Page 72 of The Heiress in Disguise
“I expected you to deal with me honestly and generously,” Angelique said. “I have always dealt with you that way, whether you believe it or not. I wish you did. But I have no control over what you think of me.”
“I’ve told you what I think.”
“You have. And you’re right about one thing,” Angelique said. “I can see that our friendship isn’t important to you. It never was. All right, that’s your choice. Our friendship is at an end, then. If ever you need me, you should remember this moment, when you chose to put an end to everything we ever shared.”
“Ella, this is going to be for the best,” Jane said. “You’ve strayed from the life you should be living, but this will set you back on the proper course. You’ll be grateful to me a year from now, I feel sure of that.”
“I’ll never be grateful,” Angelique said. “You’ve ruined everything. Jane, for the first time in my life, I was truly happy. I’ve always tried my best to be content with the life I’m leading, and I’ve always done well at that, but since we came to London, things have actually beengood. I never thought I could feel like this, and I’ll never forget that you were the one who took it away from me.”
Jane didn’t look at her. “It’s for the best,” she said again.
“Leave my room,” Angelique said. “They can confine me in here, but they can’t force me to suffer your company. I don’t want to see the face of someone who would betray me the way you have. I don’t want to look at someone I believed to be a friend. I know now that you never were. Just go.”
Jane, mercifully, turned and left.
Angelique sat down on the edge of her bed, overcome with despair. She didn’t mind that she’d lost her gifts. It had been a fine thing to think that she had a fairy godmother out there, of course—someone who truly cared for her—but it wasn’t something she needed. She had lived most of her life without any fine things to her name, and she could go on doing that now. It didn’t matter.
But to be trapped in the house, with no hope of seeing Philip again, and with no chance of seeing her masked stranger either—that was unbearable. It was devastating. She hadn’t realized until this moment how much she’d come to rely on the happiness those daily visits gave her—how much she would miss their presence in her life.
It was always going to end, she reminded herself.We were always going to leave the city eventually, and I would have been without them once again.
That was true, and she knew it. She had been thinking about that for a long time. And yet, she realized now, she had never really been prepared for the moment of losing them. She had thought about it abstractly, but she hadn’t given serious consideration to it. She would have been devastated when it had happened, no matter when or how.
Even so, having it happen earlier than anticipated was even worse. To think that they were so close by and still out of reach was agony. Even now, Philip might be waiting for her in the woods.
And she couldn’t go to him.
Chapter 33
It had been days now, and Angelique hadn’t appeared.
Antoine was distressed. He’d worried the first day she hadn’t come, when the two of them had arranged to meet in the woods, but he had tried to calm himself with the reminder that she had obligations to her household.
They had been lucky thus far. She had been able to get away with regularity, but they couldn’t depend on that happening every time they wanted to see one another. Of course there would be a time when she wasn’t able to make it.
He had taken to coming to the woods every day. Some days as Philip, other days concealed behind his mask, waiting for the day she would appear once again. Every day, he felt a sense of renewed hope. Perhaps that would be the day he finally saw her face again and could reassure himself that she was all right.
But it hadn’t happened yet, and now it had been a week since he had seen her. He needed answers. He needed to know that nothing dreadful had befallen her. It was impossible not to be worried.
He found one of the servants crossing through the back of the grounds and flagged him down. “Excuse me,” he said. “I don’tknow if you would remember my face or not. I was at the card game some time ago.”
“You’re Philip,” the boy said. “I remember you. Everyone was very happy with you because you lost every hand. They’re saying we ought to invite you to play again.” He smiled to show that no rudeness was meant.
Antoine smiled too, wanting to put the boy at ease. “I’d like to return,” he said. “It was an enjoyable evening. I wonder if I might get your help with something in the meantime?”
“With what?” The boy asked.
“I’m trying to find someone,” he said. “A girl who works here, by the name of Ella. Would you get a message to her for me?”
The smile fell from the boy’s face. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not? I could give you a bit of money for your trouble, if that would make a difference.”
“No, it isn’t that,” the boy said. “It’s just that Ella has been confined to her room. She’s forbidden to see anyone, and we’ve all been warned that if we try to help her at all, we’ll be punished. I’m sorry. I like Ella, but I need this position. I can’t risk it.”
“Why has she been confined to her room?” Antoine asked, frowning.
“I don’t know the whole story, but what I was told was that she had been sneaking around,” the boy said. “They say she’s been meeting a man who wears a mask.”
