Page 66 of His Forsaken Duchess
Audrey’s lips curled into the faintest smile as she squeezed her stepmother’s hands. “Yesterday afternoon. I had planned to visit straightaway, but…” She hesitated, her smile dimming as her thoughts turned, unbidden, to Cedric. “I hoped Cedric would join me, and I wanted to persuade him.”
Grace furrowed her brow. “The Duke is in town as well?”
“Yes,” Audrey replied tightly, choosing not to elaborate. “And how have you all been?” Her gaze shifted to Clarise, who stood quietly by the fireplace, wringing her pale hands.
Grace’s expression seemed to dim. “Things have… not improved,” she admitted softly. “Lilianna hardly leaves her room. She refuses to eat with us, and the gossip sheets—they are relentless, Audrey. Every day, they find some new cruelty to print.”
Audrey’s stomach sank.
I should have come sooner.
She knew the snow had delayed them, but the guilt gnawed at her nonetheless. “Where is she now?”
“Upstairs,” Clarise murmured. “In her bedchamber.”
Audrey didn’t wait for further explanation. She turned and climbed up the stairs, her steps quick but silent. She reached Lilianna’s door and knocked on it softly.
“Lilianna?” she called gently. “It’s me, Audrey.”
There was no answer.
Audrey pressed her ear against the door and listened. There was a faint rustling, something scraping across paper, but still no response.
“I’m coming in,” she said after a pause, turning the handle and stepping inside.
The room was dark, the heavy curtains drawn tight against the daylight. Lilianna lay on her bed, her ink-stained fingers clutching a quill as she scribbled furiously into what appeared to be a leather-bound diary.
Audrey’s heart lurched, the sight all too familiar—Cecilia’s diary,the one she had found in the west wing of Haremore Castle.
“Lilianna,” she said softly, stepping closer.
Her sister’s head snapped up, her blue eyes wide and red-rimmed from crying. “Audrey,” she breathed, her voice hoarse. She straightened slightly, the diary slipping onto the quilt. “You’ve been gone a fortnight.”
Audrey’s chest tightened at the accusation, though she knew Lilianna didn’t mean it. The words were laced with fear, not anger.
“And now we have only two weeks,” Lilianna added, her voice breaking. “Or less.”
Audrey crossed the room in quick strides, perching on the edge of the bed. “Lilianna, it’s all right.” She reached out, smoothing her sister’s tangled hair back from her face. “I’m here now.”
Lilianna’s lower lip trembled. “I sent letters—so many letters. I thought… I thought…” She swallowed hard, her voice faltering. “Father says he will act soon. If you do not help me, he will marry me off to?—”
“He won’t,” Audrey interrupted firmly, her voice leaving no room for doubt. “I will handle it, Lilianna. I swear it.”
Her sister looked up at her, her eyes glistening with tears. “He’s gone, Audrey. Rashford. He hasn’t sent me a single letter. Not one. Perhaps he never cared at all.”
Audrey’s heart twisted at the despondence in her sister’s voice. “Do you know where he is?” she asked gently.
Lilianna shook her head. “No. He said something about his father buying him a commission, but I… I do not know where. I thought he loved me, but now I cannot even be certain of that.”
Audrey gathered her sister into her arms, feeling the slight tremors in her shoulders as she cried softly. “It will be all right,” she murmured, her voice low and soothing. “You have me, Lilianna. I will make this right. You must trust me.”
Lilianna clung to her, burying her face in Audrey’s shoulder. For a long moment, neither spoke, the only sound the soft ticking of the clock on the mantel.
Finally, Audrey pulled back, brushing a tear from her sister’s cheek. “Come now. You cannot hide away forever. You will come downstairs with me.”
Lilianna hesitated, her eyes darting toward the diary still lying on the bed. “I cannot…”
“Yes, you can,” Audrey said firmly, smoothing back her sister’s hair once more. “And you will. You are a Winslow, Lilianna, and Winslows do not hide.”
