Chapter 29
Alexander strode into the room, glowering.
Behind him came a steady stream of Peers, leaving now that they had cast their votes.
In the Painted Chamber, another debate had begun from the day’s agenda, but only a handful remained to hear it.
Violet rose and went to Alexander but stopped halfway across the room as he lifted a hand.
Sebastian followed him from the room and gave Violet a wan smile.
“Lady Violet, how goes it with you?” he said politely. “Ah, I see you have found your sister.”
“Did we win?” Violet asked.
“No, we didnae, lass,” Alexander growled. “They listened and they cheered and then voted against it anyway. It was a waste of time!”
“No, dear chap. It was far from it. The vote was a narrow victory for the Tories, against my motion to approve the Bill. They held us off but it was a close thing and many of their own party were swayed by Lorchester’s eloquence. You were magnificent, my friend!”
He clapped Alexander on the shoulder enthusiastically.
“So, what happens now?” Lillian asked.
“The Tories will keep trying to water down the bill and we will defeat them again. Only next time, we’ll have the votes to pass it.
I swear it. I saw the Earl of Manchester walk through the Aye lobby and he is the worst of the Tories.
If we have his vote, then Godstone knows he is onto a losing cause.
He will make concessions to avoid a flat-out defeat. And then we will have him.”
Violet noted the stark contrast between the ebullient Sebastian and gloomy Alexander.
She wanted to reach out to Alexander, to comfort him and reassure him.
She could see how Sebastian considered it a triumph.
But Alexander was black and white. There were no half-measures in his world.
A victory was either total or it was a defeat.
She took a step to Alexander’s side and he turned away.
“We will see,” he said to Sebastian. “Now, if you will excuse me. I have business to attend to. Ladies.”
He gave a curt nod to Violet and Lillian, then strode away. As he went, he hurled the borrowed coat from him, pulling at the collar of the shirt and plucking it from the waistband of his breeches, as though feeling choked by its ill-fit. Sebastian sighed, watching him go.
“One step forward and three back. I can assure you, Lady Violet, the end is in sight, though our friend cannot see it. I think Godstone said something to him during the division. I did not hear it and Lorchester will not speak of it. But he went through the division lobby with a face like thunder.”
Lillian and Violet looked at each other, confused. Violet wanted to go after Alexander but was unwilling to leave Lillian alone, particularly with Ambrose Deveraux somewhere close by.
I must be mistaken. I simply must be. It cannot be him. But it explains the sudden interest in me and the way in which he tried to warn Lillian from Alexander. A father looking out for his daughter’s close friend. Oh but this complicates matters.
“Penny for them, Vi?” Lillian said, threading her arm through Violet’s.
Violet realized she had been staring into space, at the door through which Alexander had departed.
“Just puzzling over the male half of the species, Lilly,” Violet said, forcing a laugh.
Sebastian barked a laugh of his own. “The eternal mystery but not half as enigmatic as your own half of the species. If you will excuse me, Ladies, I must ingratiate myself with some new allies.”
He swept them a bow, gave them a wink and a devilish smile, then swept from the room, calling out boisterously for someone ahead of him.
“Come on, Lilly. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day. Let's go home,” Violet said.
“But, don’t you want to go after Alexander?” Lillian asked.
“He did not seem so keen to talk to me,” Violet replied. “I will let him lick his wounds.”
She led her cousin from the roof and along the myriad corridors and passages of Westminster until they emerged into the bright, clean, and fresh air.
A cab was summoned and Violet gave the address.
As she did, she wished she were alone, so that she may go to Alexander’s house unobserved.
But, she could not leave Lillian. As she gazed from the carriage window, tears began to prick at her eyes.
She leaned further out, as though interested in the view and tried to blink away the tears.
Though thoughts whirled in her mind, she could not deny the rising feeling of grief within her.
She felt betrayed, pushed aside, and for no discernible reason that she could fathom.
“Vi?” Lillian asked quietly.
Violet scrubbed a hand hastily across her eyes. “I should not look so far out of the window, it attracts dust and grit to the eyes,” she said.
He rejected me. In a moment of anger, he walked away from me. I have offered myself to him, risked my reputation for him. And when things became difficult, he walked away from me.
“Let us tell the driver to take us to Brompton Row instead of home,” Lillian suggested. “I will wait in the carriage while you remind your wayward Duke of why he is so enamored of you in the first place,” Lillian suggested.
“No. We do not know if he has gone home. He may have taken himself to the nearest dockside tavern. That would be in character,” Violet said, unable to keep an edge of bitterness from her voice.
“You don’t mean that, Violet,” Lillian said, taking Violet’s hand and giving it a squeeze.
“No, perhaps not. But, in a moment of despair, it is telling that he did not turn to me but chose to remove himself. That does not bode well for a future together, does it.”
“All the more reason for the two of you to talk. You do not need to be worrying about me, you know.”
Violet decided to change the subject and begin tackling her second biggest worry.
“Do you suppose you will wish to see Lord Godstone again after the kindness he has shown you?”
Lillian laughed. “Very well, Vi. I can tell when you do not want to continue a particular subject. Well, I do not know. For all of the strangeness in his behavior, he is very handsome and accomplished. Are they not qualities I am supposed to be seeking out in a man?”
“Ordinarily, yes,” Violet said, wondering how to begin phrasing her steering of Lillian away from Ambrose.
If I am right and the man is my father, then he is also Lillian’s Uncle, though only by marriage…sort of. I do not recall any talk of my mother being married, which means I was conceived out of wedlock!
That thought had only just occurred to her.
It had to be that way, of course. She felt sure that if her mother had been married, there would have been no secrecy about the identity of her father.
But, even though there was no blood connection between Ambrose Devereaux and Lillian, it would still be wrong.
Surely, Ambrose would not be pursuing her. He must know who I am and therefore his familial connection to the Ravendels. I feel sure he was showing kindness to Lillian in the role of an Uncle.
“Ordinarily? Is there something out of the ordinary about this situation?” Lillian asked.
“Do you not think that there is? He is a political opponent of Alexander and suddenly, at a crucial moment, takes an interest in the Ravendels. I consider that unusual. Or, at the very least, suspect.”
Lillian sat back in her seat, lips pursed. She gazed out of the window silently for a moment.
“Could it not be that despite his political machinations, he saw me and felt attracted to me? Could it not be that he simply wishes to get to know me better?” she asked.
“I do not think so, I am sorry, Lillian,” Violet said, unable to say anything else.
I cannot give her false hope just to avoid confronting the truth. I must let her down at some point and there is no avoiding the pain that will cause.
Lillian nodded quietly. “Perhaps that explains why you are so reluctant to go after your Duke. You have set your sights on a finer man, one without the Duke’s rough edges. One that would be instantly acceptable to the Ton. I know how important that is to you, Violet,” she said.
Violet’s heart broke, hearing the hurt in Lillian’s voice and knowing that she was the cause.
But what else can I do? Lillian’s heart must be broken to spare her the rejection that would ultimately come. I am sorry, dear cousin. You will always be my sister in my heart and what I do is for the greater good.
She turned back to the window to hide the tears that spilled from her eyes.