“I don’t know what you mean.” Lecia swept through the hallway, heels clicking against the marble flooring. She kept her gaze firmly ahead, not bothering to glance backward to make sure Marian followed.
“You have much to say about Lady Giuliana. The sort of rubbish I’ve only heard from the likes of Ms. Dunstan and her ilk. Why is that?”
The maid cleared her throat, stumbling over the hems of her skirts to keep up. “I-I am a believer in the truth and goodness. Lady Giuliana is nothing but a--”
Lecia cut off her tirade with a withering look. “Have you met the woman you freely disparage?”
Marian had one last shred of dignity and looked to her feet. “No.”
“Then, hold your tongue until you do.” Lecia hopped into the carriage.
“Yes, my lady.” Marian did not say how she did not need to meet such an evil woman. She heard the rumors of her temper and her mother. That was more than enough. Still, Lady Lecia was her mistress while Penelope was ill. She’d have to give a smidge of loyalty. Any other lady might have boxed her ears for what she said, yet Lecia seemed more amused than anything. Perhaps she too disliked her great friend. According to Ms. Dunstan and Lady Penelope, this Ms. Giuliana was abhorrent.
Lecia stared across the carriage at the emotions that flitted across Marian’s face. She was too young for this sort of work. Most maids learned how to school their features through years of practice, but she was new to the work and new to the house. Judging from her misguided loyalty, she must be an acquaintance of Ms. Dunstan.
“Ah! We’ve arrived,” announced Lecia, kicking open the carriage door before it stopped.
“M-my lady! We’re still moving!” Marian gripped onto the side of the carriage, teeth bared. Lecia tossed a thick sausage curl back.
“I don’t have the time to wait. I haven’t seen Lucas since last night.”
Marian’s nose wrinkled and she muttered to herself. “All that for a man?”
“It’s not just any man,” Lecia called back to her. “He’s my fiance.”
“I thought the Elite did not marry for love or companionship.”
“I don’t care what the rest of the Elite do. Our circle eschews such tradition. Even the Crown Prince picked out his own bride.”
“But not the Duke, isn’t that right? I heard that he dislikes Lady Giuliana.”
Lecia huffed at the maid’s words. Honestly! That such a gullible person still exists. “I’m not going to convince you otherwise since it’d be a waste of my breath.”
“Are you ignoring me?” Lady Giuliana’s familiar voice assaulted the pair when they arrived in the entryway.
“I’m not ignoring you. See. I just spoke to you,” came the Duke’s insufferable reply. Lecia squeezed her eyes shut. For once could they act normally.
“Then I can tell you about my lunch with Sir Jasper.”
Silence. The clock ticked and Lucas snorted into his teacup.
“If you so desire.”
“I didn’t end up meeting him,” Giuliana explained, dropping onto the couch beside him. “I was too enraged after my visit to Ms. Dunstan’s house and wanted to see you instead.”
Lecia arrived in the doorway then just in time to see the unfiltered joy that raged across the Duke’s face. He had turned his head to the side to hide his grin. He coughed once and then rolled his shoulders back.
“Do you like what you see?”
Lucas slapped a hand to his forehead and dropped his teacup to the carpet. “Thank the goddess you’re here.” He waved a hand at the spill and it disappeared. The grin on his face dimmed once he set eyes on the maid. “Who is this?”
“Penny’s newest maid, Marian.”
Lucas wrinkled his brow. “Why does Penny need a new maid? She has more than you.” But, Lecia only smirked and sashayed further into the parlor.
“I heard you made a ruckus at the Dunstan household,” accused Lecia. Her friend squared her shoulders.
“I made no such racket. I went to leave my card and was told, in no uncertain terms, that she’d never be at home for me.”
Marian tip-toed toward a corner of the room, hoping for a good look at the scheming Lady Giuliana. She spotted the Duke seated on a sofa next to a beautiful young woman in a gown of striped yellow muslin. She inclined her head toward the Duke, a soft smile tugging on her lips. The Duke placed his hand between them, covering hers. Giuliana’s olive cheeks flushed prettily at the contact.
This was the hated Lady Giuliana?
“I shall not make that mistake again,” Giuliana continued. “Only the goddess knows what scandal will burn my ears at the ball on Friday.”
“It suits your villainess role well.” The Duke said to his fiancee. “I can’t imagine you thrashing and shrieking to be let into see someone.”
“Nor can I,” agreed Lucas. “You’d get your pretties to help you out.”
“But not many know about them.” Giuliana sighed, inching closer to the Duke. “What do we know about her? Is she just mad or is there truth behind her belief that she is the heroine destined for you?”
“I chose you and I continue to choose you. There’s no destiny involved.”
No. That wasn’t right. Marian trembled in the corner, fingers twisting the linen of her apron. The Duke chose Lady Giuliana as his intended. Wait, she reasoned, it was because he hadn’t yet met Ms. Dunstan. For years, Adella assured Marian that she’d marry the Duke and with her role as Duchess, she’d raise her up as a lady. She needn’t worry about chamber pots or soiled sheets anymore. But that all fell to pieces if the Duke of Wytchwood took Lady Giuliana Crane as his bride.
“You must have fought last night,” Lucas observed as Lecia poured out brandy from the sideboard. He glanced briefly at the clock then back at his guests. Alastair leveled a glare his way and Giuliana’s lips pulled into a pout.
“I’m certain I don’t know what you mean.”
“The pair of you are achingly sweet after you’ve fought. Lecia and I think you just need to engage in your baser instincts.”
Lecia shrieked in indignation and rushed back to her fiance. “Lucas! We agreed to let them work it out.”
He shrugged his shoulders and leaned away from the swat of her fan. “They’re driving us both mad. If I have to see Alastair mope around again like during the Academy...I might just die.”
Giuliana cleared her throat, brown eyes darting between her the red-faced Duke and his smirking friend. “What...exactly...are you talking about? Did something happen to him during the Academy?”
Lecia handed out glasses of brandy as silence descended upon them. Alastair and Lucas seemed engaged in a battle of wills. The Duke’s brows were high on his forehead as she mouthed insults at Lucas. He turned his head away, smiling blissfully at Giuliana.
“You happened to him.” He paused and then added. “Well, Sir Jasper too.”
“What did we do?”
“No man likes to see another confess their love to his fiance.”
Giuliana looked down at her feet. “Yes, I admit that was uncomfortable to me too. But, he didn’t mean it in truth.”
“He did,” came Alastair’s almost inaudible interjection.
“How do you know that?”
“He told me then and he told me again that he’d do all in his power to take you away from me.”
“That’s silly!” Giuliana declared, downing several gulps of the brandy.
Lucas heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Then why would he say it?”
She shook her head at her friends. “Sir Jasper is in no danger of spiriting me away from Alastair.” She finished off her glass and sat it aside. “Ms. Dunstan and her wiles are of more concern. Even if she does not succeed in making Alastair fall for her...I still think that she will manipulate the Elite.”
“If that’s the case, then let’s get m--”
“Lecia, why don’t you get your maid to run down to the kitchens and tell the cook that there will be four for dinner?”
“Marian, you heard him, did you not? Just ask the footman stationed outside for directions.”
Marian curtsied and shuffled out of the parlor, eyes downcast.
“I don’t know that maid and had a hunch that Alastair was going to say something truly outrageous.”
Alastair sniffed. “It wasn’t outrageous. I was just going to suggest we elope.”
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