Page 4 of Married to the Cruel Duke

“Have you spoken to your father yet?” she asked, staring down at her younger sister with smug satisfaction.

Rebecca hesitated. She knew she couldn’t just deny it, but she didn’t want to talk about it any more than she already had. Thatdidn’t even touch on the look on Dorothy’s face. But Father wouldn’t have told her first, would he?

“Rebecca, are you ignoring me?”

“No, of course not. I would never do that.”

“You had better not.” She crossed her arms. “I asked you a question. Have you met with father yet?”

She hesitated. “Why do you ask?”

Dorothy’s grin only grew, making the anxiety growing in Rebecca’s gut twist and wiggle inside her. “What does it matter? Just answer my question, or should I tell him you were being rude to me again?”

“No, you don’t need to do that!”

Dorothy gave her sister a pointed look. “You had better answer fast then.”

She took a deep breath. “Yes, I have.”

“So then did he give you the news?”

Rebecca looked up at her in shock. She couldn’t believe this. Dorothy knew. Her father had told her first.

“Yes,” she said, wanting nothing more than to run off and hide from this conversation. Even if she tried, though, Dorothy would just follow after her. She had made that mistake one too many times before and it was always worse when she caught her in the end.

Her sister laughed. “And are you excited to meet your betrothed?”

Rebecca held her tongue. She knew when there was nothing good to say. Of course Dorothy wasn’t expecting a reply anyway.

“I know you are! After all, who would have thought a duke would want someone like you, even if he is terrible?”

Rebecca’s eyes burned.

“But that’s alright, and do you know why?” She didn’t wait for Rebecca to reply before she continued. “Because you’re terrible as well! You two deserve each other. Why don’t you tell me how lucky you are?”

Barely above a whisper, she forced out a small, “I am very lucky the duke wants to marry me.”

“That’s right you are, but you aren’t the only one that’s lucky.” She sighed, a dreamy look coming over her face. “It will be nice to finally have you out of the house. You just take up so much space. And I can only imagine how many more gowns I can have once father is no longer responsible for your expenses.”

She pirouetted in place, demonstrating the lacy flow of her skirts in contrast to Rebecca’s mended gown. Rebecca couldn’t remember the last time Solomon had gotten her a new gown. Almost everything she had was a hand-me-down from her older sister at best. Even when she did receive a new to her gown, it would be stripped of all adornment and embellishment before it was given to her. After all, those things could be reused on Dorothy’s new gowns there was no point in wasting them on Rebecca.

“I hope he is able to get you everything you want,” she forced herself to say.

“I’m sure he will, now that you won’t be in the way.”

“That’s good. I’m happy for you,” Rebecca said. She had learned over the years the more she pretended to agree with Dorothy the sooner she would get bored and let her go on her way.

Sure enough, after a few more moments, Dorothy crossed her arms with a pout. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

“Of course. What have you said that I could possibly disagree with?”

She clenched her hands, face turning red. “You little-” she cut herself off with a huff. “I have better things to do than stand here talking to you all day you know!”

“Of course. I won’t keep you.”

She glared like she wanted to say more before stomping down the hall with a huff.

When she was alone, Rebecca let out a sigh of relief before finally making her way to the garden. It was already late enough into fall that she was quite chilled in her thin shawl, but the air only served to help clear her mind.

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