Page 18 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
It swung open, revealing an empty room.
But… that wasn’t right.
Edwina had heard her brother’s screams. She pushed past the Duke and into Nicholas’s room, taking in the empty, wrinkled sheets, tangled up almost into a ball.
She had been right to be scared when Nicholas had left the house that morning. However, she had long learned to find peace in his absence and trust that he would find a way to be all right, or she would worry herself to death every moment of the day.
But this…
Where was he?
That was when she noticed the curtains billowing.
“My Lady.”
The Duke’s voice came from behind her, but she didn’t turn to look back, knowing that he was seeing the same thing.
Nicholas’s window had been shattered, and glass was strewn everywhere. A small scrap of fabric had gotten caught in one shard.
Edwina ran to the window, but the Duke beat her to it.
“Careful,” he told her, holding out his arm to keep her back from the glass.
Closer to the damage, she could see that the shards still attached to the window frame had splatters of blood on them.
Her breath caught. Terror gripped her in a vise, wrapping around her ribs as she shoved the Duke’s arm away and leaned out of the window to look into the gardens beyond. A scared voice told her that her brother had fallen, that he was sprawled on the ground, covered by shadows and darkness, and she would not see him until it was too late.
But there was no body, no blood, no sign of struggle except for the broken window.
Running out of the room, Edwina did not have a plan. She only knew that she had to find her brother. Until the Duke stepped in front of the door, blocking her path.
“What do you think you are doing?” he asked, his voice calm and quiet in the still, dark room.
How did Edwina feel so trapped when her home was so empty? Was it her guilt over being in a room, alone with a man, unchaperoned?
“What do you thinkyouare doing?” she snapped. “Get out of my way!”
“Lady Edwina?—”
“I must get dressed and find my brother,” she insisted, her voice high-pitched with urgency.
The Duke didn’t understand—he just did not understand—and there was no way she could make him understand without revealing her brother’s addiction. That, for now, was not hers to confess.
“You are doing no such thing.” His voice was deep, velvety, and Edwina found herself mesmerized, almost complying. “The hour is late, and you are a lady. Without even the mention of danger, you must know that you will attract attention.”
Edwina snapped out of the spell, shoving against him. “You cannot expect me to sit idly by and hope that he is all right! You may hate Nicholas, but he is my brother, and I believe in loyalty.”
“Where do you even propose we begin the search? Taverns? Inns? Gambling hells? You cannot go into those places alone.”
“So you will have me sit on my bed, silent and pliant, agonizing over the hours until he returns? Do not patronize me, Your Grace.”
“I am not suggesting you stay here,” the Duke told her, pushing off the doorframe. “I am only suggesting that going alone is a fool’s errand.”
“If that is what brings my brother home, then so be it.”
“Fine,” he bit out. “We will look for your brother together.”
Edwina paused, eyeing him. “Why would you want to do that?”
