Chapter 14
Daisy clickedthe door shut behind her, suddenly feeling terribly panicked. She had spent some time in the bathroom, planning how she was going to say all of this to Iris, but now her brain felt empty of words. All of the ways she had wanted to put this deserted her, she had no idea how to make itright.
There was no way to say all ofthis.
“You enjoyed the ball?” Iris asked her with a twinge of coldness in her voice. “You had a lovely time with the Duke, so Ihear?”
Uh oh. Judging by the unimpressed look on Iris’s face, this was not the news that she wanted to hear. Daisy’s heart pounded violently against her rib cage and hot blood ran through her veins. She had done her friend wrong, and now she would have to pay the consequences ofthat.
“I would like to discuss it properly with you,” she tried in a shaky voice. “I think that maybe things have beenmisconstrued.”
“Did Duke Pembroke call off the wedding?” Iris folded her arms defiantly across her chest. She did not want to be so sharp with her friend, but she felt utterly hopeless. About everything. Daisy did not know it, but the sting left behind from losing Ewan hurt her badly and affected her temper. “Did we achieve what we wantedto?”
“No, notexactly...”
“Then I am ruined!” Iris’s eyes filled with frustrated tears. Her insides burned painfully. “I will now have to marry a man that I do not want, and he does not even know me. He thinks that I am you.” She got the sense that she was wailing, yet she could not stop. “What shall I donow?”
She wanted it to be Ewan, he was the one that she wanted. But she would never be offered that chance now, Daisy had made an utter mess ofeverything.
“I do have a possible solution.” Daisy tried to tread carefully. She knew that this decision would not go down well, but right now it was all that girls had. Somehow, she needed to make Iris listen. “If you will just hear meout.”
"I do not see why I should listen to you when you have ruinedeverything."
All of a sudden, Iris felt like a deflated balloon. All of the energy and the red hot anger that had been bursting out of her like a monster simply disappeared, and she was left like an empty husk. It did not really matter what Daisy had done, she was the only one who’s helped her. There was no point in having a tantrum now, it wouldn’t get heranywhere.
Iris took her place on the bed and glanced expectantly up at Daisy. “Fine, I will listen to you, please explain yourplan.”
Daisy sat down opposite Iris and she clasped her hands in her lap. There she fiddled anxiously with them as she talked. "I know that I have done you wrong, and I am very sorry for that, it was unintentional. I simply got swept up in the romance of the ball and the dream of being alady."
“Why on Earth would you want to be a lady?” Iris still could not hold in her hatred for the life that she’d been born into. “It is a terribly stilted life. Why would you want to bethat?”
“For the same reason that you do not,” Daisy replied softly. “The life I have is not working forme.”
Iris fell into silence. She did not know how to answer that. She knew that she would be a hypocrite if she asked too many questions into this, so she chose the most importantone.
“You have not beenhappy?”
“With you, yes!” Daisy nodded frantically. “My time with you has been wonderful, the best of my whole life.” She gave Iris a sincere look, hoping that she would see just how serious she was about this. “I have adored being your maid, and your friend, but whatever happens next, everything will change tomorrow. One way or another, you will leave this house and I do not think I will be able to stand it withoutyou.”
“Or I,you.”
Emotions flew at Iris from every single angle. She had been so wrapped up in avoiding her fate that she had all but forgotten that soon enough she would lose her friend too. She choked back some tears because she didn’t feel like she deserved themnow.
"I would like more from my life." Daisy leant in closer to Iris now that she had her undivided attention. "I would like to be a lady. I know it is not possible for someone born in my class, but it is what I would adore. I love all the things you do not like; the money, the events, the society... yes, some of the rules are confusing, but I feel like I could learn them. Maybe even embracethem."
Daisy’s eyes shone as she spoke, there was something very real to this. Iris was not sure what to make of it all, it seemed that the switch had made her realise a dream that she did not even know that shehad.
Iris’s heart yearned to reach out to her friend, she wanted to embrace her, to comfort her, but the timing was not right. She still wasn’t sure what Daisy had to tellher.
“So, what are you saying?” Iris still needed to ask this question, she felt like there was still a lot that she was missing out on. “Do you have aplan?”
Daisy slipped her hands into Iris’s and she pleaded with her gaze. This sentence would be very difficult to say, but there was a big chance that it would set them bothfree.
“I would like to marry the Duke,” she enquiredquietly.
“But... you cannot. He wants to marry me for my name and dowry, I do not see him turning his attention to amaid.”
Maybe that was a little harsh, but Iris needed Daisy to see sense. The idea was uttermadness.
