Page 77 of His Arranged Duchess
CHAPTER 25
Ascream echoed through the Abbey. Lucien glanced up from his book. Already, his heart was pounding.
Before he knew it, he was on his feet, peering tentatively out of the sanctuary of the library.
Who had screamed? It could be a maid, somebody Father had taken a dislike to.
Or, worse, a liking to.
The scream came again, and this time it chilled Lucien’s blood.
Mary-Jane.
He left the library, breaking into a run. Before he thought about it, he found his feet taking him towards the Great Hall and his father’s favourite tower.
Sure enough, the door to the East Tower stood open. It had been many years since Lucien was small and weak enough for his father to manhandle him up those vile stairs, but the sight of the open door and the yawning staircase still filled him with dread. A sob echoed from above, and an angry, male voice. James, no doubt.
Lucien inched into the stairwell, tilting back his head to look up at the narrow circle of light high above, where the skylights flooded the upper room with light. The staircase went round and round, making him dizzy.
“You’re a disgrace! How dare you lay a hand on her? Simply because she cannot fight back, and we can!”
For one instant, Lucien thought that it was his father speaking. But no, it was James. They looked alike and sounded alike, but the similarities ended there.
“Hold your tongue, boy,” came the cold response. Thiswasthe old duke. “She is my daughter, and I will treat her as I see fit. Spare the rod and spoil the child, so the Good Book says.”
“Don’t you dare quote the bible to me,Father. The bible also says we should treat others as we would like to be treated. Mary-Jane, go downstairs. I will deal with this.”
“You’re going nowhere, girl. As for you,my son, I think it is time I taught you a lesson once more. You are not too big and strong to learn some respect.”
An echoing, scraping noise drifted down the stairwell, and Lucien found himself frozen. He could identify the sound even years later. It was the sound of an iron-tipped cane—one that was never used for walking—being dragged over the stone floor.
No.
Clenching his teeth, Lucien began to ascend the tightly curled staircase. His heart thudded, and moving his feet seemed to take a monumental effort.
I’m coming, James. I’m coming, Mary-Jane.
There was a sickening thud, and a shout of pain from James. Mary-Jane sobbed harder.
“Leave him alone, Papa, please!” she begged. Her voice sounded thick, as though she were speaking through a mouthful of blood, or perhaps with a split lip.
There was another thud, then a scuffling sound, and the sound of something breaking, rotten wood splintering perhaps. Then, quite clearly, there was a scream. It was not Mary-Jane’s scream or James’ scream.
Something dark and heavy shot past Lucien, blocking out the light for a single second.
Thunk!
A mass landed at the bottom of the stairs, the light streaming down around it from above.
Silence.
Slowly, Lucien leaned over the banister, staring wide-eyed at the splayed corpse below.
His father lay there, eyes wide and blank. A halo of blood seeped out around him. Even more slowly, Lucien twisted to look upwards.
A section of the upper railings had come away. James stood in the gap, breathing heavily, staring down. There was a blossoming bruise across his cheekbone, a long, thin welt that might have been caused by a cane.
“You killed him,” Lucien breathed.
