Page 62 of Forgotten No More

Ruby didn’t know what she could do to help Ellington, besides begging Lord Haversham to allow her to move into Haversham townhouse. She was sure with Vi’s support he would agree, but that would mean telling her best friend about everything—all the ways she’d misled her. It would also cause discord for Brock if Drake tried to fight Ellington’s removal from his household.

A thought struck her, as well. Alex would likely lose his position in the stables, seeing as he’d gained his position through Vi. So many people would be affected, but the alternative—leaving her sister to continued abuse—was not an option.

“Was what he spoke of true?” Ruby asked. “Are we sisters?”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course it does.” How could she think it didn’t? It had been Ruby’s entire goal in coming to London, the reason she’d deceived so many of her friends and had been avoiding her mother. She’d leveraged everything she held dear in hopes of finding her true father—a place to belong, someone to accept her, and then perhaps she could accept herself, feel at home in her own skin.

“You cannot see the resemblance?”

Ruby’s hair was the darkest ebony while Ellington’s was clearly of the brightest red, but their eyes were the exact same shade of green, though the girl’s eyes were hooded and weighed down by a rough life in direct opposition to the front she presented. They both stood tall for women, their bodies slender. While Ellington’s skin was covered in freckles, Ruby’s was clear perfection, but their skin tones were both fair, easily burned by too much sun.

“You think you are better than me?”

“No—”

“Because you were raised by a baron while I’ve remained with only a first name—and a boy’s name at that—for my whole life?” Ellie accused. “I am, as he says, worthless and disposable.”

The words sounded even more detestable coming from Ellie’s mouth. “You truly believe that?”

“They are the words I have heard every day of my life, how could I not hold stock in them?” Ruby could tell the words had found purchase in the girl’s subconscious.

“The words of a bitter, lonely man mean naught.” She stared into Ellington’s eyes, hoping to convey the truth—that her words could somehow uproot all the negative.

Ruby sighed. “Just answer my question. Is he our father? Are we sisters?” Why she needed the confirmation she knew was true to her very core, Ruby didn’t know. Looking at the girl in front of her, something deep within her recognized Ellie as her sister. Her soul acknowledged and accepted her as her own—her blood.

“Do not delude yourself. We may be related, but we will never be sisters, just as he will never be my father. I would rather live my life deprived of a surname than be affiliated with that evil, vile man upstairs. He may have me caged now, but he will not live forever.”

Her sister—a relationship she’d never expected to have with another human being—had obviously been planning her escape for longer than Ruby could fathom. “If you are my sister, there will be nothing that can stand in my way of claiming you as mine. My blood.” She felt the words so fully that tears sprang to her own eyes.

“I have no want to be claimed by you. In fact, I want nothing more than for you to be out of my house, and my life.”

What she said could not be true. Ruby understood if their father wanted nothing to do with her—he’d made that clear when he’d sent her mother away. But for Ellington, a girl with nothing to call her own, one would expect her to cling to anyone who wanted her. “You can’t mean that.”

“Oh, but I do.” Ellington chuckled. The sound mimicked her father’s. “You see, I may appear the novelty now, a fun plaything for a bit, but eventually you will return to your real life. Perhaps a home in the country, or to a gentleman you fancy. And I will be forgotten, as my mother forgot me. As my father has wished to hide my existence every day.”

Ruby should be the one reeling, lost and overwhelmed by all she’d learned in the past hour, but it was Ellie who needed the time to adjust. Ruby was out of her element, her experience with the wounded limited to her work with Vi at Foldger’s Foundling House. While those children were wounded physically, Ellie’s scars did not show. Her wounds were emotional. So easy to hide and for others to overlook.

How had she not seen the pain in the girl’s eyes all this time? It was so apparent now. “Pack your things. You are coming with me to Haversham townhouse.” She spoke impulsively. “We will figure something out. You cannot remain here.”

“I am not going with you anywhere.” Ellie’s voice held a hard edge. “Besides, do you think he will let me go?”

“He clearly does not enjoy you staying in his home.”

“I have tried for most of my life to leave, to get away. Unfortunately for me—yet auspiciously for him—one does not see the advantage in losing one’s whipping post. While our father, as you call him, cannot stand the sight of me, neither will he let me go.” Ellie paused, her eyes pleading with Ruby to find her a way out—a means for escape, but the girl’s next words drilled home that even if a way out presented itself, her sister would likely not take it. “Do not delude yourself into thinking you are the first to ponder a grand scheme to fix me—deliver me from the clutches of the ‘evil overlord.’ I do not need your assistance, nor do I want it. You can take your leave and consider your debt to me paid in full.”

Ruby knew her mouth fell open in shock, unable to find the words to convince Ellington that she was nothing like their father or Ellington’s mother. She would not tire of, or become annoyed by her sister’s presence.

Before she could utter any of the words forming in her head, Ellington said, “Good day, please show yourself out.” With that, she started down the stairs, leaving Ruby to stare after her.

Shaking herself into action, Ruby followed her down the stairs, where the marquis’ doorman stood with the door open, waiting for her to depart. Embarrassed at the possibility of the servant overhearing their entire conversation, Ruby moved toward the open door so as not to bring anymore scandal for the man to share with the other household staff. She was sure that within minutes of her departure, Alex—even tucked safely away in the stables—would hear the whole of her visit with Ellie and know that she was the illegitimate daughter of the Marquis of Drake, a rogue amongst all London rakes.

Ruby had agreed to take the girl for a stroll in Hyde Park, and now she was faced with her family’s horrible secrets being laid out before all the ton by supper.

Taking the townhouse steps two at a time, she wondered if now was the time to warn her friends.

Chapter 25