“Good morning, my lady.” Matteo bowed.
“Your Grace.” Helena curtsied. “Perhaps we should walk?”
Matteo acquiesced, and they moved at a slow pace. Neither spoke for a while, until they reached a grove of trees, and a bench placed near it. Matteo moved closer to the grove, and Helena followed.
Helena watched his every move. She stayed composed, but for the visible tension in her clasped hands.
“Would you like to take a seat, my lady?” Matteo indicated to the bench.
“Thank you, but I prefer to stand, Your Grace.”
In case you decide to flee?
“As you wish.”
The park was quiet, save for the rustling of the tree branches and the chirping of birds. The sun filtered through the leaves of the trees, casting dancing shadows on the ground.
Matteo stayed standing as well, watching her as she watched him.
“I have a question to ask,” Helena said suddenly.
Matteo bowed and waited.
“Have you really no intentions toward my sister?”
“None whatsoever.”
“Do not play your games with her,” Helena said in a threatening voice.
“I have no intention of doing such. That was never my goal, as I think you know.” Mateo answered as earnestly as he could.
“Then why did you approach Chastity at all?”
Matteo waited a beat. He knew his honest answer would give him away.
“To provoke you, of course.”
Silence followed. Helena opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again almost at once. Matteo continued.
“It was you. We have always had a grand time bickering, haven’t we? Even at Icedale Castle. Especially there, if you ask me, for the country affords one a certain freedom that one does not quite have here in Town, save in private.” He moved closer to her. “Our meetings were always so enjoyable.”
He could see the uncertainty in her eyes.
“This time I warn you, Your Grace, not to play your games with me.” Helena took a step towards him. “You must stop appearing wherever I go, for I do not welcome the attention our encounters are drawing.”
“What attention?” Matteo asked.
“Dahlia, for one, told me that she and Peter were curious about us. If she noticed, then Celine must as well, and others are bound to also notice.” Helena wrung her hands. “I cannot afford the gossip, and more importantly, I cannot let any scandal affect my sisters.”
Absorbing her words, Peter’s mind worked fast. An idea, so fantastic, was born in that moment.
Perhaps there is something that we may both find desirable.
His impulses that night had led him to where he was. And so far, it was in a place that he wanted to be. He would take a chance.
“Helena.”
She looked at him so suddenly, surprised by his use of her given name.
