Page 31 of Duke of Wickedness
When Ariadne had had nightmares—which had gone on foryearsafter the fire—Catherine would make space in her bed for her little sister, would rub her back gently until she fell asleep again.
And, yes, change was good. It only took one glance at Catherine’s expression as she bid Percy farewell for the day to say that this change was good.
But that didn’t mean that Ariadne didn’t sometimes miss the way things were before.
The awkwardness didn’t last; Catherine ordered some tea, then curled her legs up underneath her, something she only ever did at home. Ariadne technicallywasn’tat home, but she still copied the pose anyway, letting the sense of familiarity overtake her.
“All right, duckling,” Catherine said, using the nickname she’d had for Ariadne as a child. “Tell me what’s amiss.”
In all her fretting and fussing, Ariadne hadn’t actually planned on what she was going to say to her sister—just what she plannednotto say. What came out was, “I have a suitor.”
Catherine’s eyes lit up with interest, and Ariadne had a brief flicker of pity for any children that she and Percy had one day, once they grew up and had their own romantic intrigues. The Lightholder family was full of loving family members, but…goodness, they were nosy. If Ariadne thought about it that way, she was lucky that her siblings were all lost in their own love affairs. They really could be bothering hersomuch more than they were.
“A suitor,” Catherine said, trying to sound calm. “How interesting.” She glanced down at her teacup as if it fascinated her. “Not to pry, of course, but if youhappenedto want to tell me about him…I’m here to listen.”
“Oh, for my benefit only, of course,” Ariadne said dryly.
“Ofcourse,” Catherine agreed earnestly.
Ariadne snorted a laugh. This had been a good idea. She felt better already.
“Lord Hershire.”
“Oh.” Catherine deflated. “You can’t do that to me! If you come in here acting like you have new information, you need to have new information.”
“Sorry. I do have this tidbit: he has come to callseveraltimes since we met at that ball.”
Catherine perked back up. “Oh? And?”
“And…he seems nice enough?” Ariadne supplied. “He praises me a lot. I guess that’s…nice.”
As a Lightholder daughter, Ariadne had enjoyed the tutelage of the best governesses that money could secure. Her vocabulary was—if she did say so herself—impressive. And yet, she could not think of a single synonym for the wordnice.
Somewhere in the North, Miss Abernathy was sensing a disturbance in the universe that distracted her from whatever joys her retirement afforded her. Ariadne wouldn’t be surprised if she soon received a letter promoting the values of lifelong learning.
“Nice,” Catherine echoed.
“Unobjectionable?” Ariadne managed.
Catherine gave her a droll look. Ariadne sighed.
“Iknow,” she said. Catherine had always been able to make her wilt with that look. “He’s a little boring; I admit it. And his obsession with propriety is a little…imposing. I do feel rather as though I need to tiptoe around him a bit.”
Catherine gave an indulgent laugh. “Boring and imposing—those are qualities that describe many men of our social class, I’ll allow.”
“Not helpful, Kitty,” Ariadne scolded.
“Darling, this has an easy solution. Just reject him.”
Thiswasan easy solution—an obvious solution, even. But, for some reason, it caused a flare of anxiety to surge up in Ariadne.
“Can I…do that?” she asked fretfully. “I’m one and twenty, Kitty. I haven’t had a single proposal—not that I know that the viscount will propose, either,” she hastened to add, lest she look too self-important. It wasn’t terribly important to maintain a demure aspect in front of her sister, of course, but it was good to keep in practice.
Catherine shook her head. “Ofcourseyou can do that,” she said vehemently. “In fact—youmust.” She reached across the small table and briefly grasped Ariadne’s hand. “If you aren’t happy,then there is nopoint, Ari,” she said. “Marriage is… It’s a complicated thing. It isn’t always about how we feel. I know that. But you are among the fortunate few. You don’tneedto marry. Which means that you get to choose the right person. Because when you do…”
She gave a happy, dreamy sigh.
Ariadne took back everything she said about being grateful that her siblings were in love. Nobody should ever be forced to bear witness to so many people gazing happily off into the distance. Ariadne was a martyr to familial loyalty, truly.
