Page 159 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
No, no, now. I need to see him now.
“All right,” she said, knowing that was the only acceptable response.
Mrs Minton escorted her to a study on the first floor, a room of polished mahogany and red drapes, swimming with the thick, cloying smell of tobacco. The Duke stood beside the window, surveying the gardens like a king might his kingdom.
“Thank you, Mrs Minton,” he said, not moving. “You may leave us.”
Mrs Minton bowed her head, and slipped silently away.
Adeline hung in her spot, feeling more exposed than when he’d ripped the dress from her.
“I believe thanks are in order,” said the Duke coolly. “I’m led to believe you’re the one that freed my son from his curse.”
“I believe so, Your Grace,” she said, trying to keep herself steady.Please don’t ask me how I did it.
“I’d like to offer you a reward, for services to my family.” He gestured to a pouch on his desk. Gingerly, Adeline inched forward, lifting it from the surface. It was remarkably heavy, and when she pulled open the strings… gold shimmered below.
At a guess, it would look after her family for five years. It could pay for two years at Leonie’s academy. She would be foolish, stupid, selfish not to take it.
And yet…
She felt there was another cost attached to it.
“Your Grace, if I accept this gift, am I to understand that I am no longer employed here?”
The Duke turned his head, only a fraction. “You were my son’s nursemaid, or so I understand. He has no need of you now. Why would youwantto stay?”
He knows,she realised.He knows what there is between us.
He wanted to separate the two of them, and he would. If she accepted this gift, she’d be returning home. Somehow, he’d stop Dimitri from visiting, like he’d stopped his wife.
Tread carefully, Adeline.
“Well, you know what commoners are like with money, Your Grace,” she said, repeating an old misconception she’d heard uttered amongst the nobility for years. “We are so terrible with managing it. I wouldn’t know what to do with this generous offer. I’m sure I’d spend it all in the wrong place and have nothing within a year. If… if it pleases Your Grace, I’d much rather stay here in another position, with an equally generous salary.”
The Duke’s mouth twisted into a smile, and she wondered if she’d said too much. “Another position?” he asked. “Did you have one in mind?”
Adeline swallowed. “I’d be able to do a lot of good in the library,” she said. “Your current scholar, Clarin, is about as useful as a broken bowl. I’ve spent hours this week alone rectifying the mess the library became during the weeks of revelry. I’m sure Mrs Minton would prefer someone more competent.”
The Duke laughed, not kindly. “Minton does like it when everyone does their job…” He turned to face her, his shadow filling the room. “That’s it? That’s all you want? A better position?”
“If it pleases Your Grace.”
“And your desire to stay has nothing to do with the rumours of a relationship between you and my son?”
Adeline’s stomach dropped. She tried to steal her face into a mask of indifference, to look unphased by his remark.
Lie, lie, lie. Lie even if it kills you.
“The Young Lord has expressed some interest in me,” she admitted, “and I agree it would be entirely improper for me to continue as his personal companion. But I assure you, Your Grace, the infatuation is entirely one-sided. I indulged him a little out of sympathy. Such indulgence may have veered into the realm of inappropriate at times, but it is completely unwarranted now that the curse has been broken. I… I won’t lie that I hold affection for the Young Lord, but much in the way one would have for a younger brother.”
The Duke’s gaze remained fixed on Adeline, unwavering, unreadable. “A believable explanation,” he said. “And I am loath to have a debt of gratitude unpaid. Very well, Miss Elsing, you may remain here as chief librarian, on one condition.”
Adeline’s heart soared and plummeted. “Yes?”
“What you just told me—I want you to tell him.”
No.“I—”
