Page 103 of His Forsaken Duchess
Audrey wasted no time. She lifted her skirts just enough so as not to trip and strode toward the study, the sound of her footsteps echoing sharply through the otherwise silent hall. Her chest was tight, the words she needed to say already burning on her tongue, yet she couldn’t shake the chill that crept beneath her skin—an unsettling feeling that this would not end well.
The door to the study loomed ahead of her, slightly ajar, a thin bolt of light spilling into the hallway. She pushed it open without knocking and found her husband there.
He stood by the fireplace, one hand braced against the mantel, staring into the flames as though they held answers he desperately sought. His coat had been removed, his cravat loosened, and his sleeves pushed up as though he’d discarded his title along with his finery. His dark hair fell messily over his brow, and his posture was a taut line of frustration.
“Cedric,” she said sharply, her voice cutting through the silence.
His head snapped up, his dark eyes locking onto hers. “Audrey,” he replied, though her name sounded more like an exhale than a greeting. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Audrey strode into the room, closing the door firmly behind her. “Don’t you dare dismiss me.” She swallowed hard, forcing herself to remain steady. “Cedric, youcannotdo this. Duels are illegal. If you kill him, you could be arrested, tried?—”
“Then I’ll face it,” he bit out, pushing away from the mantel to face her. “Whatever the consequences, I’ll bear them.”
Audrey shook her head vehemently, stepping closer to him. “And if youdon’tkill him? If he killsyou? What then, Cedric? Have you considered that?”
He looked at her then—truly looked at her—and for the briefest moment, she saw the torment in his gaze. Grief, guilt, and the anger that had been festering inside him for years.
“This is not just about Cecilia,” he said, his voice low, rough. “This is about stopping him. Men like Rashford don’t stop. They don’t change. And if I do nothing—if Iletthis go—then how many more women will he ruin? How many more families will be shattered?”
“And how many people will lose you, Cedric?” Audrey’s voice cracked, her composure slipping as she stepped forward. “How can you think that this will solve anything? You think Cecilia would want this? You think she would want you to die for her honor?”
“This isn’t about her honor!” Cedric’s voice rose suddenly, his words sharp and furious as he took a step toward her. “It’s about mine!”
Audrey flinched, but she refused to back down, lifting her chin as she met his stormy gaze head-on.
“Your honor?” she repeated, incredulous. “You call this honorable? Cedric, this is madness! There must be another way—thereisanother way. For God’s sake, think of the consequences?—”
“Is that what you care about?” he shot back, his voice like ice. “The consequences? The scandal? Your precious appearances?”
The words struck her like a physical blow, knocking the wind out of her. Audrey froze, staring at him, disbelief and hurt blooming across her face. “Is that what you think of me?” she whispered. “After everything? After what you’ve seen me endure? You think I care aboutappearances?”
Cedric hesitated, his expression flickering with something that might have been regret, but it was gone as quickly as it came. “You don’t understand, Audrey. This isn’t your choice to make. It isn’t your concern.”
Audrey’s hands trembled at her sides, and she forced herself to still them, to square her shoulders. “Not my concern?” she repeated slowly, her voice trembling with barely restrained emotion. “Is that all I am to you? A stranger? A woman you are saddled with through duty and nothing more?”
Cedric turned his back to her, running a hand through his hair, his shoulders tense with frustration. “This is not about you.”
“But it is,” she said softly, her voice cracking. “Don’t you see? It is about me—about all of us. About Cecilia. About Lilianna. About you. You cannot change what happened to your sister, but you can stop this cycle of grief before it destroys you.”
He did not respond, his silence a wall between them.
Audrey’s heart fractured at the sight of him—so tormented, so unreachable—and a hollow ache settled in her chest. She had thought they had grown closer, that he saw her for who she was, that perhaps he trusted her. But now… now she saw the truth.
This was the reason Cecilia had refused to reveal the identity of the man who had ruined her. It was to protect Cedric from himself.
“Very well,” Audrey said quietly, a coldness that felt foreign and bitter creeping into her tone.
Cedric turned then, his dark gaze snapping to hers. For the first time since she had entered the room, he seemed to sense the shift in her, the way her expression had hardened.
She stood tall, her spine straight, her chin lifted as she donned the very mask she had worn for years—before him, before their marriage. It was a shield she hadn’t realized she no longer needed until this moment.
“You are right,” she continued, her voice steady now, devoid of the desperation that had colored it before. “This is not my choice. This isyourlife, Cedric, and I cannot stop you from throwing it away.”
“Audrey—”
She held up a gloved hand, cutting him off. “I hope it brings you peace, Cedric, though I doubt it will.” Her lips quirked up faintly, but there was no warmth in her smile. “Goodbye, Duke.”
Thirty-Six
