Isobel shook her head. “I don’t think so. Of course, if I can or something changes and we can visit, we will, right?”
When Ved looked down at her, she could picture the face he was making perfectly. She knew adoration sat within his gaze. “If it is possible, it will happen.”
Henry turned his full attention to Ved. Isobel would never have guessed just how intimidating he could be, but in that moment he looked so much like their father her throat went dry. “That’s my little sister, you know, and despite my failings with Lord Richard, I am responsible for her. She has almostdiedbecause of you. Why should I relinquish her into your care?”
Isobel groaned. “I understand what I’m getting myself into. Ved will keep me safe. No matter what.”
Her brother wasn’t convinced. “I want to hear it from him.Howwill you keep her safe? Do you mean to do well by her? Marry her? Provide a proper home for her befitting her station?”
“Henry!” Isobel exclaimed. They hadn’t even had that conversation yet. Her brother spared her a single glance, but that was it.
“Customs are different on my planet, but I will honor her always. She is my heartscord. As long as there is breath in my body, I will serve and protect her. My home will be her home in all ways. And even if I meet some untimely demise, my bruvya—my brother in arms—will protect her with his life just the same.”
Henry’s brows rose. Such a declaration was bold to say to one’s brother, but now wasn’t the time to tell Ved that.
“I love him,” Isobel said with absolute conviction.
Henry nodded, pressing his lips into a thin line. She would give him due credit—out of all the ways she’d imagined him reacting, his stoicism and reasonableness was most surprising.
“If I told you no, would you listen?” he asked.
She shook her head.
Blowing out a puff of air, he slapped his palms on his thighs. “You’ve always carved your own path. So stubborn,” he muttered.
“You are, too. It’s something we both got from our parents,” she said, but she was grinning like a fool.
Henry chuckled quietly. “I’ll handle Richard. I doubt he’ll want to go around telling thetonwhat happened here. I think we can come to some sort of arrangement on that front, especially if this business about being in financial trouble is true.”
“Oh, Henry, thank you!” Isobel said, and as her brother stood, she rushed across the room to hug him tight.
He stiffened before wrapping his arms around her. When was the last time they embraced? Papa’s funeral perhaps, but she thought it long before then, some time in their youth.
“I’m so sorry I pushed you to marry Richard,” he said as he pulled back to look at her. “I hope you can forgive me. All I could think about while you were gone was our fight.”
Tears brimmed and spilled over. “There is nothing to forgive. You were only playing your role. But perhaps it’s time we challenge the parts others want us to play, hm?” She looked to Clara, who was pointing at contraptions on Ved’s person and asking questions faster than he could answer them.
“I think you’re right,” Henrysaid softly.
Ved picked up the unconscious Lord Richard, who looked like a ragdoll in his huge arms, and moved him into one of the spare cellars that happened to lock from the outside. Cook was blessedly absent, and Henry had ensured the path was clear of anyone else.
After confirming that Henry and Ved would be okay together, Isobel went with Clara to change and pack. The process was surprisingly quick.
“Dick didn’t stand a chance. He was weak competition, comparatively,” Clara said after she’d folded the last of the gowns. “I mean, Ved is awarrior. Fromthe cosmos. Very hard to best that. I see why you fell in love with him.”
“It happened rather by accident,” Isobel said honestly.
“Isn’t that how it always happens? At least, in all the good stories. Speaking of, wait right here.” Her niece disappeared before she could respond, and Isobel took the moment to look around the room she had occupied her entire life.
She would never see it again. Never see any of it. She’d never again have Clara barging into her room or receive a lecture from Henry. It was heartbreaking, but at the same time, she knew, without a doubt, that she belonged elsewhere. She knew it the same way she knew Clara would make a great physician and Henry would be so proud of her. The way she knew that real love existed, and how, for her, it waited in the form of a warrior from another planet.
Tears came unbidden to her eyes, but by then Clara had returned. With a stack of books piled high in her arms.
“What—” Isobel started, but Clara cut her off.
“I went to Mrs. Keats when we thought you were, well … while you were off galivanting through the stars. I told her who I was and that I wanted to read the books you read. I ended up buying them all, but I think you should take them with you,” Clara said, letting the stack tumble onto her bed.
“Oh, Clara,” she murmured, and before she could move, the girl wrapped her arms around her in a death squeeze.
