“I’m sorry about Shadowlawn,” Cosette said softly. She knew it was likely a rather inconsequential thing to say at this point, but she found that the sentiments she’d put into words earlier were clogging her throat now. How could she possibly pour out her heart to him when she knew the chaos he would soon have to endure? He looked ready to collapse from exhaustion as it was.
“Some part of me imagines that it’s for the best,” he said quietly. “It only held bad memories from the past.”
She was quiet for a moment, before she offered the only thing she could right then: her friendship. “You never did tell me much about your childhood.”
He shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. My mother had two sons before me, but they both died as infants. I was the only one to survive, but at the cost of her own life. She died after I was born. I lived with my father, under the strict rule of a governess until I was old enough to go to school. He kept a parade of mistresses. I thought they dishonored my mother’s memory, so it always kept us at odds. We started to develop a relationship during my Grand Tour on the continent but then tragedy struck in Rome.”
He visibly swallowed. “I knew it would be hard to come back to this pile of stones as the new Duke of Blackburn, so I stayed away, focusing instead of ridding myself of this bane to my existence. When it was clear that was a doomed mission, I decided that at least I could finally enact justice for my father’s murder. Even that has turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated, for Dashwood still walks free.”
Cosette had no answer to that. While she had managed to stop Dashwood long enough for her to break the locket and remove the power that Lilin had over her, even she wasn’t strong enough to fight the peerage. Her mother might have called her a half-breed—part succubus, part human—but in society’s eyes, she was still just a poor orphan from Paris.
It’s what she would always be.
“I can’t believe it’s really over,” he whispered. Davien turned to her, reaching out to catch her hand in his. “It’s all because of you.”
She looked at him, at that handsome face that had become so dear to her. She loved Davien, it was true, but now that the curse was broken, he could finally live a normal life, take his rightful place among his peers.
Of course, she could continue on as his mistress, but for how long? Davien was a duke, and the time would come that he would marry and carry on the Blackburn line. It was what was expected. The moment he took a bride, their association would come to an end. And after that, children . . .
She closed her eyes, the image too painful to endure.
She felt a gentle hand under her chin. She opened her eyes to see Davien regarding her with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Cosette lied easily. As the fire brigand beyond the gates grew closer, she pulled away. “I should go. There will be lots of questions about what happened here today.”
He watched her for a moment, before he gave a sigh. “Perhaps it would be best if you waited for me at the workhouse, visit with Mrs. Woodard. It will be a circus, of that I have no doubt, but I’ll think of something to explain this mess.” He smiled gently. “I’ll come by when it has settled down.”
Cosette nodded, for she didn’t trust herself to speak.
Moments later, the front lawn of Shadowlawn was swarmed with men, some in uniform, some in regular street clothes. All of them were shouting as they began to contain the fire that might spread to other areas of the city. Cosette looked back at Davien, but the crowd had already swallowed him up.
She made it to the gate before she heard Charlotte calling out her name. “Where do ye think ye’re goin’?” her friend demanded.
Cosette could tell that an inquisition was about to take place, so she straightened her spine and said matter-of-fact. “I’m going to the workhouse.”
Charlotte frowned. “Th’ duke dinna want ye here? I find that hard t’ believe.”
Cosette didn’t reply.
“Ye’re comin’ back, aren’t ye?”
“No.”
Charlotte stilled, her green eyes assessing. “Wot are ye talkin’ aboot? Ye’re not goin’ t’ do anythin’ foolish, are ye?”
“It’s for the best, Charlotte.” Cosette felt her eyes swim with tears and she knew she was close to the breaking point. “Davien is free now. He can live a normal life—one that has no place for me in it. Besides, what is there to come back to? Shadowlawn is gone.” Cosette started to turn away.
“Are ye mad? That man is crazy aboot ye! And ye’re willin’ t’ throw that all away, just because ye don’t think ye’re good enough fer him?”
The dam that had held Cosette’s emotions at bay finally broke free. Tears slid down her cheeks in rivers of misery as she turned to Charlotte, hands clenched at her sides. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Charlotte! In case you don’t remember, I am a half-breed. Don’t you know what that means?”
Charlotte crossed her arms and tossed her red hair. “It means tha’ yer locket is gone and—”
“I will always be cursed,” Cosette finished. “I will not subject Davien to anymore pain when I can prevent it! I owe him that much, at least.”
Charlotte was quiet for a moment, before she said, “And ye don’t think if ye just leave, walk out o’ his life without so much as a goodbye or an explanation, that it won’t hurt him?”
Cosette grit her teeth. “Don’t tell me how to handle this. It’s my heart that’s being broken too. I’m doing this so that Davien has a chance to move on, to start over, and so I can deal with the loss before he chooses to leave me.” She put a hand to her chest. “I’m setting him free. How is that wrong?”
