Page 50 of Trapped with the Forbidden Duke
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“It is better to tell your brother as soon as possible, no?” Lucien argued. “I want to get it out of the way ahead of the ceremony.”
“I disagree,” Edwina insisted. “This news will only distress him, which could make him worse. I do not want to disrupt his rest.”
“Did you wish to tell him the day of our wedding, then?” he retorted. “Yes, he shall be upset, but he will survive.”
“He is my brother!” Edwina protested, but Lucien only turned on his heel and continued towards Nicholas’s room. “I must insist on having the final say.”
“Edwina, you must let me tell him now. If we do not, we only risk your aunt saying something around him, or to a friend, and then the entire ton will know before Nicholas does. He already thinks we betrayed him, and that situation will only make it worse. I do not wish to do that to him.”
“Not now,” Edwina pleaded. “Please, Lucien.”
Beg some more, every bone in his body seemed to say.
He paused at her desperate tone and shook his head. “He must hear it from me, and I will not let it linger on my conscience.”
“And if he stops us from getting married?”
“I will remind you, and then further remind him, that I am a duke. He has little power over what I can and cannot do. Whether he likes it or not, this wedding shall happen.”
He continued up the stairs and down the hallway, aware of Edwina following him.
“You fear his reaction, and that is perfectly understandable, but I must respect him by sharing the news as soon as possible. He cannot be protected all his life, Edwina. He is a grown man who must deal with the consequences of his actions.”
“Our marriage is a consequence?” Edwina asked, insulted.
“It is aconvenienceto handle the consequences,” he corrected. “Let us not pretend that it is anything else. Let us ensure that Nicholas knows such a thing.”
At that, Edwina paused, and Lucien took the chance to proceed further towards Nicholas’s room until he was at the door.
Edwina made one last attempt at stopping him, but he slipped into the dark room and shut the door.
Chapter Fifteen
“Get out.” Nicholas’s voice was hoarse with dehydration.
The door slamming shut had woken him up, and his eyes landed on Lucien.
The jug next to him was still full of water, the glass still placed on the neatly folded napkin Edwina had set it on.
Lucien ignored him as he strode to the curtains and drew them open.
Sunlight poured into the room, and Nicholas groaned. “I will not ask again.”
Lucien only turned to him and pulled up a chair to his bedside.
Nicholas’s face was deathly white. Dark circles shadowed his heavy eyes, and his breathing was labored, but at least hewasbreathing. He coughed, the sound deep and rough.
“What is this, then?” he sneered. “First you went after my sister, and now you are after me?”
Lucien only cocked his head at him. “Where is the man I met in Cambridge? This bitter man before me… I do not know him. And perhaps if you had let me know him, I could have helped.”
“I do not need your help. That is why. The man you knew went into a battlefield thinking he would come out unscathed—rather foolishly so. But is this not every soldier’s ignorance? They think they will be the ones untouched?”
“War touches everybody,” Lucien answered curtly. “And you may tell yourself that you do not need help, but your sister certainly does. Your staff needs the help. Your reputation, also.”
“So you are here to gloat about your power and how you have fixed everything.”
