Page 54 of The Duke of Fire
Seven children.
The strange thing was that the only woman he could imagine having a child with was Amelia. Her image carrying a newborn child, smiling and cooing at it, quickly came into his mind’s eye.
He swore under his breath. His friends laughed again, but their voices sounded muffled now. He realized that the gypsy’s fortune did not really frighten him. It was how he had quickly envisioned what it would have been like to have a family.
Chapter 19
“Oh, do be more delicate, Amelia,” Octavia whined as her sister-in-law dabbed a damp cloth over her forehead. “Do not scrub me like a pot. I have sensitive skin.”
Amelia sighed. She was leaning over Octavia’s bed, supposedly to help cool down her fever.
“You do not feel hot at all,” she protested. “Perhaps you are just exhausted from growing your baby in you?”
She was really trying to be diplomatic because it would make things easier for both of them.
“I am not pretending, Amelia! Don’t you dare suggest that I am!” Octavia shrieked. “My baby gets stressed easily, and it raises my temperature. I have become more susceptible to fevers. I need rest, quiet, and someone who can soothe what I am feeling! Don’t you understand?”
“You are stressed,” Amelia said gently, holding on to her patience as much as she could. Her mind was on her plans to leave. It would not help if she aggravated Octavia. “PerhapsFinch should be by your side. The baby should also calm down when sensing both father and mother.”
“Are you trying to get away from your responsibilities?” Octavia demanded. Amelia did her best not to roll her eyes at the word ‘responsibilities.’ She had done enough for the family. She even bit her tongue when she saw Octavia wearing some of her mother’s jewelry. The rest were missing. So, she could only assume that the woman had taken them. “By the way, where is the letter from the dowager?”
It had been decided that all letters should be written by the dowager. This way, Octavia and Finch would keep believing that she was actually being sponsored by her and nothing more.
“What about her letter? Did you read it?” Amelia asked, feeling her hands go cold and clammy. She did not like this.
“Of course. I assumed it was important. After all, it was from the Dowager Duchess of Firaine. We needed to respond right away.”
We?
“What do you mean, respond right away?” she echoed.
“Oh, do not fret. I have already sent a message that you will not be attending this time because I am sick.”
“You didwhat?” Amelia’s voice rose before she could stop it.
Octavia shrugged. “You would have embarrassed yourself, anyway. You ought to be grateful I saved you the trouble. Besides,someonemust care for this household while I am unwell.”
Amelia clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. “But the letter was not addressed to you.”
“It was about you, therefore I had every right to open it,” Octavia said lightly, as if speaking to a child who had misbehaved.
Amelia’s throat felt like it was getting tighter and tighter. She could not breathe. Time and time again, she found ways to rise over her situation, and Finch and Octavia found their own ways to pull her down.
“Besides, I need you here. Can’t you see? You have been away so frequently. Surely the dowager can spare you for one evening?” Octavia flung an arm over her forehead, succumbing to her dramatics once more.
Amelia was breathing hard, trying to calm down. She did not want to look at Octavia at that very moment. She turned toward the writing desk. Then, she paused. A parchment seemed to be hidden under Octavia’s shawls. She sighed. Her sister-in-law could be so messy. So, she attempted to organize her things.
Then, she saw the letter.
Amelia had no intention of reading it, but she saw some of the elegant scrawl and some of the passionate words. It was a love letter, and it was not in Finch’s handwriting. She did not need to read the whole thing. She had glimpsed the intimate phrasing and knew right away what it meant.
Octavia had a lover?
Tell me again that you are mine.
Her breath caught. Pulse pounding, she quickly tucked the letter back where it was.
The front door banged. Finch must have returned. He had been gone most nights, and Amelia wondered why, as it was not something he used to do in the past. It seemed that she did notknow the people she lived with at all.
