But why did Rosalie shriek when she saw him? Why did she run away?
She knew this man, and his story made sense. If they had argued, and she wished to leave him, she certainly wouldn’t want to go back with him. That was the only logical explanation.
“I’m guessin’ she’s told ya lies,” Loveless continued. “Some women ain’t to be trusted, ye know. She be one of ‘em.”
Edmund ground his teeth in anger. Whatever Rosalie was to this man, he had no right talking about her in this manner. His hand curled up into a fist, even though he had no intentions of using it. Hope was leaving his being like vapor.
“I saved ‘er from the orphanage,” Loveless kept his monologue going. “And this be how she repays me.” Loveless shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe that this was happening. “But I won’t take up yer time, My Lord. I be waitin’ in ma carriage, you jus’ send ‘er out to me.”
Edmund’s heart was beating twice as fast, and he could feel every single drum on the inside, hitting against his chest.
Rosalie lied to me. She lied to us all. How could she?
Now, it all suddenly made sense. Her sudden moods, her unexpected sorrow, which would disappear as quickly as it had appeared. He knew the source to it now. She had a secret; one she couldn’t reveal to anyone. She was married to someone else. Horrible though he may be, but she chose him, nonetheless. And she should return with him.
She should have known that secrets rarely remained hidden. Life would simply not allow it. The truth always surfaced in the end.
“Hastings will take you to her quarters, just tell him I instructed thus,” Edmund finally said, feeling completely drained of all his strength and vitality. There was no more anger, and with it, no more hope. “She may take with her whatever was given to her while she was with us.”
“That be mighty generous of ye, My Lord,” Loveless bowed.
Edmund was disgusted. He needed no respect from this man. He simply wanted him out of his home, never to see him again. As for Rosalie, his heart was torn. It was broken. Bleeding. He doubted it would ever be mended again. But it didn’t matter. He would never love anyone again. He would never open himself up for such heartache. Once was more than enough to completely shatter his spirit and leave him a forever broken man.
“Now, please take your leave.” Edmund slumped down into his chair, feeling like an invisible puppet master had cut off his strings, and now, there was no one to help him move, to help him feel. This was how he would remain for the rest of his days.
Loveless’ head remained bowed as he retreated towards the door, but Edmund knew there was no reverence there. Such people cared only about their own well-being, no one else’s. He got what he came for. Edmund was surprised to see the man not gloating.
Immediately upon hearing the door close, Edmund rushed over to a small cabinet in the corner and opened it. He got out a crystal glass and poured clear yellow liquid from a crystal bottle. It smelled like a punch in the face. It felt like one, too. The sound of a half-full glass brought him back to reality.
He promised himself he wouldn’t do this. He promised his dead brother that the last time he touched spirits was after the funeral. He swore an oath from the heart.
But he cared none about any of that. His soul ached with an ancient pain of a lost love, and he needed something, anything, to numb it.
Squeezing the cold glass firmly with his fingers, he raised it to his lips and emptied it in one single swallow. The alcohol burned his throat, it dug its scorching claws into his insides all the way down. It was a familiar sensation, one that was under his control, unlike everything else that had just happened.
He didn’t stop. The second one immediately followed. At some point, he simply stopped counting, blissfully lost in a state between sleep and wakefulness.
Chapter 24
Rosalie rushed back to her room and leaned against the doors the moment she closed them. She barred them with the whole weight of her frail body. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her body was trembling with the fear that she might be taken away, a very real and tangible fear that had been so close she could almost smell it around her.
Edmund knows.
She could see it in his eyes, in the way he called out to her. That vile man must have told him everything, the truth as well as the lies. And Edmund believed him. After all, he had no reason not to. She was the one whose word could not be vouched for, despite everything they had shared together, under this roof. Was there any way she could prove that every single word she ever said was honest to God truth?
All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Her body felt the strike of someone’s hand on the other side of it. She dared not move. She dared not speak. She dared not even breathe. She felt like a cornered animal, about to be devoured.
“Miss. Blake?” Hastings spoke softly. “Are you in there?”
She hesitated to reply. Was he with him?
“Rosalie…”
Then, she heard it. The voice that poisoned her ears. The face that disillusioned her eyes. The being that made her believe sorrow was all there was in the world. Until she came here, to this blessed place. Now that same devil of a man was to take her away.
“Open the door, love,” Loveless spoke again.
If she didn’t know him, she might actually believe those words, the kindness and politeness that emanated from them, but she knew better. She knew much better. That man felt no love.
