“Oh, spare me your concern!” she retorted, her voice trembling with fury. “You can marry Grace and leave me be. I will be out of your life soon enough, after the wedding.”
Her words struck him like a physical blow. “What are you saying?” he demanded, stepping closer. “What do you mean, you will be out of my life? I don’t understand.” His heart was pounding as he waited for her response. He did not know what she meant, but he did not even know if he could bear to hear her answer to his question.
“I have accepted my fate!” she shot back, her eyes blazing. “You and Grace can get married as soon as you like. It seems that you are meant to be together. But you do not need me in your life, either of you. I will leave, as soon as you are married, and then we can all move on. Everything will be as it is meant to be.”
The thought of never seeing her again struck felt overwhelming and a sense of despair engulfed him, threatening to suffocate him with its intensity. “You can’t leave. Where would you go?”
“I don’t know,” she said, wiping a stray tear away from her cheek with he back of her hand. “I will go and be a governess, or go and see the world, somehow. I don’t know. But I will leave, so that you and Grace can find the happiness together that you deserve.”
“But Diana, you can’t leave, ” he exclaimed, his voice rising in desperation.
“Then you should have thought of that before!” she cried, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You’ll never marry me. You must choose someone like my sister. Cecilia told me so. I know that now. I have accepted that you will choose Grace. You were always going to choose Grace, I was just too foolish to see it until now.”
Tristan felt anger and confusion intertwine in his chest. “I don’t care about what Cecilia said! You are not just an afterthought to me, Diana. You mean something to me!”
“Do I?” she asked, her voice breaking. “Then why are you so willing to pursue my sister? You have been playing with me, all this time.”
He stared at her. “I thought that was what you wanted. I thought you wanted me to be the perfect suitor to your sister! But you do not seem to know what you want! I won’t let you leave!” he shouted, frustration boiling over.
“You can’t stop me from leaving. And I must go,” she exclaimed.
“But why must you leave?” he demanded. “I still don’t understand.”
Her voice dropped and she looked at him, the pain in her eyes was almost more than he could bear. “I have to leave, becauseI love you.” The admission hung in the air like a heavy weight. “I can’t stay. I love you too much to stand in the way of your happiness. And you will be happy with Grace, once I am gone.”
Tristan froze, his heart crashing against his ribs as her words sank in. “You love me?” he repeated, disbelief mingling with a sense of hope that he scarcely dared to acknowledge.
“Yes!” she cried, wiping her tears in frustration. “But it doesn’t matter. You will marry Grace, and I will leave after the wedding. That is how it must be.”
“Diana, no!” He stepped forward, trying to bridge the gap between them. “There must be another way.”
But as he reached for her, desperation clawing at him, she turned away, her resolve hardening. “I need to go,” she said, her voice trembling but resolute. “I cannot continue to pretend that I can live with this situation. If you are going to marry Grace, then I cannot bear it. I know that I cannot, and so I must go.”
In a moment of impulse, he grasped her shoulders, his heart pounding as he leaned in, trying to bridge the distance between them. “Diana, please?—”
And in that instant, his lips brushed against hers, a moment suspended in time. He could feel her almost surrendering to his kiss, her eyes fluttering shut, but then she pulled away, her breath ragged.
“We can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head as if trying to clear her thoughts. “You will never choose me. You have to see that.”
“Don’t say that!” he pleaded, his voice raw with emotion. “It is not like that, I promise you.” He wanted to tell her the depths of his feelings, but somehow he could not find the words.
But her gaze hardened, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “It does not matter anymore, Tristan. None of it matters. You don’t realize how much you mean to me, but I can’t stay in this maze of confusion any longer. I have to let you go.”
With that, she turned and fled deeper into the maze, leaving him standing alone, heartbroken and stunned. The weight of her words settled over him like a dark shroud, and he felt as though the ground had been ripped from beneath his feet.
He had never felt so lost, so helpless. The thought of losing Diana was unbearable, yet here she was, slipping away from him like grains of sand through his fingers. He had never intended for things to end this way, and the knowledge that she loved him, yet felt compelled to leave, tore at his heart.
“Diana!” he called after her, desperation pouring from his lips. But the only answer was the rustle of leaves and the echo of her footsteps fading into the distance.
Tristan sank to his knees, the moonlight casting a pale glow over him as he grappled with the reality of what had just transpired. The night air felt thick and suffocating, and he realized, with crushing clarity, that he could not let her walk away. Not now,not ever. He had no idea what to do to make things right, but he knew that he had to do something.
CHAPTER 24
Diana sat at the dressing table in her room, looking into the mirror at her drawn and tired face.
She had not slept at all the previous night. And even though she could hear the birds singing outside, and the chatter of the guests enjoying their morning coffee on the terrace, the beauty of the morning was lost on her. Her heart was in turmoil, as the events of the previous evening played over and over again in her mind.
She could scarcely believe that she had confessed her love to Tristan. He must think her utterly ridiculous. She felt tears brimming in her eyes at the thought of it all, but she wiped them away furiously and got to her feet. She would have to go down to breakfast, she told herself. Her absence would be too conspicuous if she did not, but she prayed that she would not have to face Tristan. They were leaving this morning, and she knew that they would not be able to go without saying goodbye to their host, but she wanted their parting to be formal and proper, with no space for any further discussion about anythingbeyond the merest pleasantries. She did not think she could bear it. She only wanted to leave this place behind, and forget everything that had happened here.
