He chuckled, shaking his head. “Not tonight, Lady Isadora. You will know when the time comes.”
She clenched her jaw, and Evan could tell that she disliked the control she had in this situation.
“Now go,” he said easily, “and wait for my next move.”
“Not before you give me your word. I need assurance,” she sparred stubbornly.
“You cannot possibly get everything you want. So unfortunately, in this scenario, you have no option but to wait.”
For the first time since she arrived, she hesitated. Just for a second.
“I shall wait for you,” she conceded. “But I am putting my hopes in you. Please do not disappoint me.”
“I never do,” he smirked.
Then, gathering herself, she turned sharply toward the door, moving as though she had suddenly remembered she should not have been here at all.
Evan let his gaze follow her until she disappeared down the dimly lit hall.
And when the door finally shut behind her, he let out a quiet laugh to himself.
Heavens.Not how he had planned to spend his time, but now, it seemed that he had a wedding to sabotage.
The grand hall was suffocating. The day of the wedding had finally arrived.
She had not heard from Evan since that night in his study.
Of course, he had let her down.She had been foolish to place all of her trust into him without thinking of another plan. And now that she stood in the audience, she began to feel as though she had lost this battle.
The officiant’s voice droned on, a low murmur swallowed by the hum of anticipation in the crowd. The Marquess of Hartenshire stood tall at the altar, his expression smug beneath the careful mask of solemnity. He barely spared Penelope a glance, his attention instead flicking to the crowd. He was basking in his victory with George right at his side; they were allies.
Isadora’s nails bit into her palm. It was a feeling of helplessness she had never before experienced, not to such a degree.
He was not going to show.
Isadora was silently panicking, but now, it was too late for her to do anything else. She had placed all of her trust into the Duke, and he had not even showed.
I have failed her,Isadora thought to herself, her heart clenching at the thought.
She could have approached it in a different manner. Perhaps she could have addressed the problem at its source and asked her father to put an end to this again. Pleaded, even.
Penelope looked at the crowd again and met Isadora’s gaze. There was something so helpless in it that Isadora felt as though she would burst into tears in front of everyone.
I had one duty to do, and that was to ensure that my sister would not end trapped in a situation that would be bad for her.
And she had failed.
Her father’s voice began to ring in her ears, the same voice that had always berated her for not being enough. Her hands began to shake, and for a moment, she wondered what would happen if she went forward and stopped the wedding herself.
I could accuse him of having an affair, Isadora thought, her mind running wild in all directions.That he courted me and then married my sister.
It would ruin her own reputation forever, of course, but it would save Penelope from getting into this awful mess.
Isadora shifted in her seat, willing herself to stand. If this was what it was going to take, then she was going to do it.
The officiant turned to Penelope and then the audience. “We have gathered here this morning to celebrate the union of?—”
Isadora felt as though her knees would give way, and she would fall over.
