Augusta swallowed hard, and she looked away again, as if she hated being corrected.
“Why did you think running was the answer?”
Augusta’s expression shifted, and for a second, she looked very young, and then her anger returned as if she could not bear to be seen as anything else. “Because you won’t tell me the truth,” Augusta said.
Charity felt the sting of that list, and she tried not to let it show in her face, but it was difficult, since it was honest.
“You think I have been treating you like a child?” Charity said. “Very well. I did it because I thought I was protecting you…. I just… I do not want you to be afraid. I did not want you to see the things I have seen and know the things I know.”
“You keeping secrets only pushes me away,” Augusta said, and the words came out sharp, like she’d been holding them in her mouth for a while.
Charity didn’t answer right away; instead, she glanced over at Matilda, who was slumped in the chair and blinking slowly like she might fall asleep mid-sentence.
“We will talk later,” Charity said.
Augusta scoffed at that.
“For now, you should be happy that I am not too angry at you,” Charity warned.
“That’s meant to make me feel better,” Augusta said, and she sounded annoyed, but she didn’t push the way she had been pushing with Matilda right there. Matilda yawned, wide and slow, then rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of Duncan’s coat.
“Can we go to bed?”
“Yes,” Charity said at once, and her voice softened for Matilda even though her chest still felt tight. “One of the staff members will escort you.”
“You always end things when you want,” Augusta hesitated at the door, hand on the latch.
“This conversation is over, Augusta,” Charity held her gaze.
Augusta’s mouth tightened, but she didn’t argue. She opened the door and led Matilda out. Charity stayed where she was until the door shut, and the room went quiet again. Then she exhaled and turned toward the corridor, already thinking of Duncan, and how he had looked at her in the yard, and how he had lied so easily.
She went to find him.
Charity found him without needing to ask anyone.
The castle was quiet again, but she could hear movement from the corridor before she even reached the door, and she knew it was him. When she got close enough, she saw light under the door, and she felt her chest tighten.
She opened the door and stepped inside. Duncan stopped pacing at once, and she took in the sight of him. His waistcoat slightlyundone, his sleeves pushed up as if he had been working at something, even though the desk was clear.
Huh.She thought, and thought to herself that he looked rather good for someone who was just pacing around. She pushed the thought away quickly, though.
“What are you doing here?” Duncan asked her. “Are you done with your sisters?”
“I’ve spoken to them already. They’re back, safely, and I am grateful for that, but I’m not here to thank you,” she said.
Duncan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the way he looked at her made it clear he had been expecting this.
“Then what are you here for?”
Charity took a step into the room, close enough that she could see the tension in his shoulders and the way his hands flexed, as if he had been forcing himself not to break something.
“I’m here to tell you that you should never lie to me about my sisters again,” she said without missing a single beat. Duncan intimidated her greatly, so it took her some courage to speak like this to him.
“I had my reasons,” he said, not denying it. “But you’re smart enough to catch on.”
“I asked you for reassurance,” Charity quipped. “When it comes to my sisters, I do not want you lying to me about them. Can you do that, please?”
“If I have my reasons…”
