“What is it?” Alex bit. “I told you I wished to rest!”
“I found this upon your desk,” Frederick stated, entering the room to offer Alex a letter. Unsealed and unfolded, it loomed at Alex out of the darkness. “Forgive me but I have already read it. I thought perhaps it might be important.”
Drained, Alex stumbled to the armchair beside the fire and used the light to read by. As he did, his heart shattered.
“This… this cannot be!”
He buried his face in his hand, his head pounding, heart broken in two.
“As I said before, women are faint of heart.”
Alex’s jaw clenched until his teeth felt like they might break. Confusion battled with anger. How could Emmaline possibly have left him? Where could she have gone?
He looked at the letter again, reading the words aloud, “Your Grace, forgive me but I cannot be married to the devil lord. I cannot have such a target on my back. Forgive me. When I entered this arrangement, I had no knowledge of the burden I would bear.”
There was more but Alex could no longer read on. It broke him to his very core.
“This changes nothing,” his uncle stated firmly. “We still have to find out who did this.”
“Don’t you see? It does not matter who did this! It is done!” Alex snarled, turning to his uncle certain he could see the venom dripping from every orifice. He felt as though he wore the very mask he had hated for so long as he stood and bellowed, “I have no wife. I have no heir. My father’s conditions have not been met. I stand to lose everything!”
Alex’s legs buckled beneath him again then. The little anger he had sank into despair and he clutched his head in both hands, fighting the urge to weep.
“I do not understand,” he said, more to himself than to anyone else. “We were so happy. She… she said she understood my situation. She assured me we would be in this together.”
His chest tightened until he felt as though he could barely breathe. Then he felt his uncle’s hand upon his shoulder.
“Do not fear, nephew. I shall see that you never go without. No matter where this ends,” Frederick assured him, squeezing his shoulder tightly, “I shall ensure you have an allowance. I shall keep a roof over your head, over you sister’s head. Do not even think of the silly woman. She is a fool not to see the value of this family.”
Alex barely heard the words. He was already falling into darkness. How could he go on when the one good thing in his life had walked right out of it?
“Alex? Alex! Brother!”
Lorraine's shrieking was agony to Alex's ears. His head pounded and his eyes were blurred. Barely managing to raise his head from his desk, he squinted at his sister.
“Must you shriek like a banshee?” he demanded, feeling only a slight twinge of guilt when he saw her pull back from where she leaned over him.
“Have you been here all night?” she asked, prodding him hard in the shoulder.
“Ouch!” he growled back. Every muscle hurt. He did not need to be poked right now. “Was that truly necessary?”
He reached up and rubbed his shoulder. “Yes, you smell like a brew house.”
“How would you know?” Alex mocked, reeling back in his chair. Placing his hands over his face, he groaned inwardly.
“I can imagine all too easily, brother,” Lorraine sighed, resting against the edge of the desk to look at him. Though he covered his eyes, he could feel her watching. It was most uncomfortable. Nobody needed to see him in this state, least of all his sister.
“Drinking yourself into a stupor shall not aid us any, Alex,” Lorraine said softly. Alex gritted his teeth. Again, his sister was right but what was there left to do but drink himself into oblivion. The second Emmaline had run away was the second he lost everything. His land, his title, his estate. It was all gone.
How could he possibly tell his sister that?
“Come on, up with you!” Lorraine insisted. She grabbed his forearm and pulled hard, forcing his hand away from his face.
He glowered at her through his unscarred eye. “Do you truly think you can get me from this chair?”
“If I must, I shall call Sean in here to help me!” Lorraine said with determination, gripping his other hand. “We must continue on, no matter what. Our parents never would have sat here, defeated like this.”
Her words cut deep, and Alex snatched his hands away so viciously that if she had not caught herself on the desk, she would have fallen right on top of him.
