“There must be something we can do. We cannot let this happen,” Anna said fiercely. “My husband is a duke and Maria’s husband is a duke. We can use this to our advantage and fight your father.”
Maria nodded vigorously. “We will go to him together and demand he stop this madness.”
Theodora stared at her hands. “There is no point.”
“What do you mean, no point?” Anna frowned at her.
“What is the point of remaining in London?” Theodora asked quietly. “And what is the point of fighting? My father has already decided. He has already written to the sisters at the convent and arranged everything. Hereally wants me gone.”
“Butyoudo not want to go,” Maria countered with a trembling voice.
Theodora let out a hollow laugh. “Maybe the convent is a blessing in disguise.”
Evelina grabbed her hand. “Do not utter such words.”
“Why not?” Theodora asked. “What am I supposed to do here? Face everyone after being humiliated and rejected? Am I supposed to pretend that nothing happened? And that I was not foolish enough to…” She trailed off, unable to finish.
Anna sat on the opposite side of her. “You do not have to tell us anything about you and Alexander. Not unless you want to.”
Theodora avoided looking at them.
“Anna, you were right when you warned me away from him months ago. How did I ever expect to survive the Scarlet Duke?” she spoke quietly.
Anna’s eyes widened, but she did not interrupt.
Theodora let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh. “I was completely blind. And I became irrational against everything I stood for. Including science. Even my observations became obscured. Perhaps…my father was right and I thought I was being clever, but I was not. I was analytical at first but became detached from my work once Alexander got into my head.”
Maria exchanged a glance with Anna.
“I went through every step,” Theodora continued. “Every single one. And I felt exactly what a person in love would feel. I thought I was merely studying and observing it. But I was living it, enjoying it and…falling for him through it all.”
Evelina squeezed her hand. “Theo…”
“And now,” Theodora continued emotionally, “Now, I need to add one final stage to my list.”
Anna leaned forward. “There is a final stage?”
“Yes, the stage where the person you love betrays you and abandons you.”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
“If I had known I would end up like this,” Theodora whispered, “I never would have started.”
“This is our fault for encouraging the experiment.” Evelina looked at her with a pained expression.
Theodora shook her head. “No, please do not say that. It is all my doing.”
“Theo, listen to me. Anna and I have both went through similar heartbreaks at the beginning of our marriages. It was not easy and we cried too but, in the end, —”
Theodora looked up sharply. “Maria, it is not the same.”
Maria pursed her lips.
“You both had difficulties,” Theodora continued. “You both had misunderstandings. But your husbandswantedto marry you.” Her voice broke and she began to cry. “They wanted to stay married to you and they fought for you and they chose you.”
She inhaled raggedly. “But Alexander ran away from me. He left me with my father and did not care what happened once he made his own escape.”
Evelina’s eyes filled with tears again.
