Dorothy raised her head, her honey-blonde hair gleaming in the low light, while her green eyes widened in admiration. “Do you mean it?”
“I would not say it if I did not,” Thalia replied gently, as she proceeded to usher her sister out of the drawing room, across the entrance hall, and up the first couple of steps of the main staircase. “Go on, off to bed with you. I will come and speak with you once I have talked to Father.”
Dorothy hesitated, her hand on the banister. “But I shall not sleep; I will be too nervous.”
“Then, begin to reread our latest book and, by the time you reach the chapter we are up to, I will most likely have joined you,” Thalia said with a smile, for there was nothing she loved more than their nightly ritual of reading a chapter or two of a good book together.
At that, Dorothy nodded eagerly, and took off up the stairs at a run, hitching her skirts up in a most unladylike fashion. The sight brought a chuckle to Thalia’s lips as she turned away from the staircase, took a deep breath for courage, and set off in search of her grumpy, stubborn, unfeeling father.
“Indeed, what sort of gentleman abandons his guests before the party is over?” she grumbled to herself as she headed through darkened hallways and dusty passages to reach her father’s study: the most likely location of his grouchy retreat.
Upon reaching the door, she heard him humming to himself within, and the telltale clink of the stopper being removed from a decanter of something strong.
Thalia took a deep breath and, with a light knock on the door, entered without waiting for permission.
“You cannot sell that pianoforte,” she began abruptly. “I know that you are in some manner of debt, but sell everythingbutthat instrument. Dorothy needs it. It is her sole joy in this house, and?—”
“What did you just say?” her father’s voice sliced through her courage.
She squared her shoulders and tilted her chin up, in the hopes that she at leastlookedundeterred. “I overheard you the other morning, when those two men were here. It was not my intention to eavesdrop, but I was passing, and the door was open, and I could not help but hear.”
And I have carried that secret like the greatest weight ever since.
“I am not aware of the extent of the debt but, considering your temperament since that meeting with those men, I imagine it is not good,” she added, rather pleased that she could get any words at all past the tightness in her throat.
Her father leaned against his desk and sipped from the freshly poured drink, not quite as angry as she had expected him to be at the intrusion.
Instead, there was a smug sort of smile upon his lips. “If youdidknow the extent of the debt, you would be begging me to sell that wretched pianoforte.” He paused. “Those men were debt collectors. The extent of my debt is vast, Thalia. Enough to ruin our family. Enough that all four of us would be tossed into poverty. Perhaps, your mother’s sister would take the two of you, and Kenneth would survive with friends, but your station in society would be the lowest of the low. My darling boy’s inheritance would cease to exist.”
A gasp slipped from Thalia’s lips, her eyes widening until they ached, unable to blink. She had assumed it was not good news from what she had overheard, but she had not thought it wasthisawful.
Yet, her father did not seem perturbed. He spoke in an almost casual tone, and that smug smile remained on his face, as if this was all some strange little joke. A joke that did not seem the least bit funny to her.
“Why are you smiling?” she had no choice but to ask the baffling question. “If we are about to be ruined, why on earth are you grinning like that? Indeed, why on earth are you hosting a dinner party? That is thelastthing you should be doing. My goodness, the expense! Are you quite mad?”
Her own temper flared, so appalled by her father that she could not restrain her anger any longer. It had been difficult enough to bear him when he was just dismissive and indifferent, but to discover that he had brought them all to the brink of destitution and did not seem to care a jot was another level of frustration and fury entirely.
If she had been more ferocious, Thalia was certain she would have punched him. Slapped him, at least.
“Because I no longer have anything to worry over,” her father replied, raising his glass. “All will be well.”
“How? Have you discovered a pot of gold you did not know you had? Has a distant relative died and left you an immense fortune?” she snapped, breathing hard through her rage.
“A pot of goldcouldbe a way to describe you, I suppose,” he said, smirking as he sipped his drink.
“What?” she hissed, completely at a loss as to what he was talking about.
“You are to be wed to the Duke of Holdridge,” he explained, as he topped up his glass and continued to seem very pleased with himself. “Word just arrived that he was able to gain a special license, which is a fine cause for celebration.”
Sure enough, the black cloud of an ill temper that had been following him for the past few days appeared to have vanished entirely, leaving him back in his sunny, selfish disposition.
“The duke means to pay a hefty bride price for you,” he continued, “and he has declined your dowry, so who am I to refuse? You see, all will be well.Youwill be a duchess, Dorothy will not be destitute, Kenneth will keep his inheritance, and I need not sell anything at all. My debts will be no more.”
“No…” the word came out of Thalia’s mouth as a muffled croak.
Her father chuckled. “Yes, daughter. You will be married in four days’ time. It is all arranged.”
“No,” she repeated, louder this time. “This… cannot be. You cannot… plan my future without saying anything to me!”
