Page 28 of My Cruel Duke
He wished he could tell her everything, the crimes her beloved Papa committed, and how he was generous to let him walk around as a free man for as long as he did. Rhysand did not think he was as horrible as people claimed he was. He harbored those horrible thoughts, but he did nothing to bring them to life. Wilson Hislop was proof.
Rhysand was only a little boy when it happened, and he had to live with the horrible memory of it all. Often times he regretted hiding in the bushes, instead of going out to the garden to let those masked men end his life the way they had his family. He would not have to deal with the trauma, the nightmares, and the sleepless nights that followed.
He withdrew his arm from Penelope’s hold. His gaze hardened.
“If you must know, ask your father,” he spat, then strode to the door.
Wide-eyed with her lips ajar, Penny watched her husband's back as he walked away from her. She had known he would get angry. She had in fact, prepared for this outburst, but never in her life did she imagine the raw anger that followed out of him as he spoke to her, and his icy glare hardened as he stared at her.
What did Father do?Penny wondered
The more Penny thought about it, she realized she knew nothing about the man she had married, save the datum that he was her family’s adversary who had a score to settle with her father.
She had known her father never liked him, but tolerated him because he was a duke. It was the same reason he did not oppose the friendship between Patrick and Rhysand. In her father’s words;
“Patrick’s friend will help him with the family business when I am long gone.”He had said that one night at dinner. Her Papa had a few more glasses to drink that evening and he was in a vexing mood. If Penny could recall correctly, she had seen the corners of his lips lengthen in a wicked smile, and then he took a drink and wiped it away.
Penny had tried to busy herself with the recent happenings and Lydia’s debut from thinking about her father. She had not gone to visit him since Rhysand put his ring around her finger. She could not visit him anyway. What would she say to him? If she managed to find something to say, he would mostly respond in the same way he had been responding to her since she could remember.
That night, loud thoughts kept Penny awake. There were a bunch of dots to be connected, but it seemed she stood at the center of the labyrinthine with clues but no knowledge of how to decipher them. She stared outside her window, and before long, the sun arose, with her eyes still wide open.
Thunderous knocks came down on Penny’s door, but she was too weak, too tired to get up. She ignored the knocking, but it came a second time, only that this time, Aunt Augusta pushed the door open.
“What happened to you, dear child? You look like a specter!” Aunt Augusta screeched.
“I had a hard time falling asleep,” Penny pressed her lips together. Aunt Augusta rushed to the bed, the girl in her cream-colored day dress flowing behind her as she moved with complete grace.
“Oh, my dear child. This is why I advised that you steered clear of him,” Aunt Augusta took Penny’s head in her arm and rubbed the top of her head. “You cannot let this weigh down on you, Penny!”
Penny arched her head to get a better view of her aunt’s face, and now that she looked closer, she could see the fault lines of powder, and lipstick.
“Oh Aunty, you should have seen the look on his face. He was so furious and genuinely disturbed by my actions,” Penny cried. “I stayed calm to the best of my abilities, but it did me no good. I fear I have hurt him, Aunty. He may never forgive me for this.”
Aunt Augusta shook her head.
“He will. The flowers are still sitting on the window stool as well as the other decorations that you kept.”
Penny blinked her eyes rapidly, sending the tears back from whence they came. “What do you mean?”
“He might not be as opposed to the changes as he seemed. Now, take a nice bath and come down. There is a lot that needs your attention.”
Chapter15
True to her aunt’s words, there were a lot of things that needed Penny’s attention. After her affairs were settled, Penny went to pick out flowers with Lydia as a means to pass time, to keep her mind away from the events of the night before when Rufus came to announce the arrival of one Lady Eleanor, Lady Marina, and Lady Cordelia. Penny had frozen in her seat and she felt self-aware with Lydia’s worried eyes on her.
“Let them in.”
“But sister…”
“What is the matter?”
“Are you certain you want to be in their presence?”
Penny fixed a smile on her face and nodded. “They came all the way, Lydia, it would be very rude of me to turn them away at my doorstep. Besides, they are still my friends.”
Lydia nodded in understanding, but she could never let Penny go out to meet her friends alone. “I shall come with you then,” Lydia dropped the flower in her hand into the little brown basket that carried beautifully bloomed flowers with their leaves and thorns.
“Lydia…”