Page 34 of My Cruel Duke
Penny shook her head “Aunt Augusta is terrified of dogs, Rhysand. She will throw a fit if she sees them!”
But it was too late. Aunt Augusta had arrived with a smile on her face, oblivious to the dogs.
The younger one of the hounds rushed toward Aunt Augusta and grabbed the hem of her dress with its fangs, pulling it strongly as if to rip it. Aunt Augusta let out a louder shriek.
“Stay calm Aunty. They will not hurt you if you stay calm”, Penny was speaking out of experience, but she could see it in her aunt’s eyes, that none of her words were being registered. She was full of fear from the beasts she loathed the most. It was why they never kept dogs back at home. Aunt Augusta could barely function with the knowledge that a dog would spring up at her at any given time.
“Aunty, do you hear me?” Penny tried again, but her aunt was too busy trying to get the dog away from her.
“Get. Away. You. Fiend!” Aunt Augusta tried to swat the dog away with her fan but the beast clearly thought this was a new toy and grabbed it from her hand.
“Do something!” Penny nudged Rhysand at his side with her elbow. That seemed to work. Rhysand approached the woman and took hold of the large dog by its collar.
“Bad dog,” he scolded.
Seeing that the dog that kept her rooted in one place had freed her, Aunt Augusta did the next thing that was required of her. She took flight away from the garden and the dogs, running as fast as she could.
“No! Do not run!” Rhysand called after her, but it was too late. The other dogs ran after her, barking as they pursued her. They thought she was playing chase, only Aunt Augusta was the prey.
“Help me!” Aunt Augusta cried, running as fast as her old legs would let her. Rhysand, Penny, and the other dog ran after them, calling out to Aunt Augusta to stop running, but she had one destination in mind, and nothing could deter her from her goal.
She was feeling out of breath already, but with her destination in view, she closed her eyes and pushed herself harder, until she ran into a wall, and then her body hit the cold tiled floor. Aunt Augusta opened her eyes. She quickly realized she did not in fact run into a wall, but into a person after she knocked the air out of him at their collision. Walls did not grunt or express pain no matter how slight, but this wall had.
“Oh no, Harold, are you all right?” She asked but the dogs arrived, wagging their tails in excitement.
“I said go away!” She shooed, still sitting on the cold floor with Harold beside her, but the dogs were far from listening to her. They jumped and wiggled their tails, then inched closer to her the more she shooed them away. The last time she did it, one of the dogs inched closer and licked her on the face while the other one grabbed the ribbon from her hair. Aunt Augusta screamed and a few servants ran out, wondering what the commotion was about.
The beast took hold of it and yanked it so hard the whole thing fell from Aunt Augusta’s head, revealing what hid underneath her elaborate wig; nothing.
Harold shut to his feet immediately, frowning at the beast. He approached the one with the wig in its mouth but the hound must have misinterpreted his urgency for wanting to play and so it ran away.
Rhysand, from where he stood beside Penny, released a loud whistle and the dog backtracked and ran to him. He retrieved the wig and passed it on to Penny, whose solemn face approached her aunt with caution. But in the end, Penny handed it over to Harold who was more than willing to take it from her and return it to its owner who was as red as a ripe tomato.
“What are these hounds doing so close to the entrance of the house?” Harold inquired with a raise of his brows. It was the most serious Penny had ever seen the man, but she understood that the situation called for it. Her poor aunt sat on the floor, still shaking from the fear of almost getting bitten by large wolf-looking dogs.
“My apologies for the incident. Please keep in mind never to run if you see them again.” Rhysand dipped his head in apology to the older woman.
“Come with me, dear.” Harold offered a hand to Aunt Augusta, which she took reluctantly. He pulled her to her feet and helped dust off a speck of invincible dust from her dress. Aunt Augusta’s blush only intensified.
Penny and Rhysand followed closely behind them to the drawing room.
“My dear, those hounds are nothing to be scared of. Dare I say it, they are large but very harmless. They thought you were playing with them,” Uncle Harold told Aunt Augusta. Penny cocked her head to the side.
“Did you not see how fast and angry they came at me? Those beasts are every bit violent! One can only assume that their master has taught them to hunt people down…”
Penny laughed, earning Rhysand’s attention.
“You touched them, did you not? They did not harm you,” Rhysand whispered to her.
“Only because you came fast enough. I am not sure what they would do if I was all alone,” Penny whispered truthfully, but she found them cute.
“Uncle Harold is telling the truth about them. They only have large bodies but they do not go about harming people. Their parents were the real violent beasts, trained only to hunt and protect.”
“What happened to them?”
“They are old now. They do not run about like they used to before,” Rhysand told her. Penny could tell her husband loved the dogs. It was the first time he spoke with much longing for something.
“Aunt Augusta has been chased and bitten by a small dog once. She claimed the beasts have a madness in them that cannot be tamed,” Penny told Rhysand and he smiled.