Page 74 of Taken By the Beastly Duke

"To let you go willingly."

Her face shot to him in shock and anger.

"Theo why…? What is this nonsense you spew?" she spat, rising from her seat. "Why would you think telling my husband to let me go is a good idea? What in the world is wrong with…"

"Because I’m in love with you, Victoria." He answered interrupting her. "Because I am in love with you and I don’t want to see you trapped in this farce you call a marriage."

Victoria’s mouth hung open as a new wave of emotions crossed her, her eyes blinking in rapid succession.

"You do not mean that, Theo." She laughed humorlessly, shaking her head. "You cannot mean that."

"Oh but I do, Victoria." He assented, rushing forward with a crazed look in his eye, taking her hands in his. "I truly do love you. I have loved you since we were children and I have known you harbor feelings for me. You only deny it because you are a loyal woman. That is one of the things I admire most about you. When we are married I…"

"Stop this!" She cried, pulling her hands from his and walking away from him. "How can you claim to love me after so many years? Why wait until I was happily married? What do you mean by when we’re married? I’m never leaving Anthony. Not for you. Not for anyone else. The sooner you accept that, the better for you."

"Victoria!" He said exasperated. "You do not mean that. You do not have to lie. Not to me." He grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

Her eyes widened in fear at the crazed look in his eye and the hurting grip he had on her shoulder.

"Theo, you’re hurting me." She complained.

He pulled away from her and looked at his hands, shaking his head and running a finger through his hair.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I just… God, Victoria. You have to stop lying to yourself. There’s no need to stay with him. He is a beast beneath those fine trappings he has woven around himself. He isn’t capable of love."

"You do not know him the way I do so you have absolutely no right to talk about him that way." She spat. "These past few weeks he has sat with me through tedious hours of joyless party planning. You say he is a beast but he has been gentle with me. You cannot say he isn’t capable of love when he treats me so well. Besides, its people like you in the ton who treat him so poorly that give him such an inaccurate perception of himself."

"I don’t know why I find that so hard to believe." He scoffs. "A man like the duke sitting with you to pick party decorations? He looks like a beast and must surely act like one. Perhaps he is just bidding his time till he has put a baby in you."

"How can you say something so terrible, Theo?" Victoria gasped in outrage, rising from her seat. "You know nothing about my husband. Nothing at all! To say something so horrible… God Theo I can’t believe you."

"I do not need to know him to know he cannot make you happy the way I can." He argued. "I’ve known you since we were children. I have watched you grow. I have watched you take on hobbies and drop them. I know all your favorite meals and flowers. I know you once harbored feelings for me and I know you were crushed when I wed but I can be free of her now. I do not love her."

"Yet you married her and she is carrying your child." She scoffed. "I cannot believe you, Theo."

"I only did that because my family need the dowry of a rich heiress to help clear our debts and yours wouldn’t have been able to do so. You must understand me, Victoria."

"Theo, please I am happy in my marriage."

"Victoria you must snap out of whatever spell he must have put on you. You can’t possibly think yourself in love with him after so short a time." He scoffed. "Or are you so desperate to escape spinsterhood that you would endure marriage to him? Come away with me, Victoria. Tonight. We could leave our spouses behind and start new lives together and we could be happy. I know you love me as I love you. I promise I can take care of you. I have enough put aside to do so."

Victoria’s hand itched to slap the words out of her old friend’s face but she refrained from doing so. If only because she didn’t want to bring herself to such a low degree in character.

His prejudice and adamant refusal to see the good in the man that made her happy wasn’t worth losing control over. She would still be with Anthony long after Theodore returned home and she intended to make sure she would save his gradually repairing reputation the affront of her hitting Theodore.

"I do not blame you for your prejudice Theo." She said. "You have always refused to have an optimistic view on anything and we’re far too old to continue such an argument. I love my husband and I will stay by his side irrespective of what terrible views you have of him. I only hope with time that you would come to…"

She stopped as her vision turned blurry and her head light. She tried to lift her hands to her head but she found it felt difficult as though her arms had suddenly become lead weights.

"What...?"

"I’m sorry I had to go through such extreme means, Vic." She heard Theo say, though his voice sounded distorted as though she were trapped under water. "But it was the only way I felt I could save you. You will thank me later."

"Theo I don’t feel well." She finally let out.

"It will pass in only a moment, darling." Theo said. His voice sounded far off and close all the same.

"Uh…"

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