Chapter 30 #2
Well, if she were, then she'd find a way to raise the child without him.
After all, what use did he have for a baby if he wanted nothing to do with its mother?
If the child's sole purpose was to inherit, he wouldn't need it for decades yet.
If the child grew to be a son, at that, and not a daughter, as Aurelia had been.
Her own mother had raised her well enough alone. Her child would live in far more comfort than she ever had—with money, security, a proper education. Everything Aurelia had lacked. The child wouldn't need a father who saw it as nothing more than a future title-holder.
She’d make certain of that.
“Good morning, ma’am,” Jane said, appearing in the doorway.
“Pack my things,” Aurelia instructed, wrapping her arms about her body. She didn’t feel like herself—she felt cold all over. Hollowed out.
Sebastian had betrayed her. Even if he thought he cared now. And of all the times to tell her, he had waited for it to come from that shame-faced goblin Lord Redwood of all people. He had been the one to humiliate her.
“How many days should I pack for?” Jane furrowed her brows.
Aurelia shook her head determinedly. “No. Pack everything I own. We are leaving.”
Her maid paled a little. “Leaving to where, ma’am?”
“Does it matter? We are not staying here with His Grace.” She strode from the room, descending the stairs to find Sebastian already in the breakfast room. To her gratification, he looked as terrible as she felt.
There was, at least, some justice in the world.
He pushed up the moment he saw her. “Aurelia.”
“I came to inform you that I will be leaving immediately.” She selected a slice of toast from the table, merely so she had something to do.
She wasn’t hungry—she felt as though she would never be hungry again.
“I’m not sure where to yet. But I can assure you, my supposed family in Manchester is not where I intend to go, nor to whom I will throw myself. ”
His face, already pale, turned a shade whiter, sending the dark circles under his eyes to stand out in greater relief. “You don’t have to go anywhere, Aurelia. Stay here with me. You are my wife.”
“That meant little when you were planning our union. Then, I was perfectly disposable.” With great effort, she kept her temper in check.
Seeing him like this was almost enough to break her resolve, but she needed time and space to think.
Whatever his intentions now, he had betrayed her trust and her faith in their marriage. “You cannot keep me here.”
She needed out. Out of this room, this house, away from him, before she said something she couldn’t take back.
“Aurelia, please—”
“I’m leaving.” She started for the door to the foyer, but he moved faster, blocking her path. Her heart kicked against her ribs.
“No.” The single word was granite. Final. “You’re not.”
“Get out of my way, Sebastian.”
“Not a chance.” His eyes had gone dark now, dangerous even. “You want to hate me for it? Fine, go ahead. To your heart’s content. But I will bar every door in this house first before I let you run. Post footmen at the gates. Lock you in your damn bedchamber if that’s what it takes.”
Her pulse hammered in her throat. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He stepped closer, and she caught the scent of him—sandalwood and fury and something wild underneath. “Try me.”
For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think past the heat rolling off him, the absolute certainty in his voice. Part of her—some reckless, foolish part—wanted to see if he meant it. Wanted him angry enough to fight dirty.
But the rest of her recoiled in disgust. “So that’s it, then? I’m your prisoner now?”
“If that’s what keeps you here—”
“Then you have proved my point exactly.” She shoved at his chest, and he caught her wrists. His grip wasn’t cruel, but it was unyielding. “I was never a wife to you, was I? Just another thing you own.”
His face went white. “That’s not—”
“Isn’t it?” She yanked her hands free, stumbling back. “You would rather toss me aside once you’ve used me. You would rather cage me than let me go. What does that make me?”
The silence stretched on. Until it was utterly suffocating.
Then, something in him seemed to collapse. His shoulders sagged, and he turned away, one hand braced against the mantel like he needed it to stay upright.
“It makes me desperate,” he said quietly. “It makes me a man watching his wife walk out the door because he was too much of a coward to tell her the truth from the start…”
She hadn’t expected that. Hadn’t known just what she had expected, but it was certainly not the defeat in his voice, the way his knuckles had gone white against the marble.
“But you are right.” He still wouldn’t look at her. “If I kept you here by force, you would hate me all the more for it. And I’d rather—” His jaw worked. “I’d rather let you go than watch you look at me the way everyone has looked at me for the last several years.”
Aurelia stiffened. Something cracked open in her chest. This wasn’t the fight she had wanted. Wasn’t the grand gesture or the passionate plea. It was just him, breaking quietly in front of her.
And she didn’t know what to do with it.