2025-03-04 19:16:48
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Chapter 797
Dulcie was already in the bridal room when he got there.She was sitting on the very edge of the big bed in her grey dress, with her hands knotted in her lap. She had stopped crying. Her eyes were red and dry.Julian leaned in the doorway. He had meant to be kind. He had meant to say, Don't worry, little cousin, I won't touch you, and sleep in the chair, and go home in the morning."Don't be frightened," he said. "I'm not going to —""I know what I'm meant to do," Dulcie said.Her voice was very small and very flat, like a lesson read out loud."Mother told me. And Grandmother." She stood up. Her hands went to the hooks at the front of her grey dress, and they were shaking so hard she missed the first one. "If you send the money back, I've failed the house. And if I fail, Grandmother says I go down to the garage wing. To wait on the prince and his wife. A maid, for the rest of my life, in the kennels."She undid the first hook. Then the second."This is her fault," Dulcie whispered, n
Chapter 796
She looked at the two beds. One was by the window. One was by the wall, where the cold came through the bricks."You take the window," she said firmly."It's your wedding night," Alexander said, surprised. "You should have the window.""I had a window for two years," she said quietly. "It had bars on it. I don't want to look out of one for a while." She nodded at it. "And you keep looking at it. You did it in the hall, too. Every time a door opened, you looked at the way out."He was quiet."I'm not asking why," she said gently. "I'm only saying, take it.""Thank you," he said, and meant it.The tap dripped. Somewhere in the house, a door slammed, and somebody laughed, a long way off."I'll fix that tomorrow," Serena said briskly, nodding at the tap."You can fix taps?" he asked, surprised."I spent two years in a tower listening to one," she said dryly. "I know exactly what's wrong with it. The washer's gone, and somebody tightened it too hard to hide it.""That sounds like this hous
Chapter 795
Serena pressed her hand flat on the cloth. It kept shaking.The glass tipped. Red wine ran across the white linen, between the candles, straight toward the lace of her wedding dress."Serena?" Gideon was half out of his chair, his napkin crushed in one fist. "Sweetheart?""I'm fine, Father," she said quietly.She wasn't. This was how the dark had started, two winters ago. First the hands. Then the eyes. Then the voice.Not again, she thought. Not in front of all of them."Oh dear," Patricia said from the family table, sweet as syrup. "Is she ill? She's gone so pale." She turned in her chair. "Doctor Reeve, shouldn't she have her drops?"Every head turned to the doctors' table. Dr. Osmond Reeve had a forkful of salmon halfway to his mouth."I, no," he stammered. "No. No more drops. Not tonight, Miss Patricia.""But she's shaking," Patricia said, loud enough for the back benches. "Look at her, poor thing. After everything she's been through.""Perhaps the excitement," Reeve said weakly.
Chapter 794
Serena could hear her own heart.On her left, the lake. A husband who would never be cruel, because he would never care enough to be.On her right, the joke. The man who had crawled round a ballroom on his knees for a fisherman, and then put a tray down on a paper and said no.An old poet came into her head. Her mother's favourite, the one with the long beard on the cover.I exist as I am, that is enough."I choose the prince," Serena said.---For one second, nothing. Then the great hall exploded."What did she say?" a woman shrieked, jumping up."The prince? The idiot?" a man cried, stunned."She can't mean it!"Lady Honoria was on her feet, pink to the ears, pearls swinging."She misspoke!" Honoria cried, outraged. "Imelda, the girl misspoke! She's been in the dark two years, she's confused. She means Julian. She means the lake!""I don't mean the lake," Serena said clearly."Darling, you don't know what you're saying!""I know exactly what I'm saying, Lady Honoria," Serena said ca
Chapter 793
On the night before the wedding, Serena was still holding her mother's page.She sat on the narrow bed with the paper against her face. Old rose. Ink. Under it, faint as a breath, cedar.Two soft knocks, then a third, a little late. She knew that knock."Serena?" Gideon said quietly, through the door. "It's your father.""I know, Father," she said gently. "Come in."He didn't come in. He never did."They won't let me walk you up tomorrow," he said, miserable. "Your grandmother says it would look as if the house chose for you. On this coast the bride walks alone. She goes to fetch the man she wants.""Then I'll fetch him," Serena said calmly."I came up these stairs twice," he whispered. "In two years. Twice. I stood outside this door and I couldn't open it."Her throat went tight."I'm not brave, sweetheart," Gideon said, very low. "You know I'm not.""You read me a line once," she said softly. "From the green book. The old teacher from the east. Do you remember it?"A long silence on
Chapter 792
“Grandmother,” Patricia cut in hastily. “You know I already have a boyfriend. He’s a count, he’s exceedingly wealthy, and he told me he’s serious about us. We’re going to be engaged soon!”“I’ve been hearing that excuse for a year,” the matriarch replied coldly. “It is the only reason you remain in line for the succession right behind Serena. You had better bring him before me soon, or I will marry you off to that idiot prince instead.”“Of course, Grandmother. But surely you haven't forgotten my younger cousin? Shouldn't she take her turn first?”…Lady Honoria Pryce arrived the next afternoon in a green motorcar the size of a boat, a big pink woman in three strings of pearls, bringing her son.She talked about him the way a farmer talks about a horse at market."Look at him, Imelda," she boomed happily. "Go on, look. Good teeth. Good height. A sound temper, never raises his voice, never has. Rides, shoots, dances, reads a little, not too much." She slapped her son on the back. "And
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Reader Comments
Starting to?? The author has really been doing nothing but rinse and repeat and asides being boring it’s becoming really annoying even idiots will already realize the power that Alex possess
Hmmmm you’re pushing the plot too hard. The ungratefulness is starting to bore