Chapter 3Of Longing and Parting

“The night wind is strong. Be careful not to catch a chill.” I offered one last reminder, then turned to return to my room.

The next morning, Lady Hayes rushed in, blocking my path. She knelt before me, just as she had eight years ago, pleading desperately. “Elara, Arthur is still so young. He cannot do without you.” She paused, her voice tinged with a desperate edge. “Your father and brothers rely on the Duke Regent’s patronage. The Hayes family’s future hinges on your favor. You cannot act so impulsively.”

“You’ve spoken so much,” I replied, my voice weary, “why not ask if I am well?”

Lady Hayes froze for a moment. The sound of a carriage arriving outside the gates interrupted her impending lecture. A graceful, alluring woman, smiling, walked in. The moment she entered, Arthur ran and threw himself into her arms.

“Aunt Lilith, I missed you so much.”

The two walked hand-in-hand directly past me. With the sweet scent of her perfume, whispers from the Keep’s servants drifted to me. “The Lady Companion is truly pathetic. Shamelessly clinging to the Keep, racking her brains to please the Duke and the young Lord. In the end, she can’t even compare to a courtesan.” “Yesterday she was demanding to leave, and today she’s clinging on. She’s probably afraid Aunt Lilith will take her place.”

Arthur tilted his small face up, nuzzling into Lilith Meadowes’s embrace. “Father has been waiting for you, Aunt Lilith. Let’s go find him.” He looked at me, then back at her. “I like Aunt Lilith best. She smells so sweet, and her voice is so lovely, unlike those coarse women from the countryside.”

I froze. I had grown up in the Sunken Sands, and when I first arrived in the Capital, everything felt alien. The northern winds had chilled me to the bone, bringing on one illness after another. The Keep’s servants mocked my rustic manners, refusing to even bring me medicine. Only three-year-old Arthur had stayed by my side, his small face earnest. “Little Aunt, get well soon. I like Little Aunt. Little Aunt looks best when she rides a horse!” How could I have imagined then that the little shadow who followed me everywhere would become the sharp thorn in my heart?

Lilith Meadowes smiled sweetly, greeting me. This woman, with her gentle movements, carried the grace of a water lily. Yet, her words were laced with provocation. “Miss Hayes, children speak without malice.”

I ignored her, turning instead to help Lady Hayes to her feet. “You see, Your Grace and the young Lord are never short of company or care.” Lilith Meadowes was nothing but a courtesan. Yet, with her striking seven-tenths resemblance to my sister, she could effortlessly enter the Duke’s private study, a place I was forbidden to tread. Effortlessly, she stole the affections of father and son.

Lady Hayes, now standing, showed no trace of her previous sorrow. Her face was cold. “Are you truly determined to leave?”

I stated firmly, “I refuse to spend this entire life trapped within these four walls, revolving around two men who do not love me.”

Slap!

A sharp, stinging blow landed on my face. “Baseborn creature, you have no decorum.” Lady Hayes’s voice was venomous. “If I hadn’t granted you clemency back then, you would have died in the Sunken Sands! Yet you are so heartless, truly less than a dog raised by the Hayes family.”

My birth mother was a Nomad Rider from the Sunken Sands. She was seen by the drunken General Hayes, and after a night of recklessness, I was born. In their eyes, a baseborn daughter was less than an animal. Giving me food, raising me, was a tremendous act of grace. Even after they moved to the Capital, abandoning us in the Sunken Sands without a word, I was expected to be eternally grateful.

As her second blow was about to land, I seized Lady Hayes’s hand. “The Hayes family raised me until I was eight years old. I have repaid the Hayes family for those eight years.” I looked at her, my voice unwavering. “We are now utterly quits.”

For eight years, I endured Duke Theron’s brutal exertions in the bedchamber. In the Keep, I meticulously managed every detail, big and small. I nurtured Arthur as if he were my own, showering him with all my love and companionship. I had done my utmost, my conscience clear, owing nothing to anyone. The only one I owed, was myself.

Convinced that further persuasion was futile, Lady Hayes departed in a huff. I turned, only to meet Duke Theron’s deep, discerning gaze.