Chapter 18
Chapter eighteen
Ella
Ella hurried to the hall. What was so important that her father had sent a maid to meet her in the courtyard? She hoped it was not bad news.
Was it about her betrothal?
When she arrived at her father’s study, she was surprised to find Regina and her little sisters there as well.
“You’ll never guess!” Celeste said with an excited shriek. “We’re going to have a ball. Two balls!”
“Father says we may go to one of them,” Colette added.
Ella looked at her father, who was smiling indulgently from his seat behind his desk.
“I have heard back from the person I wrote to,” he said. “He and his family will be coming for a visit soon.”
Ella’s stomach twisted. She was going to meet the man she was betrothed to.
“Not right away,” her father added. “They will be here within a week.”
“Am I allowed to know who they are yet?” Ella asked.
Her father shook his head. “Not yet. I have given this some thought,” he said.
He nodded to his wife and ushered the girls out of the room despite their protests.
“I told you that I wish for you to meet him without knowing who he is, so you may form your own opinion of him. So, we will hold two balls. For the first one, we shall invite everyone in town, no matter their status, and he will be there without his noble trappings. For the second, we will hold a proper ball and invite all the nobility, including those from Riyel who wish to meet my daughter. At that ball, you will meet him as himself. Afterwards, you can tell me if you wish to continue with the betrothal agreement or if you would like us to break it.”
Ella took a deep breath, then nodded. It sounded like as good an arrangement as she could hope for, given the fact she had to meet someone she was engaged to but didn’t know.
It would be fun to have a ball…probably.
“Will my former family be invited?” she asked, sitting in the seat across from him, his desk between them hiding the fact that her leg was twitching. She slipped her hand into her pocket, rubbing her pumpkin and taking a deep breath.
“Do you want them to be?” her father asked. “That is entirely up to you. If you want them there, we will invite them and treat them how you wish. And if you want them barred from entry, we will do that instead.”
On one hand, it would be nice to show her stepmother how far she had come, and on the other hand, she didn’t care if she never saw them again.
“I think if they come, I will see them,” she said. “I would not go out of my way to prevent them from entering.”
The duke nodded. “I know you said that she had no part in taking you.”
“She didn’t,” Ella said. “My father—”
She froze.
“It’s all right,” the duke said kindly. “He was your father for as long as you remembered. I understand.”
Ella nodded and continued, “My father had me before they came into the picture. I don’t know where exactly she came from, but I know she was not a part of me being taken from you.”
“If she was, she would be in jail by now,” the duke said in all seriousness.
Ella widened her eyes at him, and he shrugged.
“What do you expect?” he said. “My daughter was stolen from me. If I knew who did it, they would pay. I hope you don’t blame me for that.”
“I don’t,” Ella reassured him, although it did make her shiver to think of how fiercely he was protecting her.
He barely knew her, yet he sounded ready to wage a war to keep her safe.
Was this what love was?
“I am glad that you are eager to protect me and my sisters,” she added.
Dietrich had sounded the same way when she’d gone to the café on her own. Did he know that her father felt this way and was prepared to wage war on her behalf…or had those been his own feelings?
“I will never let anything happen to any of you again, if it is in my power to prevent it. I’m only sorry that I could not protect you so long ago.”
“It is not your fault,” Ella said, for perhaps the fiftieth time since she had come back. “I don’t blame you.”
“I’m thankful that you don’t, though I am sure I deserve to be blamed.”
Ella laughed. “There is no reason for you to be blamed. I’m the one who walked out of the gate.”
“You walked out?” Her father frowned. “And no one stopped you?”
Ella thought for a moment. How did she know that she had walked out?
It was there in her mind, clear as day.
She’d walked through the gate, on her own, her pumpkin in hand.
“I think that’s a new memory,” she said, frowning to herself. “I did walk out.”
“You should not have been unattended,” he said, his jaw clenching. “If your old nursemaid was still here, she would no longer be.” He looked fierce, gripping the edge of his desk, his knuckles turning white.
Ella laughed. “You cannot fire everyone who may have been involved in my disappearance all those years ago.”
“Actually, I can, and I might. You were lost for too many years because of their negligence.”
“It is not necessary,” Ella said softly, getting to her feet and making her way around the side of his desk. “It is in the past. Let us move forward.”
“I don’t want to just move forward,” her father said, turning in his seat to face her. “I want to know what happened.”
“I understand,” Ella said, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. It felt right, despite it being the first time she’d done anything like that. “But if you spend too long looking for answers, you just might miss what is happening in front of you.”
“You are very wise, my daughter,” her father said, getting to his feet, brushing a strand of hair out of her face, and tucking it behind her ear.
“I don’t know about that,” Ella said bashfully. “But I do know that I wish for us to spend time together and not spend all our time focusing on the past. And if you wish to have two balls to celebrate, then we can do that—as long as I get to dance the first dance with you.”
She gave her father a hopeful look, and he chuckled. “I think we can make that happen,” he said. “Although my wife may wish to claim the second dance.”
“She can have the first if she wants,” Ella said, “but I want you to be my first dance partner. If I’m going to be thrown to the wolves, I should like to appear with you first.”
“We should start dance lessons,” Regina said as she hurried back into the room and made her way to the duke’s side. “Have you discussed it without me?”
“No, darling,” he said with a smile, kissing her on the forehead. “I knew you would want to be part of that discussion.”
“You’re quite right,” she said. “Now, Ella dear, do you have any dancing experience?”
Ella thought back to the afternoon at Eldenwilde when Beatrice had forced Dietrich to practice with her.
“A little,” she admitted, “but not enough to have any substantial knowledge.”
“We will start there,” her stepmother said with a nod. “I don’t suppose there are any teachers in the area?”
“Beatrice tried to teach me with Dietrich’s help,” Ella said.
“That is a good idea,” Regina declared. She opened the door and stuck her head out. “Would you fetch Dietrich from the stables for me?” she asked someone who must have been walking past.
“Oh no,” Ella began, hoping to head her off, but she had already closed the door. “I don’t need Dietrich to learn.”
“He will be a good partner for you while Alaric and I demonstrate,” the duchess said, smiling at her husband.
Ella chewed on her lower lip. How could she explain that Dietrich wanted nothing to do with her now and perhaps wouldn’t want anything to do with her for the foreseeable future?
“I do hope that he knows how to waltz,” Regina was saying to her father.
Ella sank down into her chair. She would love to dance with Dietrich again.
The question was, would he tell her father no—or would he give in and join her?