enough to last her a lifetime.
Henry’s mouth hung open on his unfinished remark before his lips pressed into a frown she knew well.
“When the Duchess asked why me,” she continued before he recovered, “Lord Richard’s response had nothing to do with the fact that he cared about me. Rather, he made it sound like it had been nothing more than a business deal between you two.”
“What? That’s preposterous.” Henry seemed unable to fathom the idea. “Isobel, he asked what happened, is all. I told him you weren’t feeling well, and that I had yet to see you this morning.”
For some reason, that was the key to unlocking her emotion. Anger was a twisted thing in her chest. “Of course. I embarrassed him in front of the Duke and Duchess.”
Henry raised a finger, his mouth opening, but she drove on. “And when exactly did you know about him asking for a special license for us to marry sooner? I know I’m a burden to you and you want to be rid of me, but it would have been nice to know my own fate before finding it out fromSarah Barney.I’ve let you and Lord Richard orchestrate everything about this wedding. I’ve gone along with it all, thinking I had until late spring before I lost any semblance of the already measly freedoms I have or happiness I feel.”
“Want to be rid of you?” Henry asked incredulously. “That’s not…” He seemed stuck in a state of perplexity, shaking his head. “I thought youwantedto marry him?”
“I don’t want to marry anyone!” she snapped. “At least not just to be married. I would for true love. But if I wanted to wed someone, I’d have done it in my youth, when I had a much better selection of gentlemen.”
Henry threw his hands up. “A love match? When you don’t even let anyone try to get to know you? You live in this fantasy world within your head while you float through reality. And, well, you can’t very wellnotmarry, Isobel! That’s madness! By the devil, I’ve tried to make things good for you, I really have. Father spoiled you too much and I never cared, but now that he’s gone, I thought you—” He cut himself off with a huff, stood, and began topace.
Isobel felt like she had been punched in the stomach, all the air pushing out of her lungs at once. Shehadlet someone see her. And then she’d let him go.
“And about the license, he said he would discuss it with you straight away,” Henry offered.
She wanted to roar and rage. Scream at the top of her lungs what Lord Richard had done to her at the opera, what he would no doubt continue to do well into their marriage until she was nothing but a shell of herself. Would Henry care? Was this the secret of gentlemen? That theyalltook and took whatever they wanted in the name of customs and morals and called it honor?
Women truly were nothing but property, and soon, she would be Richard’s.
The tension that had built in her body then gave way to exhaustion. She wanted to show him the bruises on her arm, tell him she refused to marry his friend, but she didn’t have energy for the fight. Not right then. “I’m tired. Please leave me so I can rest.”
“Fine,” he snapped.
“Good,” she grumbled.
The door was halfway shut on him when he looked over his shoulder and said, “We all have duties to perform. I have trouble feeling sorry for you that yours is one as easy as this, Isobel.”
Chapter 28
Ved
He was locked in a cell.
The Blood Vultures hadn’t spoken to him as they detained him. He had not resisted, and they hadn’t been aggressive beyond shoving him through a cos-port.
When he’d come out on the other side, he was on their ship. He was quickly relieved of his weaponry and led to a makeshift cell. Makeshift in the sense that he wasn’t on an Authority-owned ship, which would have been specifically designed to transport the lowlifes of the galaxy.
This was a Blood Vulture vessel.
Everything was a smooth, deep matte-black that made it feel like he was walking into an endless void. The crimson accents were the only reprieve. Ved had only seen such ships in passing and took a moment to appreciate the architecture of it as they marched him to his enclosure.
They’d locked him up and left without a word.
Exxo had remained surprisingly quiet as well.
