All the while, she could feel the Duke watching her…
“Laurent!” Rosaline cried once they were outside. “I knew you would come!”
Laurent stood by the coach and the smile he wore was enough to tell Thalia that she had done the right thing. And when he laughed and ran for the two of them, his arms wrapping around Rosaline who was already weeping, Thalia was able to forget for a moment the threat that had just been leveled at her.
This is why I did it. It’s not for me. It’s not because I want to be a hero or enjoy creating anarchy. It’s because true love in this world is so hard to find, so why not do everything that I can do so that the two people who I care for might experience it?
It was more than Thalia would ever have, anyway.
They were quick to climb into the carriage after that, by which point the church had started to empty. The dozen or so people who attended the wedding poured out, more gasps and bewildered cries uttered when they saw the bride escaping.
Thalia looked out of the window as the carriage pulled away. She saw the Duke a final time, standing in the doorway, watching the carriage go. He did not smile, nor did he look angry or upset. Itwas as if he was barely affected by the events of today, as if things of this nature were not worth concerning himself about.
“I knew you would come!” Rosaline had her arms around Laurent, and she kissed him on the cheek a dozen times. “I knew it. I knew it.”
“You can thank Thalia,” Laurent laughed as he held Rosaline. “She is the reason.”
“No,” Thalia said. “You are the reason. Both of you. Just do me a favor, yes?”
“Anything!” Rosaline cried.
“Make it count,” she said. Her eyes prickled with tears she would not allow to fall. “Make it count.”
The first stop after the wedding was Rosaline’s estate, where they spent several minutes because it took some time to pull her out of Laurent’s arms.
“I will come see you tomorrow,” he promised her. “And your father and I will have a very serious conversation.”
“But what if he –”
“This time, I will not take no for an answer.”
Once they left Rosaline behind, the mood inside the carriage changed dramatically. As wonderful as Thalia was feeling, she was intensely aware of what awaited her when she arrived home.
Indeed, as the carriage pulled into the estate and started down the driveway, the consequences began to descend upon her. Above them, the sky darkened, the encroaching storm arrived, and heavy rain began to fall as wind lashed at the sides of the carriage. A coldness swept over Thalia’s body so that she started to shake.
“I will be there for you,” Laurent assured her. “If we stand together, Damien cannot –”
“No,” she cut him off. “I did this, Laurent, not you.”
“That is not true.”
“It is,” she said seriously. “Let him be angry with me. At least that way, he will be more willing to let you marry Rosaline. He might even fight for it.”
Laurent smiled softly and took her hand. “If there is ever anything I can do…”
The gesture was needed, and it worked well to ease Thalia’s growing worry. Or rather, it did, until she looked out the window and gasped.
Standing at the front door, in the rain, glaring daggers at the approaching carriage, was Lord Damien Harrington, the Duke of Wexford and Thalia’s older brother. Rarely did Damien allow himself to rise to anger, preferring detachment and cold precision as a means to get what he wanted and to keep his family in line.
Thalia was not scared of him. She knew that he would not hurt her or do anything that she needed to be afraid of. And yet, to look at him now, to see the anger in his eyes, the way his body was trembling from rage, she could not help but wonder if in this instance, she had gone too far.
Chapter Two
“You know, there is a perfectly obvious way to solve the calamity that your sister has brought upon your house. So obvious, in fact, that I can’t believe you have not thought of it.” Lord Benedict Hale, the Duke of Northwick was sitting across from Thalia, while her brother, Damien, was at the head of the table.
It was a tense breakfast, as had been the last three, and when Benedict arrived unannounced a few minutes ago, Thalia breathed a sigh of relief. Benedict might well provide a much-needed distraction.
He was twenty-eight years of age, the same as Damien, and while they were best friends and had been their entire lives, he was without a doubt the more companionable of the two. Charming to a fault, cocky always, and just a little arrogant, if there was a joke to be made, he made it.
