Page 73 of An Accidental Bride for the Duke
“I forgive you,” Iris cut him off.
His head snapped up and he looked at her as if she had spoken a different language. “You… you do?”
“I do,” she said, keeping her smile soft but warm. “Where I am not ready to absolve you of your sins, and I doubt that you and I will ever be fast friends, I know as well as any what it is like to do the wrong thing when the intention was anything but. We all make mistakes, Robert. And just as we make them, I like to think we live in a world where they can be forgiven, assuming the intent was true.”
If only it were that simple…
But Iris was honest in what she said just now. What Robert did to her still stung. Still brought anger. And it would be a while until she could look him in the eyes and laugh about what had happened. But to hold that grudge, to punish him for it, solved nothing.
“Thank you,” Robert said, exhaling with great relief. She saw his eyes brighten, the confident smile return, and his posture straighten a little as if a weight had been removed. “You have no idea what that means?—”
The door behind Robert crashed open.
“Robert!” Philip stormed into the room like a hurricane with a mind set on destruction. His eyes were alight with fury. His teethbared into a snarl. And darkness consumed him as if his very being absorbed the light. “What is this!”
“Brother!” Robert squeaked. “I… I… Percy said you were not?—”
“What are you doing here?” Philip demanded. He strode to where Robert stood quivering, towering over the man as if he meant to crush him. They were of the same height, but Philip was broader and thicker and infinitely more powerful in every way that mattered. “Well?”
Robert’s body was shaking. “I came here to apologize. I have spent some time with my actions, seeing them for what they were, and I realized that I owe you and your wife?—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Philip cut over him with disgust. “Not now. Not ever.”
“But…” Robert leaned back. “Brother, I?—”
“Do not brother me,” Philip snarled. “And do not act as if this is some test of piety or remorse. As if this is the first time—” He caught his tongue, body shaking as he struggled to control his anger. “For my entire life, Robert, all I have done is look after you. Protect you where others would not—from yourself, as much as anybody else. And what have you shown me in return?” He sneered. “Disrespect in such epic proportions that I wonder why I bothered.”
“I was wrong,” Robert agreed. “I was?—”
“No,” Philip cut him off again. “I was wrong. Wrong to think you would change. Wrong to think that anything I did would make a difference. For so many years, I tried, and I tried. But Philip, I am done trying with you. For good.”
Iris had been stunned into silence when Philip stormed through the door. Her stomach leapt through her throat. Her knees gave way so she nearly collapsed. She had forgotten what Philip was like when he was angry and, seeing him in such a state, had her wondering if she even wanted the confrontation she knew they must have.
But she came into herself quickly. Hearing Philip denounce his brother with such venom. Seeing Robert quiver with fear and remorse under Philip’s glare. She felt a sudden desire to defend him.
To remind Philip that sometimes it is not such a bad thing to forgive people. That we all make mistakes… myself included.
“Philip, don’t…” Iris forced herself to walk forward. “There is no need to?—”
“This isn’t for you!” Philip snapped at her.
Iris reared back, taken by his fury. “I… Robert and I… he told me?—”
“I do not care what he told you,” Philip continued hotly. “You do not know him as I do, Iris.” His lips curled. “Unlessthatisanother secret you have been keeping?” Iris winced as if from pain, casting her eyes because his words cut deeply. “This is what Robert always does. Mistakes made, never learning from them, thinking he is owed forgiveness. It is time he learns that he is owed nothing.”
Despite how she felt, Iris was desperate to try again. “It is not such a bad thing to forgive, Philip. Everyone makes mistakes—that is easy to do.” She looked at him so that he would know her meaning. “Asking for forgiveness is where it becomes difficult. And giving that forgiveness, even harder still. He is your brother.”
“Which is why he should have known better,” Philip snarled. He glared a final time at her and then turned back to Robert. “I want you gone, Robert. You very nearly ruined everything, and I won’t stand around and let you do so a second time.”
Iris’s heart crashed. And not because of Philip’s refusal to forgive his brother. Rather, it was the way that Philip denounced him, refusing to accept mistakes made and the very notion of forgiveness.
He was speaking to his brother, but she felt that he was speaking to her. Wondering if he might be willing to move on from what had happened and what she had done, Iris knew now that there was just no way.
Robert, shaking from his brother’s wrath, did well to stand tall and look composed. “I am sorry, Philip. Just as I am sorry that you feel this way.”
“Sorry?” Philp scoffed. “I doubt you know the meaning of the word.”
“You would not understand it, even if I did.” Robert shook his head, turned, and strode from the room without looking back.
