Page 18 of Romanced By the Orc

Sorry was nowhere near sufficient to describe Diana’s feelings. Then again, it had always been the two of them against the world and had been for years.

As they returned to the stall at the front gate, to return their cups, Diana whispered, “I daresay I shall spend the rest of theseason abed with a pretended illness to avoid such vile chatter. “Don’t you find it odd that Miss Driscoll willingly entertains Nigel as a prospective husband, though? The writer inThe Postmade it sound as though his efforts to revive a political career are doomed.”

“Perhaps she is with child,” Lil said, with a bite Diana seldom heard from her sister.

“Well … that’s one explanation.” She hesitated, trying not to frighten Lil and so feigning a casual tone. “After all, what remains for us here? Would you ever consider coming with me to Philadelphia? Should our aunt allow for another extended stay?”

“You have the stamina for such adventures, but I fear I am not as bold as you.”

“You are every bit as bold.”

Lillian exhaled loudly, a most uncommon sound coming from her elegant sister.

“I admit to some measure of boldness. I suppose now is as good a time as any to tell you. I am soon taking my leave of London.”

“What?” Diana pulled away.

“Only for the space of a few months. Do you know of the nurses who served in the Napoleonic Wars? Who now work in Chamberly?”

“Of course.” The most popular papers had christened them “Sisters of Benevolence,” mirroring the Phantom’s moniker. “What have they to do with you?”

“I am to join them.”

Diana blinked slowly. “It is well past the Fool’s Day, Lil. ‘Tis a tiresome prank.”

“I speak with utmost seriousness. The Sisters accepted my request to accompany them on their forthcoming voyage. I shall help deliver and distribute necessities at the medical outpostthey have established outside the city gates. It is the least any of us can do.”

“You have already done so much!”

Lillian clasped a gloved hand on Diana’s forearm. “I am inclined toward nursing. They can teach me the required skills.”

She stared at her sister, stunned but not entirely surprised. Lillian had enjoyed wrapping up all the minor scratches and bruises that plagued Diana as a child, and tendered the same care to the stuffed bunnies and bears that covered the shelves of their nursery. But to travel to a land as unstable as Chamberly? How could Lil even consider such a thing?

“It is far too dangerous. Father couldn’t possibly have approved.”

“Did he not send you across the ocean? He understands it shall be a most respectable group and gave his blessing.”

So their father had failed to protect Lillian from her better nature. If he was unwilling to do his duty, it fell on Diana to talk sense into Lillian, even if her sister was the elder by two years.

“It’s absurd. Contact the Sisters and tell them you cannot come. We will start the correspondence at once.”

She tried to steer Lillian toward home, but Lil easily stood her ground.

“I need to get away, Di. I need a break from …” She gestured vaguely at the poplars and willows in bloom, along with the colorful clusters of camellias and hyacinths, though Diana understood her sister meant something else. “We depart in two weeks and shall remain through thesummer. It’s better this way. You must understand that. What remains for us in London? Not much. You had that right. Perhaps America suits you, but I cannot imagine restarting my life there. Nevertheless, I drew a lesson from your experience abroad. Clearly, it helped you learn more about yourself. I wish to take a different path to a similar outcome.”

“Then you believe it is our destiny to part ways?”

“I don’t know. Truly. I only know that our situation here is untenable.”

Diana could bear any disgrace brought on by her calamitous decisions if only it landed on her alone. But she had humiliated Lillian, whose only crime was to be tainted by association, so much that she felt compelled to leave the country altogether. For that, she could never forgive herself. And what would happen when Lil returned? Travel was but a reprieve from the hungry rumormongers. Diana had learned that unfortunate lesson well enough.

Pursuing a life dedicated to nursing provided Lil with purpose, at least. The sad fact of the matter was that Diana owned no practical skills. She could claim only a head for discussing books and the matters before Parliament, which she had honed by sneaking into her father’s study to read up on subjects debated among the peerage. She might pursue a position as a governess in some remote household to the north, where the whispers of her past weren’t doomed to follow her.

The prospect of such alonelylifefelt like a giant stone weighing her down.

Diana needed to ally herself with a powerful family—a family who could protect her. It was not how she would have preferred circumstances to stand, but she must face the world as it was, not how she wished it.

Her thoughts returned to Albion Higgins.

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