“I… you…” Thalia thought quickly. What could she possibly say to keep the duke talking? What she could possibly do to entertain his interest? From the little she knew, he was a recluse, he spurned social advances, and he likely had no intention at all of finding a bride.
“Yes?” he pressed on her.
That was when Thalia heard it. Voices coming from down the steps that led into the garden. There were three of them—two women and one man—lords and ladies who had gone for an evening stroll and were now headed back inside.
An idea came to her in the moment and not one that she was proud of or something she might have planned. But she was desperate. And in that desperation, she thought of Olivia and all that she was willing to do to make sure her little girl had the life that she deserved.
I just pray that she can forgive me. And that he might forgive me too...
“Oh no…” Thalia threw a hand to her forehead and began to sway as if she might collapse.
“Miss Carstone, are you?—”
The duke was only a few feet away. He was so big that she knew he would not miss, and with the voices now moving up the steps, she let her knees give out and threw her body forward so the duke had no choice but to catch her.
His large arms wrapped her body and pulled her into him as if she weighed nothing. She quickly draped an arm over his neck and held him close. She looked up and met his eyes, a grateful smile that was also apologetic.
He frowned with confusion… only for those eyes to widen when he realized what was happening.
“What is the meaning of this?” a voice cried from the top of the steps. “Your Grace!”
Thalia gasped and turned to find two ladies and one lord gaping at them. Looks of shock and horror crossing their faces. Disgust mounting because, to their eyes, they had just stumbled upon a most scandalous scene. One that, should rumor spread, would not be good for either of them.
And Thalia… guilt overtook her, but she fought it back, knowing that she had done the wrong thing for the right reasons. Ever a theme in her life, it seemed.
Four
“Please tell me this is a joke, Thalia. Please tell me…” Her aunt was pacing her bedroom. “I often find your sense of humor strange, so if you tell me now that you are playing a trick on me. I doubt I will laugh, but I will at least feel relieved.”
“It is not a joke, Aunt Isadora. It is very much real.”
Her aunt winced. “Perhaps it is not too late…” Her pacing increased and she fidgeted nervously with her hands as she tried to deduce a plan. “Do you know the names of those who saw you?”
“Their names do not matter.”
“If I go to them tomorrow—beg them to keep it a secret—perhaps they will agree. Surely, they will understand…” Nodding her head now. “An accident, is all it was. You are a mere victim of circumstance. Your life should not be ruined for such things.”
“It is too late for that.” Thalia was feeling remarkably calm, which in itself was a problem. Guilt was what she should have felt. Shame, too. And most of all, terror at what she had done, and who she had done it to.
“It is not!”
“It is.” She was still on her bed, hands folded on her lap, fixing her aunt with a calm stare that she hoped would help soften the panic that was overtaking her. “Why do you think I rushed home the way I have done? Why do you think I am back so early?”
“You… Thalia… what are you saying…”
She sighed, stood from the bed, and then went to her aunt. There, she took her hands and held them, guiding her to the bed so she could sit down. And once she was seated, she kept a hold of her aunt’s trembling hands and looked into her eyes so there could be no mistaking how serious she was being.
“I left the ball because, if I had not done, I might very well have been strangled by the mob.” That was an exaggeration, but a necessary one. “Even before I was out of the front door, people were already talking about it. By now, I suspect that half the ton knows of what transpired.”
Her aunt winced. “But you didn’t do anything, Thalia.”
“Nonetheless, you know how rumors are and the power of them…” she scoffed with bitterness. “As do I, for that matter.”
“And the duke?” her aunt asked, her voice dropping to a whisper. “What… what did he say?”
Now, it was Thalia’s turn to wince. Her mind turned back to earlier, and when it did, a coldness trickled down her spine so that she started to shake.
I really did not think this through. But I suppose that is the point.
