Page 82 of Drowned in the Pleasure of a Devilish Baron
Chapter Forty-Four
Sarah had given up on trying to wheedle the guards, order them aside, or simply push past them.
She sat on the chair in the room, staring into the fire, and worried, her fingers twisting one another in her lap. Hours had passed and still there had been no word from her mother or brother. She had heard the footsteps retreat from her bedroom and the rumble of voices, but then it had grown quiet, and now she could hear nothing at all.
Finally, as the sky outside had begun to darken, she heard two sets of footsteps approach. When the guards parted without a word, she knew that the time had come at last to learn what she was facing.
Lady Marlow and John entered the room without a word and without looking at Sarah, who felt like a recalcitrant child, sitting in the large chair and waiting to be reprimanded. Her mother’s cheeks sported two high spots of bright color, a sure sign that she was furious. Sarah squeezed her hands tightly together in an attempt to remain calm.
Lady Marlow took her seat on the couch, with John standing behind her, one hand resting on its back. It was a sign, a delineation. The sides were clear, and there was no one standing at Sarah’s back. She sat perfectly straight, her ankles crossed and tucked beneath her skirt, hands folded in her lap, the picture of etiquette, and waited for what would come next.
There was a time of silence, nothing but the fire in the grate crackling. The guards had allowed Rebecca in to tend to it, but that had been her only company. Then John broke the silence. “This morning, Mother and I were alerted that there had been some oddities in your behavior. Your door has been locked quite often, and there were things found in your room that indicated something amiss.”
Sarah thought of the stem and leaves Rebecca had found in her room, and knew at once that she had told them of it, and of her door being locked. She must have tried the door quietly a few times more, for she had only come across it locked the one time. She had been watching her, and Sarah had been right not to trust her, though the betrayal still hurt.
“After being alerted of this, Mother and I thought it best to conduct a search through your room. Upon doing so, we found this.”
From his jacket, he withdrew a thick stack of pages, and Sarah closed her eyes. It was the worst outcome and spelled disaster.
“This letter to Felix has shocked us to our very core.” At any other time, she would laugh at how John described their core as one, as if he and their mother were one person. Right now, though, nothing was very funny. “Imagine our horror to see that not only have you been writing to him, but you have also made plans to run away from home andelopewith him.” John’s voice was still calm, but at the last phrase, it began to sharpen.
“I cannot imagine that you would do such a thing. Though you are often disobedient and willful, this plan is beyond the pale, and I would not have thought you capable of such a wicked deed. I will, however, give you the benefit of the doubt before we proceed. Tell me, Sarah, are these the fanciful writings of a dreamy girl? Or do these words speak the truth?”
There was a sliver of possibility before her. She could see in John’s face that he desperately hoped it was all nothing but another one of her “drifts”, made tangible by her pen. But she could not lie, not even now.
She lifted her chin. “They speak the truth,” she said. The sentence was short and simple, but it created a ripple of aftereffects. John swore beneath his breath and their mother’s face twisted into rage.
“How dare you,” she shouted. “You have always been a difficult, troublesome girl, but to do this? Knowing that it would ruin your brother’s prospects and make your family a mockery among theton? You are a hateful child, ungrateful and despicable.”
“Enough.” John’s voice was quiet, but the interruption shocked their mother into silence. “Sarah, I read the whole letter through. Your love for Felix, and perhaps his own feelings for you, shout out from the pages. This fact helps me to understand why you would consider such a deceitful act.”
Sarah bit her lip, hoping that perhaps what he said next would mean it was not the end.
“But I cannot abide such disobedience,” he said, staring steadily at her with eyes both steely and regretful. “And I cannot allow this to happen. It would mean the end of too much which is too important. I am sorry. I thought on your words last night at dinner, and you’re right. You deserve to be told the truth. Here is the bare, honest truth I have been dancing around since all of this began. You must marry Lord Ashton, no matter how much you wish not to. It is too important to this family, and it is your duty as the only daughter.”
Lady Marlow’s eyes, gleaming in the firelight, were bright as she nodded along with each of his sentences.
“You will marry Lord Ashton. I have been clear on this since the beginning, and cannot help that you have refused to resign yourself to this fact by now. We are pushing the wedding up to Friday, since you have proven your untrustworthiness. He was able to make all of the necessary arrangements, but has had to go to great trouble to do so, because of your actions.”
Friday… that would have been the day to run away with Felix. Did they choose it just to be cruel?
Her heart was tearing into pieces in her chest, but still, a stubborn hope remained. There was time yet to escape. She was not defeated until the wedding was complete.
“Why do you still not give up?” her mother demanded. “I can see it in your eyes even now, that defiance! How can you still not accept that it is done? You will marry Lord Ashton and that is it!”
Sarah swallowed the tears rising in her throats and only looked at her mother without blinking. What use was responding now? The line had been drawn.
When she did not respond, she saw her mother’s chest heave, as if her breath had quickened with anger. “You are just lucky that Lord Ashton, God knows why, did not take this as a sign to end the betrothal,” she spat.
“Why did you tell him at all?” she asked, curious despite herself, and proud of how steady her voice was even as her emotions inside roiled. “Why risk it?”
John looked uncomfortable, like he would not answer that question, but their mother answered for him, her face twisting into a triumphant smile.
“Lord Ashton was also there yesterday when we called on the Marquess and his family. They were alone for a while, and he decided to ask the gentleman why he was so driven to marry you. It seemed quite odd to us both, as his title is so far above ours and you have no wealth to offer him. He said he had reasons of his own before he met you, but after meeting you, he was even more focused on staying the course.”
“Why would that be? I did nothing to win his approval. In fact, I actively tried to push him away!” Sarah decided to be totally honest now, as there was nothing else for her to lose.
“That is precisely why,” Lady Marlow said, a smile spreading across her face. “You, my dear, dreamy, disobedient child, charmed himbecauseyou did not want him. Why, think about it! He has been pursued his whole life for his family fortune and title, and here comes you, miles below his station and yet you don’t want him! He sees you as a challenge.”
