They were not the ones who had made the mistake of letting her walk away as a child and not going after her. He couldn’t take her away from the duke again.
“I’m at your service when you are ready to return home,” he said, turning away from her and brushing Vanilla’s nose soothingly.
It was only a moment before Ella took a deep breath. “I am ready to go home.”
Her voice was quiet and small. He was the one who had made her feel that way, and he hated himself for it, but he was not willing to change his opinion.
Ella was where she belonged, and where she belonged was not with him.
He helped her mount Vanilla, cupping his hands and giving her a boost before mounting his own horse and leading the way back home.
They rode in silence, and when they arrived in the courtyard, one of the maids was waiting for her.
“Your father wishes to see you,” she said as he helped Ella dismount and stepped away from her. “We must hurry.”
“What’s wrong?” Ella asked as she hurried after the maid.
Dietrich couldn’t hear her response, and while he wanted to know what the issue was, it was none of his business.
He had no claim on Ella, and she would have to manage her own problems without him.
Chapter eighteen
Ella
Ella hurried to the hall. What was so important that her father had sent a maid to meet her in the courtyard? She hoped it was not bad news.
Was it about her betrothal?
When she arrived at her father’s study, she was surprised to find Regina and her little sisters there as well.
“You’ll never guess!” Celeste said with an excited shriek. “We’re going to have a ball. Two balls!”
“Father says we may go to one of them,” Colette added.
Ella looked at her father, who was smiling indulgently from his seat behind his desk.
“I have heard back from the person I wrote to,” he said. “He and his family will be coming for a visit soon.”
Ella’s stomach twisted. She was going to meet the man she was betrothed to.
“Not right away,” her father added. “They will be here within a week.”
“Am I allowed to know who they are yet?” Ella asked.
Her father shook his head. “Not yet. I have given this some thought,” he said. He nodded to his wife and ushered the girls out of the room despite their protests. “I told you that I wish for you to meet him without knowing who he is, so you may form your own opinion of him. So, we will hold two balls. For the first one, we shall invite everyone in town, no matter their status, and he will be there without his noble trappings. For the second, we will hold a proper ball and invite all the nobility, including those from Riyel who wish to meet my daughter. At that ball, you will meet him as himself. Afterwards, you can tell me if you wish to continue with the betrothal agreement or if you would like us to break it.”
Ella took a deep breath, then nodded. It sounded like as good an arrangement as she could hope for, given the fact she had to meet someone she was engaged to but didn’t know.
It would be fun to have a ball…probably.
“Will my former family be invited?” she asked, sitting in the seat across from him, his desk between them hiding the fact that her leg was twitching. She slipped her hand into her pocket, rubbing her pumpkin and taking a deep breath.
“Do you want them to be?” her father asked. “That is entirely up to you. If you want them there, we will invite them and treat them how you wish. And if you want them barred from entry, we will do that instead.”
On one hand, it would be nice to show her stepmother how far she had come, and on the other hand, she didn’t care if she never saw them again.
“I think if they come, I will see them,” she said. “I would not go out of my way to prevent them from entering.”
