“Did you forget that I did not have a choice?” she muttered under her breath.
“It will do you well to learn that I remember everything.”
“Then why do I feel like you’re accusing me now?” she shot back.
“It is you who pointed out that we were against each other. Were you not the one who planned to betray me in the very beginning?” His voice stayed gentle, but the frustration he hid beneath the surface was starting to rise.
Deena’s head snapped towards him. “Austin, do you still not understand the predicament I was in?”
He ignored her question. “Dee, if you did not find out thatIwas the Velvet Duke, would you not have betrayed me?”
She flinched. The answer was clear in her expression and Austin felt the unusual yet familiar pang of hurt.
“I do not blame you. You thought you had no other path.” He reached to tilt her chin up, but she avoided his touch.
“I chose this path and look at what has happened? I have lost all contact with my friend. Although I did not betray you, I did betray someone. I betrayed Penelope.” Deena’s voice cracked.
Austin felt his heart clench as she sniffled beside him. He could not stand to see her cry. He kept his eyes lowered and hands to himself, afraid to reach out to her.
“Dee, answer me honestly. Would you forever regret the choice you made?” he asked her quietly, but she remained silent. “Will you always regret this marriage because it did not save your friend?”
Austin felt a cold sense of dread creep up on him.
“I…” she began softly, “…I do not know what to say.”
He exhaled, a long-tired breath of air as he pulled the sheet off and got up from the bed. He had to get away from her to think, to set boundaries in a marriage that clearly was not genuine to the both of them. Deena shifted behind him.
“Where are you going?” she asked, and he realized the panic in her voice.
But he refused to trust her.
“I will be busy for the rest of the day. Do not wait for me.”
Austin dressed quickly.
“Austin, I?—”
“Deena, let us be clear,” Austin spoke coldly. “In choosing to marry me you chose to save yourself too. I was never against you. Penelope could have been saved but you chose to not betray me, and I am not sure why. I am grateful for your decision but if you believe that for one second I was ever against you, then you are wrong. And if you regret this marriage because of your friend’s ruin, I cannot help you there because I have helped you enough.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Austin turned away from her and left without a second glance.
Deena sat alone in the vast drawing room as afternoon sun began to set. A fire had been burned low, and she instructed her maid to not make dinner when there was no sign of Austin’s return. Deena had not moved from the armchair since the clock struck six. Her heart leapt when she heard a soft knock at the door and she immediately stood up.
“You may enter,” she called out.
The footman, Ryan, entered and Deena’s hopefulness faded away when she saw his expression.
Ryan shifted nervously. “No word yet, Your Grace.”
“Thank you, Ryan.” She sat heavily onto the armchair and placed her face into her hands.
She heard the footman retreating and stopped him.
“Did he tell you anything, anything at all, about his whereabouts?”
“The Duke said only that he would be away on business, Your Grace.” He looked around nervously and Deena felt that he was not speaking the truth.
His loyalty, along with the other servants, remained with the Duke and no one else. Not even his Duchess.
