Page 41 of The Artisan and the Duke
“I’m fine,” Jules insisted. She put her hands on the table in front of her and stood up. “I am tired of this. I am not ill.”
The sound of horse hooves swiftly moving over the cobbled driveway interrupted the women. They went over to the window, and Jules gasped, “That’s David.”
“David Larkin?” Mrs Kelley asked in puzzlement.
Jules nodded and then was off out of the kitchen and around the hallways to the grand hall that the front doors opened onto. Jules made it about the time that David swung down out of the saddle. “David,” Jules exclaimed in joy at seeing her old friend.
When David turned to face her, Jules’ joy plummeted. The look on the man’s face was contempt. “Some fancy house you got,” David said with a sneer.
Jules could only regret her ruse. She shook her head. “I can explain, but what are you doing here?”
“I came to see for myself what you had sold us all for?” David said with an angry edge. “Was this house worth the lives of those men? I thought you off married happily until I was told that you had sold yourself and your guildmates for this. I had thought better of you, Jules.”
Jules shook her head and took a step back. “I have done no such thing. What are you talking about?”
“I am talking about the men they just hanged on the gallows last week, or did you not even care enough to notice?” David’s lip curled up in hatred. “I had to see it for myself before I believed it.”
Jules shook with righteous anger. “Who was it that they hanged? I was told that the men of the guild were to be set free,” Jules’ voice rose in a fury. “Tell me now, David.”
David faltered a bit, and then he said, “Merrill, Turner, and the younger Trenton boy. They said they were treasonous.”
“If any should hang, it should be me,” Jules said. “They never did anything. Those three were just apprentices.”
David sneered, “Maybe you should ask your Duke why they deserved to die, Duchess.” With that, David turned and swung back up into his saddle. He tugged at the reins and gave the horse a kick. “If you decide that you want to make this right, I’ll be at the inn.”
A moment later, Gregory appeared in the doorway. “Was that your friend from the guild?” the Duke asked in amazement. “You could have invited him in.”
Jules turned towards the blond man with a look of incredulity. “Why did you lie to me? Did you do it to soothe me so that I would be easier to take to your bed?” Jules stomped up the steps towards the man and tapped him squarely in the chest. “Why did they have to die?”
“Who are you talking about?” Gregory asked as his brow furrowed.
Jules shook her head in amazement. “You honestly are just going to pretend like you know nothing about my three guildmates that they hanged not more than a week ago. When were you going to tell me that three apprentices’ lives were what it took to get them to release the others? They were boys,” Jules howled at the man.
“I would never have made a deal such as that,” Gregory growled. “After all this time, do you still not trust me more than some …” His voice trailed off, but Jules eyes sparked with anger.
Jules said, “Go on then, say it. Do I not trust you more than some mason or some tradesman? Because you are better than them, isn’t that right, Your Grace?”
“This conversation is at an end,” Gregory said firmly.
Had she not been so angry, Jules might have thought it reasonable to stop, but as it was, she merely shook her head. “You don’t own me,” Jules said with disgust. “I am not one of your hounds to be silenced when I have bayed too loudly. No. I think it’s rather time that I reminded you that I know how to bite.”
“What are you talking about?” Gregory narrowed his eyes at the woman.
Jules shook her head. “I am going to go talk with my mother and then, Your Grace, I want a carriage at my disposal,” Jules said as she stormed off towards her mother’s quarters.
***
Gregory watched the dark-haired Duchess go in her fury. He had to stop himself from going after her. Yes, the woman was angry, but what she had said was even more worrying. What had she meant about the men dying? No news of hangings had reached Gregory.
With a bark of an order, Gregory sent the doorman off to find Stanley and get a carriage ready for the Duchess. As soon as his order was given, Gregory went off to Fredrick. He found the man in one of the studies upstairs. “Fredrick, have we gotten any correspondence from London?”
“None that I know of,” Fredrick said. He frowned. “What is the matter?”
“The Duchess is leaving,” Gregory said. “One of her guildmates showed up to tell her that three of her fellow masons had been hanged earlier. Dulock was supposed to tell me if things went sideways for him. Why did he not send word?”
Fredrick shook his head and said, “Maybe he simply could not. Are we headed to London then?”
“It seems so,” Gregory said with a sigh. “I suppose a month is about all the reprieve I can expect.”
