Lucien looked exasperated. “Marianne, please do not act as though you do not know exactly what happened.”
“But I do not. We are nothing to each other. By law, we are husband and wife, but in reality, we are two people who agreed to help one another, which we have now done. Indeed, I think it is rather fortunate that we are quarreling here at a ball. People will hear. People will talk about how our marriage is already falling apart after such a brief time. It will be most convenient. And in a few weeks’ time, we will announce our separation, and that will be it.”
“But there are things I wish to tell you. Things I should’ve told you long ago,” he said.
“The time to talk has passed, my lord,” she said. “I have nothing further to say to you.”
She walked past him out of the room and into the hall. Her legs were shaking beneath her because it took everything she had to remain firm in her resolve and not fall trap to his old patterns. He was in the mood to talk. In the mood to show her kindness and warmth. And if she gave in now, she would find herself in the exact same position again as she had so many times before. She would not be a victim of his moods anymore.
“Marianne,” he called after her, his voice rising, echoing off the tall walls. She kept going until she was back in the ballroom. Her ears pricked at the sound of his footsteps behind her. He was following her. Why could he not leave her be?
She found her sister and Rhys standing near the refreshment table and joined them there, hoping that it might deter him.
“There you are,” Charlotte said with a smile, but then her visage darkened as she saw Lucien coming from behind.
“Lucien,” she said. “I saw you arrive earlier. I did not have a chance to say hello.”
“Yes, hello,” Lucien said. “I had hoped to have a moment alone with your sister so we might talk.”
“I have nothing further to say,” Marianne said quickly. Rhys grimaced and raised his eyebrows at this, and Charlotte looked disturbed.
“This is a joyous occasion,” Marianne said. “I do not think that we should darken this evening with our personal quarrels.”
“I really thought—” Lucien started, but found himself interrupted once more when Evelyn, Marianne’s older sister, appeared. She looked utterly flustered. She swept past him as though she hadn’t seen him at all.
“Marianne,” she called and swept her sister into her arms. “It cannot be true what I have heard. Is it? You are leaving us again for the convent?”
“What?” Lucien said. He took a step back and looked at Evelyn, his eyes wide. “Evelyn, I beg your pardon. I did not know that you were here too. I—” She looked at Marianne, and Marianne looked at him, her expression unreadable.
“You’re returning to the convent?” His voice was quiet. The atmosphere around them was thick and awkward. Evelyn had taken a step back and was now standing between Rhys and Charlotte, who were both looking awkward. Rhys stared at his shoes as though he had found something very interesting at the tip of his toe. At the same time, Evelyn and Charlotte looked at one another, both of them avoiding any direct eye contact with either Marianne or Lucien.
“I am returning to the convent next month, yes. It is not something I wish to discuss right now, but I will be in touch to do so,” Marianne said. She picked up her skirts and walked away as quickly as her feet would carry her. And this time, she was relieved to find that Lucien did not follow her.
The convent. She was returning to the convent? How could this be? Lucien stood there as though lightning had struck him. He looked up at her sisters. “This is true? She’s returning to the convent?”
“She is,” Charlotte said. “I suppose she and Juliet planned it together.”
“But she told me she was returning home. I had planned to talk to her. I tried to talk to her.”
“I am afraid to tell you that she is no longer willing to listen,” Evelyn said. “I am uncertain what has happened between the two of you, but I know that she is quite exhausted by whatever it is.”
Exhausted. By him. It was one of the things that Arabella had told him back then. How he exhausted her with his demands for attention and attempts to make the marriage work. He scoffed at the memory. He had felt like a weakling back then. But in reality, he had tried to be a good husband to a woman who wasn’t interested in him.
Was he making the same mistakes now? But no. It was the other way around. Marianne had tried to be a good wife to a husband who pretended not to be interested. He groaned under his breath and turned, walking away.
“Lucien,” Rhys called and followed him. “Try again. Talk to her.”
“No,” he said. “She’s made it clear what she wants. She wants us to be no longer wed, and that is the one thing I can give her. It’s what she wants, and she shall have it. I have just now come to understand that I have turned into Arabella. I have been cold to her and rejected her every time she tried to make any sort of gesture toward me.”
“Well, now you have realized that. Perhaps you can fix it. Talk to her again. Or I can talk to her and ask her to give you a chance.”
“No,” he said. “I cannot toy with her feelings any more than I already have. The best thing I can do for her and for me and Henry is to let her go. She has always found her happiness in the convent. I should not keep her from returning there for my own selfish reasons. Please convey to her that she is welcome any time at Wexford Hall to say goodbye to Henry before she leaves, and that I wish her all the best, and that everything we had agreed before our marriage still stands. She shall have anything she needs, always.”
With that, he walked through the crowd and out of the ballroom into the night, aware that there was nothing further he could say or do to win her back. Her beloved convent had won, and he had nobody to blame but himself.
CHAPTER 31
MARIANNE
