Dietrich grinned. “I’m sure you did,” he teased. “Do you want to go visit Eugenia?”
Ella hesitated. “Now?” she asked, even though her plan had been to visit the library after finishing her tea. The thought of facing Eugenia and asking if she might be a missing duchess was terrifying.
What if Eugenia said no?
But what if Eugenia said yes?
There was a lump in Ella’s throat as she drained the rest of her tea and handed the mug to Thea, her heart racing. Was this really happening? Was it possible that she wasn’t her stepmother’s stepdaughter—that she might be able to have a new life?
The thought was intoxicating. But surely, there was no way she was a duchess. She didn’t know how to be a duchess.
Acting like the perfect duchess couldn’t be much harder than acting like the perfect servant, though.
“I’m ready,” she said quietly.
Dietrich grinned at her. “Atta girl,” he said.
Thea offered a reassuring smile as Ella stood. “I wish you the truth,” she said simply, “for the truth will set you free.”
Ella nodded, her heart pounding as she followed Dietrich out the door. If he was right, her life would never be the same.
And if he was wrong...
It wouldn’t be, either.
Chapter five
Dietrich
Dietrich’s heart pounded in his throat as they made their way to the library, letting Ella lead while he followed.
If she was, in fact, the duchess, he would have to get used to following her because she would be his employer—or his employer’s daughter, which amounted to the same thing.
The urge to ask what she was thinking rose up, but she wore a look of determination on her face that said he’d better not bother her.
Clearly, she was thinking, and he should leave her alone to do so in peace.
He’d just changed her entire world.
He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if someone came up to him and implied that his parents might have kidnapped him.
He’d looked up to his father with every fiber of his being, and news like that would have shaken him to his very core. While he knew from his mother that Ella’s relationship with her stepmother was not one to be envied, he didn’t know how she felt about her father or how this discovery would make her feel—if it was even true.
Perhaps he was wrong.
But he hoped that he wasn’t.
It was possible that she wasn’t the missing girl, but the more he’d looked at the portrait in the hallway, and the more he had thought about Ella, the more he had considered that it might be true.
His mother had agreed with him, which is why he’d dared to bring it up to Ella herself.
Without his mother’s vote of confidence, he would have continued to gather intelligence in the background, keeping a watchful eye on Ella to avoid her slipping through his fingers again.
But his mother had thought there was a good chance it was real, and she’d had much more interaction with the late duchess than he had.
Since Ella had no memories of her mother…it was feeling more and more like his gut had been right.
Eugenia might remember the late duchess, so they would head to her next. Mother had told him Ella spent time at the library and got along well with Eugenia, so perhaps Eugenia would have insight for the girl that he couldn’t provide.
