Page 166 of Ironvine

Once her own supply ran out she grew ever more insistent in her demand for a new supply to which she was denied. Her insistence soon turned into hostility and violence.

She attempted many ways to procure it, even from servants, one of whom she beat ruthlessly, and also from several guests who had none to give but were greatly diverted by her attempts to induce them to do so in order to fulfil her cravings.

One afternoon she happened to recognise the master’s mistress, who I believe is known to her and to you as she is from your part of the country.

That day the mistress was leaving her master’s service and the estate. The master accompanied her in his coach, escorting her to where she would transfer to another coach to her final destination.

Incensed, the lady stole a horse from a footman whom she injured gravely with a knife to the chest and then attempted to follow the coach.

But in her desperate state, and in the mud and snow, she was flung from the horse, dragged and trampled by the animal, and was found in a ravine.

I am sorry to report that she is no more.

If there are inquiries to be made, the mistress is fully prepared to say that she was traveling with the lady when the accident occurred. In fact, she is now writing to the lady’s brother to inform him of the unexpected and terrible accident.

I trust you shall destroy this letter as soon as you have read it.

– Yours with esteem –

Charles pitched the letter into the fireplace where it was swallowed by the flames. A heavy sigh dragged from his lips. “Amanda is dead.”

“My brain is spinning. I’m not sure where to begin…” murmured Georgina, her hand pressed into his back. She sank into the settee next to him. “So that is what His Grace meant when he said he had something better in mind for her punishment. She was to be one of his concubines.”

“Hugh had never told me outright what went on at that house, but on many occasions had given me the impression that such singular revelries took place for a very closed circle of friends.”

“His own private club?”

“Yes.”

“What did the Duchess mean by “a special punishment that has its own rewards’?

Charles’s tongue lashed out at his lip. “I believe, it would be better that I show you rather than attempt to explain.” He settled back on the settee and slid his arm around her.

Her eyes widened then narrowed. “I’m sure it has something to do with the crop the Duke used to correct Amanda’s impudence in the coach that day she left, does it not?”

“A shrewd deduction, my love.”

“Hmm.” She took a long swallow of wine. “The mistress she refers to is most likely Frederica Ashton. Amanda must have been so angry and jealous to see her there with the Duke. To have so violently attacked two people…”

“Her husband had used opium to enslave Brandon in a near paralysed state for almost two years in order to control his fortune, then William used laudanum to humiliate him in public.”

“Yes, I remember. At the Assembly rooms.” She gave Charles her glass of wine. “Then Amanda used it to weaken her own husband in the duel, killing him.”

“Her brother has been abroad with his new wife for months. Whenever he returns home he will find Frederica’s letter.”

‘It’s Andrew I feel sorry for, and her son, of course. But she did not consider the boy, did she?”

“Who can ever know another’s heart?”

So many lives had ended in a sudden shocking burst. William, Hugh, Amanda. His mother, Sir Edward. He took his wife’s hand in his and kissed it. But he and Georgina were here, alive, together. Brandon, Justine, and their children.

And one day, he and Georgina’s children.

Their children.

His hand stroked her middle. “I want babies with you, wife. Any signs yet?”

“Not yet.”

---