No one was.
Charlie was trying not to break his promise to Mater, but nothing he did worked. The duke had said that life had been unfair to Artemis, but it had also been unfair to him. Mater had told him to be patient with his new wife, but he needed patience as well. They werebothhurting and frustrated and in completely uncharted territory. They were both miserable. And they were both trapped.
He paced about the room, trying to sort out the thoughts bouncing around in his skull. All of his friends would be returning to Cambridge soon enough but without him. He knew the lectures they would be attending. Ones he would enjoy hearing. Ones he had planned to one day give. He’d had everything mapped out. It was all gone now. He would continue to study mathematics on his own, but it was more a consolation than a purpose.
He pulled himself from the room, from the house, and out once more into Father’s garden. A memory washed over him as he walked that garden path. It was during their final trip to Brier Hill. Most of his brothers were away at school, and Harold hadn’t wanted to play with him. Charlie had found Father in this corner of the grounds. His heart breaking, he’d told Father he felt very alone.
Father had pulled him into an embrace and held him close and tight. Though Charlie could no longer remember the sound of his father’s voice, he had not forgotten a single word of what he had said.
“You will never be alone, Charlie. I will always be here. Whenever you need me,whereveryou need me, I will be there.”
Charlie dropped onto the stone bench where he’d often sat beside his father. A soft and solemn breeze rustled leaves throughout the garden, giving the scene a veneer of peace that did not truly exist anywhere in this estate. Neither he nor Artemis wanted to live here, where they had so little hope for the future.
“You promised me, Father. You promised. But you’re not here. You are never here.”
Chapter Ten
Artemis was tired. There wasno other way to describe what she felt. Every day was a fight, either with her own optimism and endurance or with Charlie. Or both. They’d been at Brier Hill for over two weeks, and everything was a mess.
One bright spot was that he’d made no objection to her and Rose commandeering the empty billiard room and converting it into a space for discussing and designing and creating various bits of clothing. It had become nothing more elegant or grand than a large sewing room, but in it, she’d found a refuge.
“I would advise lowering the waistline just a bit,” Rose said, looking over Artemis’s shoulder at the sketch she was working on.
“I do prefer slightly lowered waistlines,” Artemis said, “but as they are not widely accepted yet, I think lowering it any farther will only make the gown seem an oddity rather than a statement.”
“The lay of the gown will be better with it even an inch below where you’ve placed it.” Rose was correct, of course. She always was.
Bother.
“I’d look a quiz. Hardly the best way to arrive at a Society event, especially dragging recent history with me.” She tipped her head to one side, then the other, eyeing the design critically. “What if we lower the waist but remove the embellishment and make certain the fabric pattern matches up? That would allow the line to be better while not drawing attention to the adjustment.”
“An excellent solution.”
Artemis took up her bit of rubber and carefully erased the midsection of her sketched gown. She’d managed no more than that when Charlie’s voice broke the silence.
“Pardon me for interrupting.”
Artemis looked up and over at the doorway.
“We have visitors,” he said.
“Truly?” She set her eraser down.
Charlie nodded. “And based on the very familiar heraldry flying from the carriage, these visitors are ones you, in particular, will be pleased to see.”
Heraldry flying from the carriage.Adam was one of the few people confident enough to boast to any would-be highwayman or criminal that his traveling coach belonged to a gentleman of rank and wealth. His heraldry was known. And feared.
“Adam is unlikely to leave London whilst Parliament is in session,” she said. “Then again, he has done so before but never without significant reason.”
“If you hurry, Artemis, you can catch him as he reaches the door and ask him what his ‘significant reason’ is this time.”
She slipped from her high stool, mind filled with anxiety at the possibility of disappointment.
Charlie crossed to her. He took her hands in a friendly and encouraging gesture. “The carriage is his, Artemis. Go greet your family.”
My family.She swallowed back emotion. Adam had come, and she was certain he would have brought Persephone and their children. For one who had felt utterly worthless and unwanted for more than a fortnight, it was enough to undo her hard-fought composure. But she didn’t dare.
Goddesses don’t cry.
