Page 26 of The Lord who Seduced Me
Rose reached over and squeezed her mother’s hand. Needing to let Lydia know that she was here for her.
Lydia looked over at Rose in shock and gave her a tiny smile.
“Are you certain we should do this mother? I don’t wish for you to be upset with anything.”
Lydia nodded, “I need to Rose. I know it is not going to be easy, but I have to be strong. To find out what I can about Jacob and if the Duchess is willing to help us, I will take it. We need all the people in our corner that we can get.”
Rose nodded and kept her hand in Lydia’s. Rose looked over and Lily had her hand clutched in Burk’s large one.
Rose wished Cabe was here, but once again, he had other issues and Rose wanted to know what they were and why he was not here with them.
Why after he had claimed her at the ball and she decided to stop playing her games with him, and his promise that he wouldn’t push her away any longer, that he had distanced himself from her and her family again.
It broke her heart. Pushing thoughts of Cabe away as they pulled up in front of the Duchess’s house, Rose put a smile on her face, and followed Lydia out of the carriage.
They were ushered inside the Duchess’s home and Rose loved the opulence of it. How beautiful it was.
She followed her family and sat in a chair, when the Duchess entered the room and began speaking, asking them to call her Penelope and listening to their story without judgement, Rose knew she was a good woman.
She had helped them at the ball and had made a fool of the man who dared touch Lily and make fun of their family, but Rose was still wary.
She only wanted the best for their family and was very protective of them.
She was especially protective of her mother. They had a close bond and knowing that Lydia was in pain and suffering over not knowing of Edward’s deceit was hard.
She wished she could take some of Lydia’s burden and when Lydia told Penelope of killing Edward, Rose was proud of her mother.
She remembered the dark night all those years ago, and though Aidan had told them to run, Rose had not.
It had been the hardest decision of her life, Lily had gone to wake Cole, running as fast as she could toward his room without noticing that Rose was not at her side. And Rose had stayed behind.
Knowing that Lydia was hurt, almost dying and that Aidan was walking to his doom was why she had stayed.
She had grabbed a large knife from the room where Aidan practiced his swords and knives and was prepared to kill Jacob if he lived and Aidan had died.
She would not let him touch Lily ever again. Lily was feisty and tough, but Rose would be the one to protect her sister if it was necessary.
When she had heard all the things Jacob had said to Aidan before they started fighting, Rose had to fight not to make noise as she sobbed. Had bit her hand so hard it bled, as she tried to muffle the noise.
It was so horrible hearing those things said about her brother and she hated her father even more for it.
When the fight truly started, Rose had peeked inside the door, and hated the sight. Seeing Aidan fighting for his life against Jacob was something that would haunt her dreams and waking thoughts for a very long time.
She had watched the entire fight and when Aidan had been hit in the face with Jacob’s sword, flinging his blood all over, Rose had to stifle her scream behind her hand.
She hated seeing the damage Jacob had done to his face. Knew that Aidan would suffer greatly because of that cut and the one on his thigh.
Then before her eyes, Aidan’s sword had flown out of his hand because of Jacob’s prowess with fighting and Jacob had brought his blade back to kill Aidan. Rose had taken one step forward, ready to make a noise, to draw Jacob’s attention to her, wanted to do anything to catch Jacob off guard when she saw Lydia come up behind Jacob with Aidan’s sword in her hand.
Lydia had stabbed Jacob in the back with no reservations and Rose stepped back into the shadows. Once again, fighting to keep the sobs from being her, and knowing that she would be found if she did not move to another spot.
Jacob was finally dead, and that was all that mattered. She heard footsteps in the hallway and saw Cole run into the room with his sword drawn and she dropped her blade, needing to find Lily.
She still had tears streaming down her face and she felt sick to her stomach, after everything she had seen.
Lily was running toward her and gave her a hard glare, “Where were you? I had to go and find Cole alone.”
Rose shook her head, “I am sorry Lily. I had to do what Aidan asked. I hid.”
