“No, Your Highness,” I said.
Ashton frowned, blinked, and then looked back at me. He dismounted and walked over.
“Do I know you?” He asked me.
“Ashton, we don't have time for this,” Prince Weston growled. “Lily could be miles away by now.”
I lifted a brow at that and smirked. Mother was also right; they were obsessed.
“You find that amusing?” Ashton asked me. “That we pursue a woman?”
“Oh yes,” I purred, and he gave a start.
“Who are you?”
“I am Madelyn. I live here.”
“You live here?” Weston had come close enough to feel a little of the peace that Mother's spell ensured that they felt around me. His face relaxed, and he also got off his horse. “What do you mean by that?”
“What else could one mean by that?” I shot back.
“It's an odd phrasing, coming from a servant. More like something a noble would say,” Braxton growled impatiently. But then his horse brought him close enough to me, and he too went quiet. He slid off his horse and came over to stand with his brothers. “You remind me of someone.”
“Do I?” I asked, not giving them any more.
Let them work for it.
“You're certain that you saw no one passing by recently?” Ashton asked. “We met a woman tonight, a very special woman, and she ran off without telling us who she truly was?”
“And what do you mean by that?” I asked. “You don't know her name? Nottruly?”
“We know her name,” Braxton huffed, “we're just not sure if it's her real name. No one else seems to know a Duchess Lily. Do you?”
“A long time ago, there was a Duchess Lily who lived in this very house,” I whispered.
The men drew closer.
“Here?” Weston asked. “What happened to her?”
“She disappeared one day,” I said. “My father told me that she was a fairy, and she had to go home.”
“A fairy?” Weston's eyes went wide, and then he cursed under his breath. “Did we sleep with a fairy tonight?”
“You slept with her?” I asked him, starting to enjoy the game. “I thought you had just met her?”
“We did.” Ashton was looking at me strangely. “And we were cads; we seduced her, despite her protests.”
“That sounds like rape, Your Highness.” I leveled my stare on him, and he flinched.
“No,” he protested. “I've never taken an unwilling woman in all of my life, and I never shall.”
“She was willing,” Braxton added. “But we may have manipulated her into it.”
“That does not sound honorable,” I chided him.
Braxton's eyes went wide, and I noticed his attendants looking nervous.
“You dare to tell me what is honorable?” Braxton asked, but with little heat.
