Page 109 of The Duke's Forbidden Bride
She hadn’t wanted Charlotte to find out like this, regardless.
Her heart cracked, splitting in two, and she ran, trying to forget Spencer’s words. She couldn’t listen, and he couldn’t mean them,surely.He couldn’t…
And yet she feared her did. Or if he didn’t, he would be too stubborn to take them back.
She bolted down the hallway to Charlotte’s room and pounded on the door, shouting for her to open it. No response came, no footsteps or creak of wood.
She banged and banged. “Charlotte, please! Please open up. You are angry, but you must hear me out.Please. Just open the door so we may speak.”
Again, her pleas were met with silence.
She slumped against the door, slamming her hand on the wood. “I must explain!”
The silence rang too loud, threatening to echo back her racing thoughts.
I have failed her. I should have told her from the start.
But her downward spiral was interrupted by Lady Montagu, who poked her head out of her chamber.
“What is the commotion?” she demanded, approaching her. She gently nudged her aside and knocked on the door. “Charlotte, whatever has happened, please open the door. Eleanor appears rather distressed.”
“Then you may tell her that she can remain distressed, for I will not speak to her.”
“Charlotte—” Eleanor began.
“Aunt Katherine, do tell Lady Eleanor that she must address me by my title from now on. We are no longer friends, as friends do not do what she has done.”
Lady Montagu cast a glance at Eleanor, raising an eyebrow.
“I only want her to know the truth,” Eleanor muttered. “She must give me a chance to explain.”
“Charlotte, you must give her a chance to explain.”
“Do tell her she can explain to my horse’s backs?—”
“Charlotte, do act like a proper lady and open the damn door.” Lady Montagu’s order was sharp as a whip.
Moments later, Charlotte wrenched the door open, fury on her face. “I have nothing to say to you,” she hissed at Eleanor.
She made to shut the door, but Lady Montagu shoved a hand against it.
“Clearly, Eleanor has plenty to say to you, and youwillhear her out, as some of us wish to sleep.”
After a long angry pause, Charlotte finally opened the door wider and cut a glare to the floor.
Eleanor took it as an invitation, hesitating long enough to glance at Lady Montagu. “Thank you.”
The older woman merely nodded and retreated to her chambers.
It left Charlotte and Eleanor in a quiet stalemate once the door was closed, shutting them in together.
“I am absolutely furious with you.” Charlotte walked over to the window, her arms crossed over her chest. Her face was a stoic slate, tense with anger. “It is not just the lies, but it is the fact that when you came back after disappearing, it took me some time to get over it. It took me time before I even saw you come to terms with the fact that you had left me behind. You have lied, but there is also a pattern that I cannot ignore, Eleanor. People hiding things, disappearing, my brother reverting to old ways that upset me, decisions being made for me.
“I do not know what Lord Follet has done, but even that was decided for me, and now my safety, my location, even my upbringing—it was all donefor me, and I am tired of it. I amtired of feeling like a prisoner, of feeling blindsided by those I am meant to trust. How can I ever trust when it keeps on happening? I thought Spencer and I were doing well, but now I see he has only roped you further into his ploys. He is a good man, yet… He has made me so angry, I cannot fathom it sometimes.”
The vulnerability cracking through her anger was what finally broke Eleanor. Her knees wobbled, and she all but crumpled on the edge of the bed. There was a hysteria rising in her that she tried to tamp down.
“I was shipped off to a convent.”
