Cecilia sat stiffly on the edge of a floral settee in the drawing room, her hands folded tightly in her lap, as if she could somehow squeeze the embarrassment out of her bloodstream if she tried hard enough. She couldn’t help but feel that her hairwas still disheveled, judging from how quickly she had thrown a new dress on.
Howard, her father, paced the room like a lion in a too-small cage. His jaw worked furiously, as if fighting the words that kept failing to escape. He looked as though he might combust from sheer disbelief.
“In his chambers!” he yelled at Cecilia. “Is this true?”
Cecilia swallowed. “It is, and I do apologize, but it was far from intentional.”
“So, you claim that you did not see His Grace in his chambers before you began to undress?” Marianne chimed in, standing near the fireplace, arms folded, a tremor in her shoulders that betrayed her otherwise glacial poise.
In the corner, Lucy sat curled in one of the wingback chairs, her hands pressed to her face, shoulders trembling with soft, stifled sobs. Every now and then, a small gasp would escape her. Seeing her like that made something twist painfully inside Cecilia. She hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. Not to Lucy. Never to Lucy.
“I did not,” she tried to explain. “I was in a hurry. I must have made a mistake. I truly am sorry, but it wasn’t my intention to offend anyone.”
“I should have known,” Aunt Marianne spat. “You have always had a flair for drama, but this…this is beyond even you. What were you trying to achieve? Did you expect a stranger to walk in instead of me? So you could start a scandal?”
Cecilia’s mouth fell open, her breath catching in her throat. “What?”
“It’s plain as day what you have done. What other explanation could there possibly be? You sought to trap him. Back him into a scandal and force him to propose. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You are!” Howard responded. “You will not speak of my daughter in that manner, Marianne. Not here. Not ever.”
“Oh, how noble,” Marianne sniffed, folding her arms with a huff. “You always did turn a blind eye when it came to your precious girls.”
“And you have always been too quick to condemn,” Howard retorted.
Marianne’s eyes flashed. “You call it condemnation, I call it common sense. What else are we to believe? She was undressed in the duke’s room–”
“She was in the wrong room...” he cut in. “...and unless you are calling His Grace a liar as well, I suggest you hold your tongue.”
Emma, who had been seated by Cecilia’s side, rose to her feet and stepped forward. “Let’s just all calm down. Thankfully, it’s only between us, and we can solve this amicably and quickly. We have guests downstairs and we all cannot be here.”
“I’m saying it!” Marianne snapped and pointed a finger at Cecilia. “That girl has humiliated this entire family, and Lucy! I won’t stand for it.”
Emma’s brows shot up. “How is this entirely her fault?”
“Then whose fault is it?”
“No one’s fault!” Emma responded. “No one needs to take the blame for this. It was merely an accident. Let us keep it that way. Nothing has to change since the intention was never to cause any harm.”
“My daughter is in shambles, and you claim that no harm was caused?” Marianne asked with squinted eyes. “Don’t be impertinent, Emma.”
“And don’t be cruel,” Emma retorted, her voice rising now. “You’re not helping Lucy at all. She might be hurt, and that is understandable, but there are better ways to go about this than accusing my sister of something so scandalous. You’re not helping anyone.”
The duke stood like a statue carved from stone near the window, one hand resting behind his back, the other holding a glass hehadn’t yet sipped from. His stillness made her feel even more exposed. He was just listening, detached and expressionless, as though the chaos in the room had nothing to do with him. His gaze didn’t flicker, and it unnerved her. It was as if he were waiting. Judging. Calculating. Or perhaps, simply bored.
“Dare I say, this situation has compromised my daughter, not the other way around,” Howard said.
“Exactly. If anyone has been disgraced here, it’s Cecilia,” Emma added with crossed arms. “She was humiliated and now being shouted at as though she orchestrated the entire thing!”
“I cannot believe this,” Marianne hissed, eyes wide. “What are people supposed to think?”
“No one else needs to think anything,” Howard shot back. “Because no one else knows. Unless you plan to start parading it down the corridor.”
Cecilia sat in a daze while voices clashed around her. The voices started to feel distant, muffled, as though she were underwater. Her gaze drifted to Lucy, still curled in the corner, weeping silently into a handkerchief. The sight cleaved straight through her. Shame settled in Cecilia’s chest like a stone. She had made a mistake. She would not deny that now. However innocent her intentions, it did not matter.
But it wasn’t yet a scandal. Only the family knew. That meant it could still be salvaged,redeemed. If only they could all take abreath and stop tearing each other apart. If only Lucy would look up. If only someone would listen.
“All right, enough of all of this.”
