“It was never you,” Adelaide hissed.
“Then why did she write to me from Northumberland?”
Adelaide gasped.
Cassian’s lips pressed into a thin line. “That is impossible. She never would have contacted you, not after?—”
“It is not impossible,” Hargrave chuckled, stepping closer. “Your mother begged me to take her away. She fears you, Your Grace. She is convinced that you will harm your wife the same way you harmed your father.”
“You do not know a thing, Hargrave.”
“Actually, I know everything, and I came here tonight intending to rescue her from you. I was sent here to protect her from a man who could destroy her as soon as he felt like it.”
Cassian’s chest tightened, and rage flared inside him.
“You are mad,” he hissed. “You and my mother. I would never harm her, not in a thousand lifetimes. And you—you would dare threaten my wife with your delusions?”
Hargrave laughed, but the sound was brittle. “Delusions? No, there is nothing deluded about this. I wanted her to feel what your father did in his last moments, to know that her husband is nothing but a coward who would rather see her dead than risk himself.”
“And how did that end for you?” Adelaide asked coldly.
She stepped beside Cassian, her upper lip curling.
Cassian instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned into him, and he felt her warmth steady him.
“It does not matter what you do,” she continued. “No matter how many plans you make, and no matter how hard you try, I will never be yours. I never was, and as long as I am breathing, I never will be.”
Hargrave stepped toward them, and Cassian met him with a hard shove that knocked him to the floor.
“You will go no further. I will not allow it. You may have never been punished for a thing in your life, but believe me, you will answer for this.”
Hargrave’s eyes widened with shock, and then his bravado seemed to crack, revealing panic underneath. By the time he realized he could not escape, the constables had arrived. They seized him firmly, and he struggled, wild-eyed and frantic, screaming accusations and threats to no avail.
Adelaide’s chest heaved, her eyes wide with shock. Cassian looked her over, relief washing over him when he found no injuries.
“Are you hurt?” he asked softly.
“No,” she breathed shakily, though she was smiling through her tears. “But that… I do not ever want to feel that way again.”
Cassian drew her to him again, cradling her against his chest.
“I will never let anything happen to you,” he whispered. “Not fire, not men like him. You are safe with me.”
Adelaide rested her hands over his heart. “I know,” she murmured. “There is no doubt in my mind, especially after everything that has happened tonight.”
He hugged her tightly, wondering if he would ever feel ready to let her go again. He had broken free of what was holding him back, and now he knew with absolute certainty that he would never allow it to happen again.
“I am yours,” he said simply. “Every day, every moment. And I shall prove it to you, as long as I live.”
The smoke lingered faintly in the air. They would have to rebuild the house, but Cassian did not dread that in the slightest. With every change he had made, he had grown closer to the man his wife deserved, and if that meant pulling everything apart and putting it back together, then that was what he would do.
Adelaide leaned into him, feeling the steady beat of his heart, and for the first time, Cassian knew that he had a purpose greater than any duchy could have offered.
He had a love to protect.
And nothing was going to stop him from doing that.
EPILOGUE
