Page 66 of Bound to the Heartless Duke
At that moment, she felt hurt by the coldness with wwhich he handled the matter of their marriage.. The Magnus that had driven her to the edge of madness in the drawing room.
He didn’t want anything intimate between them all of a sudden?
“Very well,” he finally said.
She took the folder from his hand, stepped to the edge of the stone bench beneath the rose arch, and opened it with steady fingers. The ink was dark, and the empty line awaited her signature.
Taking a deep breath, she dipped the quill he offered in the small inkwell and then signed her name beneath his.
She wasn’t sure if she was making the right decision, but if following her heart was a terrible decision, then she would still go for it.
As the ink dried in the moonlight, silence fell between them. They both stared at their inked names, feeling something had just shifted between them. However, none of them said a word.
CHAPTER 16
“You did what?”
Lily closed the door gently behind her, her fingers still curled around the brass knob.
Her heart lurched at her brother’s tone, but she refused to show it, keeping her expression calm and handling the furniture calmly.
Nathan stood with his back turned to her, and she could see the tension in his entire frame. His shoulders were tight, his fists clenched tightly as if he were trying hard to tamp down his rage.
When he finally turned around, her heart almost sank to the floor. His face was flushed with a mixture of rage and disbelief.
“I asked you a question,” he growled, a deadly edge to his voice. “Tell me I didn’t just hear what I think I did.”
Under different circumstances, Lily would have surrendered, wishing to please her brother because she believed family came first, even before personal sentiments.
This time, she lifted her chin before moving further into the room as if she hadn’t spent the last hour trembling in her chambers, trying to convince herself that she had made the right decision.
The decision to get married to Magnus.
“You heard correctly, Nathan,” she stated evenly, smoothing the bodice of her gown. “Magnus and I are getting married.”
It seemed that the worst sounded even more ludicrous the second time of hearing it, for Nathan opened his mouth and let out a breathless laugh.
“Married,” he spat out. “You’re marryinghim?”
She released a deep sigh. “I am.”
“You’re marrying the man who took our house—” He broke off at the look she shot him.
Lily couldn’t comprehend her brother’s end goal. He kept playing the victim, as though he had not been the one who visited Magnus’s gaming hell of his own accord.
But rather than pointing that out, she settled for something else.
“And who gave us time we never deserved,” she reminded, the reprimand in her tone obvious. “Time you were gambling away, Nathan.”
His face paled, but only slightly.
“You had no right,” he hissed.
“Oh, now you’re an authority on rights?” she scoffed, stepping toward him. “You weren’t willing to face him. You weren’t willing to save this family. I did what needed to be done.”
“I gave my word to Bailey!” Nathan barked, unable to contain his rage anymore.
She paused, his words slowly registering, before barking out a laugh.
