Giuliana’s answer hit him like whiplash. “No. That will not do.” She stood up with all her graceful bearing and stalked to the sideboard. “That won’t do at all.” She poured a hefty serving of brandy and chugged it.
“Huh?”
“Wow,” Lucas said to Lecia in a soft voice. “He never saw the rejection coming. Look at his face.”
Lecia clucked her tongue with a shake of her head. “It’s that ducal arrogance of his.”
“I can hear you,” he grumbled.
“We know.”
The Duke joined Giuliana at the sideboard, angling his body to block the scene from their nosy friends. “What do you mean no?”
“I mean quite what I said. Elopement will only fan the flames, Alastair. We’re not so passionately in love to pull that off.” She moved to pour another glass. “Let’s continue with our plan to wed in a year. By then, I hope Ms. Dunstan is out of our hair.”
“And Sir Jasper,” shouted Lucas from across the room.
“So, you did not say no because you want to back out of our engagement.”
Her brows drew together in a frown. “Have a bit more faith in me, Alastair. If I wanted to leave, I’d have left long ago. I want to marry you. At this point, we’ve been betrothed so long, I can’t imagine marrying anyone else.”
It was neither the time nor the place to delve into the tender feelings that rested in her heart. She strived to be more candid this time around thought it wasn’t working as she planned. Two weeks, though, she had decided. In two weeks, she’d tell him everything.
“I ask this daily,” she began, stepping around Alastair. “What are we to do with her?”
“I think it best to continue as you both have,” Lecia suggested, resting her head against Lucas’ shoulder. “Alastair dotes on you. If she comes to bother you, you play the haughty villainess as she wants.”
“But she expects him to leave me. Why can’t he walk that line to see if she will show her hand?”
“If she uses glamour magick, she’ll use it on me. She already tried at that tea party.”
Giuliana’s shoulder slumped. “Yes, that’s true. Then you’d really be lost to me.”
“Perhaps a Court Mage can whip up some amulet of protection. It’s forbidden magic, but I’m sure they know how to ward against it.”
“That idea has some merit, Lucas. I imagine you’ll look into it.”
“What else am I here for?”
“Then with an amulet, Alastair can use his oozing charm on Ms. Dunstan and move her story line along, yes?” Giuliana effused her words with light though it was hard to forget how she died. How she choked on her blood. How her limbs stiffened into useless stumps. How Adella stared down at her and sipped at her tea with no cares in the world.
She drank another glass of brandy for courage.
If she thought she had her clutches in Alastair, would she make her move again? Or would Adella let her live? Before, Giuliana thought it a possibility. But seeing the mania that tinted her eyes, she accepted that Adella wanted her dead, even if she had Alastair.
Again. It came back to the why of it all. If she wanted to marry a nobleman, there were plenty underfoot among the Elite. If she wanted to marry Alastair, old Giuliana might have just let that pass. But, what did she want?
It slipped in as it did on occasion. The belief that what Adella always wanted was the death of Giuliana. For such hate from a newcomer sat ill on her mind. Of course, if she could have a do over and try at life again, anything was possible.
There were old stories of different worlds and reincarnated spirits. The Etrians treated it as little more than silly stories, but her mother’s people found truth in them. The world was wide enough for all manner of magick and mysticism.
Alastair’s warm hand on her shoulder jolted her back to the sitting room. “Liana? Did you hear what I said?”
“Forgive me, I was wool-gathering. What did you say?”
“That we will proceed with the plan of befriending Adella after I have the amulet.”
“Excellent.” She hiccuped. “Maybe we’ll finish this up before the frost.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
A gong sounded in the distance and Lucas hopped off the chair. “Well, that’s the dinner bell. Let’s leave off this talk of Ms. Dunstan for after dinner. I find she puts me off my food.”
“Agreed,” chorused the others. As Lecia and Lucas led the way to the dining room, Alastair tugged Giuliana back.
“What is it?” She was unsteady on her feet, likely a result of the excess of brandy. She gripped onto the sleeve of his suit, swaying left to right.
“You’re foxed.” It was not a question. Giuliana rolled her eyes and stifled a yawn.
“I’m s-sober as a j-judge.”
“Liana…”
She lifted her dark eyes to his, lips parted to answer. She usually stared at Alastair with serenity or annoyance. It was rare that she faced him so unadorned with the thin veneer of the Elite society. She wrapped her arms around his neck, a gleeful smile playing on her lips.
“You’re all mine.”
“I am your fiance.”
“Yes, and you’re all mine.” She repeated the words more fiercely, rising up on her tiptoes. “Right?”
Alastair, the great Duke of Wytchwood, trembled in his boots. No peer of Etria should waver before his fiancee, but he never quite knew how to function around her. Giuliana leaned towards him, eyelids fluttering shut. His heart hammered against his chest as her fingers fiddled with his hair.
“Y-yes.”
Lady Giuliana Crane’s latent courage took over as her brain retreated into a haze of brandy. Fingers slid along his jawline and gripped his chin. She closed the space between them and kissed her fiance thoroughly on the lips.
Alastair, the esteemed duke, knew not what to do with his hands. They did not teach these matters at the Academy and he had never, in his life, kissed a woman. That was the problem with getting engaged as a child.
To think his first kiss with Giuliana occurred with her in such a state. He froze beneath her touch and quickly pulled her off of him. A man should not kiss an inebriated woman, even when he found the touch of her lips irresistible.
“L-L-L-Lady Giuliana, this is not appropriate.”
Her carefree expression melted away, brows furrowing together and forehead wrinkling. She dropped her arms to her side, bottom lip trembling. “I was too bold, Your Grace.” She turned her head to the side and wiped at her face with a handkerchief. “I think it best that I retire early.”
“I’ll escort you.”
“No, I’ll be alright. Please make my excuses.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m so embarrassed, Alastair. I’m so sorry.” She turned on her heel and escaped the sitting room. He stood there for some moments to collect his thoughts.
He handled that perfectly, right?
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