Page 66 of Duchess in Disguise
Isobel shook her head, trying to calm her nerves, but the fear had returned to her bones, settling as a lingering weight, and she could not help but draw nearer to him.
If anyone saw them like this, it would be troublesome. But Richard clearly did not care, because he continued to wipe her tears, his touch warm and gentle. He ran his hands up and down her arms, hoping to soothe her as he whispered.
“It is over now. You are here, and you are alive. It is over.”
His words penetrated the cloud of frustration and uselessness that presided over her thoughts, and soon, she found it easier to breathe again. With a deep inhale, she clung to the clarity she was regaining and told him quickly.
“I-I saw someone.”
Richard looked confused at first, then his features sharpened seriously. “When?”
“When I woke up,” she said, her voice hushed as he leaned closer. “T-There was a sound that woke me up, and when I arose, someone was leaving the room in a hurry. That was whenI noticed the fire. They had shut the door behind them, and when I tried to open it, I discovered it had been locked from the outside. That fire was deliberate.”
Richard paused thoughtfully, shifting his gaze in the direction of the staircase as the sound of footsteps coming from that direction reached their ears.
“Do you still believe Deborah is responsible?”
Isobel paused, thinking back to the shadowy figure she had spotted leaving the room. Whoever it was, they moved quickly, and Isobel couldn’t say such a swift gait would belong to her aunt. The person also seemed taller than Deborah, although due to the smoke and Isobel’s barely conscious state, she could not be certain.
Slowly, she shook her head, uncertainty reflecting in her eyes as she stared up at Richard.
“What on earth is going on?”
“Is there a fire? I saw the servants rushing to the west wing with pails of water.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
The sounds of chatter and speculation filled the room, and Richard gave Isobel one last concerned look before he rose to stand but still hovered around her chair.
Isobel watched the room fill with the occupants, her heart sinking as she noticed Valerie was not among them. Worried, she turned to Richard, but he was already leaning downward to whisper,
“Adrian has gone to be with her. The fire is far from where she is, but he will move her if he thinks she is in danger.”
Isobel relaxed slightly and shifted her attention to Cecil, who had taken up the other end of the sofa she was on, his fingers tightly clutching at her skirts. Feeling guilty that she had been too caught up in her own breakdown, she had nearly forgotten her brother, she moved closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Are you all right? Were you hurt?”
Cecil shook his head, sighing with relief as Nora spotted them from the throng of people and wandered over to them as he told her quietly, “I am fine, do not worry.”
Nora’s face crumbled as she noticed Cecil’s disheveled appearance, and she quickly rushed into his embrace when he opened his arms. He spent a little bit of time soothing his younger sister, then he spared a glance at the confused guests standing around and sighed.
“Father will be livid.”
Isobel sighed. “We nearly died, Cecil. I feel as though even he has enough humanity to –”
“Who is responsible for this? What have you done to my house?”
At the sound of Gregory’s angry voice, everyone stepped out of his way, allowing the man of the house to storm into the parlor.
“You!” he roared, pointing at Cecil. “The fire started in your room. You should know better than to leave a lit candle unattended! Do you know how much this is going to cost me to fix? I suppose you have no sense of responsibility because you assume we are quite well off, do you?”
Isobel pulled Cecil closer to her and glared at their father.
“There was no lit candle in that room. Someone started a fire on purpose in an attempt to kill us. Someone in this house did not care about the number of lives that they might have claimed along with my own, and they simply did whatever they wanted to do. Do you have any idea how dangerous this was? The last thing any of us – especially Cecil – needs to hear at this time is you complain about the things you value more than your family’s well-being. Either help us get down to the bottom of this or stay out of our way. Regardless, this ends tonight.” She snapped.
Gregory looked red in the face, and he took a threatening step towards Isobel, but stopped in his tracks when Richard fixed a stare on him. Grumbling, he wandered off to the other side of the room, just as Deborah and her children entered the parlor.
It looked as though the older woman had been crying, her eyes red and swollen even from where Isobel was seated. Clutching Deborah’s arm tightly was Bridget, who looked terrified to death. Her skin had turned rather pale, and her eyes kept darting around the room.
