The disappointment on his mother’s face was palpable. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking again.
“I cannot say that I ever truly believed in the curse, but it is not a risk I would be willing to take with my own child,” she explained. “What if what they say about her is true?”
“I suppose we will find out for ourselves.” Duncan shrugged his shoulders casually.
“Please, Duncan,” she beseeched, “I cannot see you do this. It is too big of a risk. A woman like her is not fit to be a duchess. In fact, having her in the family puts your brother Jacob at risk, too. Do you really want that?”
“Well, unfortunately, I am the person who put her into this situation. She was not the one who came to speak to me, rather it was I who did so of my own accord. As a man, I cannot let her take the fall for something that was my responsibility. You should know my principles are stronger than that.”
“But this decision will have real consequences.”
Duncan stood up, not wanting to explain himself any further.
“If we only did the right thing when it was easy to do, then we are nothing but a bunch of hypocritical cowards,” he said before he turned to leave, “and you know full well that you did not raise a coward.”
CHAPTER 4
Sophia had been brooding all morning. With her shoulders slumped and her hair still in a messy bun from last night, she heaved a deep sigh as she stared out of her window. The events from last night kept replaying in her mind.
It took her years to regain the confidence to go back into society, and her first appearance back had turned out to be a disaster.
“No one will want you now,” she muttered to herself, staring at her reflection in the window. “Not that anyone did to begin with.”
It was strange. Sophia was not too interested in the prospect of marriage to begin with, but it was at least partially her own choice to refrain from it. Now, it felt like she was ousted to the trenches as a characterless woman, and no one would marry her even if she tried. The idea of being a burden on her aunt weighed heavily on her.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a series of frantic knocks on her door.
“Come on in,” she said immediately, worried that there might have been an emergency.
Instead, Clara walked in with a tray of food in her hands.
“I am sorry if I disturbed you, My Lady, but you have not come out of your room all morning. It is unusual for you to do so, and I got worried,” she explained, setting down the breakfast on the table in front of her. “Please eat something, and you might feel better.”
“I am not hungry.”
“But you must eat to nourish yourself,” Clara stressed. “This is simply not the solution. Downstairs, your aunt is the same way. She has had a long face all morning.”
“I cannot blame her. Her niece has found herself in the middle of a scandal,” Sophia sighed and picked up one of the pieces of bread that Clara had brought in for her. She spun it between her hands, feeling sorry for herself.
Why did these awful things always happen to her? She must truly be cursed.
“I am sorry, My Lady. We all had such different ideas of how the evening was going to turn out. Oh, and you even looked like sucha vision in that dress. We spent many hours trying to prepare for the occasion, only for it end in disaster.”
“Do you know what makes matters even worse?” Sophia added, finally setting down the piece of bread. “The man I was involved in the scandal with was the Duke of Blackmoore.”
She felt a strange surge of warmth as she thought about him — perhaps because he had been the only person last night who had not made her feel like she was some kind of an otherworldly creature. His kindness had stuck out to her like a sore thumb amongst the cruelty of everyone else that night.
“Did he express any interest in asking for your hand in marriage?” Clara asked as though it was the most obvious thing for a duke to do.
Sophia let out a small laugh.
“What do you think?”
“Well, it is the honorable thing to do. He must ask you for marriage now that the two of you are locked together in this scandal. If he fails to do so, he is not a proper gentleman!” Clara exclaimed, furious now. “In fact, he should be so lucky to marry such an incredible woman as yourself.”
“Lucky… or cursed?” Sophia laughed, bitterly. “Besides, I do not wish to do that to him. He seemed like a lovely man, and I have no intention of ruining his life with my curse.”
Clara was immediately in front of Sophia, looking her directly in the eye now.
