He blinked at her. “What are you talking about, Laura?”
He was tired of the formality between them, especially with the current situation. Leaping out of his chair, he walked around the table and sat on the chair the dowager duchess had earlier sat on. “Did Mother scare you or tell you anything?” he asked. “And the maids?”
She shook her head while her lips pulsed nervously. “James,” she whispered, “he overheard the discussion between you and the dowager duchess.” She seemed to hate herself for telling him that, but she continued nonetheless. “I don’t think Her Grace wants me here anymore, does she?”
He pulled back, wondering what he was going to tell her. “What the dowager duchess wants isn’t what I want, Laura,” he hissed.
She seemed to finally notice that he had begun to call her by her first name. She glanced up to look into his eyes while he leaned forward in the chair to hold her hand. “Mother, the maids,” he muttered, “they might speak ill of you, but you only leave when, and if I want you to.”
She smiled briefly and then frowned again. “If you suspect anyone that has been sending letters, now is the time to tell me,” he whispered.
“I just think I am the least favorite person in the manor at the moment,” she sighed.
He sighed too. There was no way he was going to convince her otherwise. “Not to me, nor to Bruce and James.”
Her lips twitched into a smile for longer than the previous time. He inched towards her again, grunting under his breath. “I am going to find who has been writing theses letters, Laura,” he promised. “But I want you here, close to my children and to me.”
“What about Miss Caroline?” she asked, and he paused.
“How? James too?” he started, and she nodded, hiding a smile.
“She wouldn’t be coming to my home as its new duchess,” he grunted. More so, he quietly resolved that he needed to keep his inquisitive first son out of the corners of the library wing.
“You would go against the dowager duchess’ plans for a union?” Laura asked him.
The cheerfulness he was used to had returned to her eyes, and he smiled. “Yes,” he replied. “I have my eyes on someone else, Miss Williams.”
She smiled again at the sultry way he had switched back to her formal name. When he was sure he had convinced her enough, he pulled her up by her hand and placed his palm on her cheek. “You will stay, and we will endeavor to solve this,” he said, and she nodded.
“Afterward, we will speak of us and our kiss by the balcony,” he added.
He didn’t bother to watch the colors rising to her cheeks. He pulled her towards him, bent his head, and kissed her.
Laura’s body melted against his, and he realized just how much he had missed its warmth. A week ago, when he had laid beside her and had watched her sleep, he had felt enormous love for her–the sort of feelings he had harbored for Louise. In his heart, he had known Laura was everything to him. Before he slept beside her, he had kissed her on her forehead and had promised to keep her safe.
With the recent news about the letters, he was afraid he wasn’t doing enough. After he broke off their kiss, he resolved to make a few changes around the house to change the mindset everyone had about his governess, or about his feelings for her.
His decision was going to keep her safe and happy. And no one would be able to touch her by the time he was done.
***
Kent spent more time with Laura and the children in a week than he had ever spent with them in the year. He had breakfast and dinner with them every day and sometimes took Laura to the meadow so they could walk alone, even if they said few words to themselves. He escorted her to her room after dinner, too, making sure he was the last person she saw before drifting off to sleep.
Recently, with the way he called Laura by her first name, James and Bruce had begun to call her by name too. He had thought it would make Laura uncomfortable, but she had always smiled in response, caring for the children more than she had in the past.
Subsequently, he approached her after breakfast and asked if she had ever thought of visiting her home. “You have been here for two years, Laura,” he said, walking alongside her to her room.
She stopped in the middle of the passageway and stared at him questioningly. He realized what her fears were instantly and smiled at her. “You aren’t being dismissed, Miss Williams,” he grinned. “It just struck me how so much you know about where I am from as the Duke of Kent and how little I know about where you are from.”
“I have told you everything there is to know, Your Grace.”
“Aye, about your head teacher father and your educated brother. Neither have ever been to the manor. I assume they sometimes write to you?”
“Father writes always,” Laura whispered.
“And your brother?”
“He left a very long time ago, always seeking to travel the world instead of caring for Father.”
“You never spoke of your mother.”
Laura looked away and proceeded down the hall. He sometimes wondered if he was ever going to know the right words to say to her to make her less anxious around him. “Laura?” he whispered.
“She passed away a long time ago, Your Grace.”
He wasn’t surprised. He was about to apologize for talking about her when she turned abruptly and asked: “Why bring this up, Your Grace? I don’t ever think of leaving the manor.”
“And you won’t be leaving,” he assured her, speaking under his breath.
He looked around them for a while before he held her hand and pulled her into her bedroom. Once they were alone, he heaved a sigh and told her to sit.
“What is it, Your Grace?” she asked.
“Another letter for you,” he said, shoving his hand into his pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper.
“It was dropped for you to find this time?” Laura asked, gasping in surprise.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It was left right here for you. I have personally checked your room recently just to be sure you were safe.”
“When was this?” Laura asked.
“This morning. It was while you were at the bath.”
She blinked at him and he had to avoid her eyes for a moment since he knew she would deduce immediately that he had been in her bedroom. “Did you see anyone?” she asked after a few seconds of silence. “And what does it say?”
“No,” he sighed, “but I am even now sure whoever it is, it has to be someone in the manor.”
“What does it say?” Laura asked again. She had become nervous, and he didn’t blame her at all. He flipped the paper open and reluctantly read out the sentences on it: Le--leave. It will be the last letter you will read before sundown, Miss Williams. Take the memories with you.
Laura wrapped her arms around her body, shivering. “You have a plan, Your Grace?” she asked.
“Yes,” he sighed. “I think it is high time you left the manor for a while.”
***
The carriage would be in front of the manor soon. Laura quietly folded her dresses, thinking about the journey back to Southend. It had been over a month since she heard from her father, but she knew he was well. When he had learned of her employment with the Duke of Kent, he hadn’t been especially glad that she would be leaving for as long as she served, but he had been happy for her.
“You would always be alright, Laura Bear?” he had grinned, and she had nodded, hugging him and staring around the house with the impression that she may never return.
She finally packed her last dress into her box and heaved a sigh. The first time she had been in the manor, she remembered, it had been one of the most important days of her life. Although she had been anxious when she met Josephine for the first time, and she had led her to meet the duchess, coming across the Duchess of Kent for the first time had lifted her spirits. She hadn’t been treated as an employee but as a fellow woman who shared similar education and knowledge of letters.
She wo
uldn’t want you to hide like a coward while the duke hunts who has been threatening you.
Laura thought about it and decided that the voice in her head was probably right. While she had made the same man care for her as he had cared for his wife, she wasn’t as strong as the Duchess of Kent. It was why she was an easy target for assailing and multiple spiteful letters. She had run to the duke and his mother instead of finding out who her assailant was herself. And now? Now, she was told to return to her family so that the duke could lay a trap–a trap she wasn’t sure would work.
She heaved a sigh and clasped the lock of her box shut. She couldn’t bear to think of how heartbroken James and Bruce would be if they were made to believe that she had abandoned them. She hadn’t seen them since the duke spoke about another letter on her bed, and she doubted if she would before the carriage took her home. The plan was for her to leave in a hurry as if she was frightened beyond words.
Laura closed her eyes and prepared herself for the two hours’ ride to Southend. It was a little town at the edge of a river and with the sun gradually making its way from the sky, she could get there by nightfall.
She was about to step towards the window and inhale the fresh air from the meadow–just in case she was never coming back–when she realized that something was wrong with her.
First, it was her vision. It dwindled gradually while her thoughts became fuzzy. The pain in her stomach came next, and then the lightheadedness. She stumbled towards the door, trying to scream but fell on her face instead. Everything happened fast afterward, various thoughts of helplessness rushing through her head.
She had been poisoned, she thought before she noticed the smoke that had begun to engulf her room. Fire!
Her assailant couldn’t even wait for the sundown as the letter had informed her of before they ended her life.
Chapter 10
Mystery Revealed
“You will love it here,” the duchess said, smiling at her. “And maybe I will love you being here too.”
Laura was smiling back at the duchess who seemed to be hiding a lot of pain behind her broad smile. When Laura finally responded with a nod, expressing her dedication to her role as a governess in the manor, the duchess swept her eyes to the door which slowly creaked open to let in a boy of three to four years. He was led into the room by a young maid.
“You have met Josephine, the housekeeper.” the duchess said. “This is Andrea; she is Josephine’s daughter and has been in the manor since she was a little girl. The cute bunny is my son, James.”
Laura smiled at Andrea but noticed that the younger girl wouldn’t move an inch or even release the young boy to meet his mother. When she smiled at the boy next, he glanced at his feet to hide a smile. “Mother?” he said, trying to get out the maid’s grasp and run towards the bed.
“Oh, dear child,” the duchess whispered, “Mother is a little in pain at the moment. Take him away, Andrea. He doesn’t have to see me this way.”
Andrea turned without another word, dragging James with her. “You should take the governess to her chamber,” the duchess groaned behind her. “And get me Josephine and the midwives!”
Laura realized that her pain had gotten more intense, and the duchess’ effort to hide her pain had yielded no fruit. She wished she could help, but Josephine and a few other maids suddenly rushed into the room, running towards the bed to help the duchess out of her clothes. “You need to leave now, Miss Williams. Andrea, get the child out of here!” Josephine called.
Laura had stepped out of the room, watching the expressions on everyone’s faces with interest. While half of the maids had seemed confused and distressed, the expression on Andrea’s face suggested happiness and satisfaction. She clutched James to her chest and whistled out of the room, forgetting her task to guide Laura to her chamber.
***
She was no longer lying helplessly on the floor or dying with smoke getting thicker in her lungs.
Laura jolted awake, experiencing a feeling of melancholy as pain shot through her head and throat. She was alone on a bed in a very large room, and there was a fireplace in front of her, illuminating the walls with sparks of light. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she noticed an enormous portrait on the wall beside her that looked like an older version of Kent. Standing beside him on a different portrait, a younger Dowager Duchess smiled gaily at her. Laura realized with a sad smile that it was the first time she had ever seen the woman with a broad smile on her face.
Staring at the rest of the room and looking through the windows at the vast meadow, she realized she was still in the Hartley Manor–the dowager duchess’ room to be precise–and had escaped death the second time. The sun was just making its way to the sky with new rays of light, indicating that she had been unconscious for almost twenty-four hours. Instead of the typical gentle wind of the previous day, the breeze whizzed heavily into the room, nearly blowing off the fire from the woods in the fireplace.
In the silence of the room, Laura thought about the memory that sped through her mind as she gasped for breath in the middle of the room. She clutched the sheets to her chest, trying as much as possible to remember what had happened and why she wasn’t dead. When she closed her eyes, she felt excruciating pain, but she had expected it; so her mind disregarded it. What she focused on instead was the blurry image of someone staring cheerfully at her body as the smoke got thicker.
Focus, Laura. Find them. Find your attacker.
The pain she felt earlier was back, and it was distracting her from her goal. Laura persisted, getting her mind back to the morning and seeing her room clearly now. The smoke came from a fire that had started from a burning log. Someone had thrown it into her room as she fell onto the ground, wincing in pain from the poison she had consumed.
Her eyes fluttered open as the image in her head became as clear as day. She would have doubted what she saw if it wasn’t the only rational explanation for remembering her first day in the manor in the first place.
“Miss Williams?”
Laura jerked backward in fear as she noticed the lanky woman quietly slipping into the room and stepping towards her. “You,” she whispered. “You tried to kill me!”
Andrea had the usual snort on her face. She stopped a few feet from the bed while Laura tried to move, wincing in pain as every inch of her body hurt in response.
“You should have left a long time ago,” Andrea grunted.
Laura sighed, realizing that there was no use attempting an escape. Her head still hurt while her bones ached, probably from the poison she had been given.
“What did I take–the poison you gave me, what was it?” she groaned at Andrea.
She could scream–there was that option–but Andrea could finish her off before anyone got to her. Staring at her hands as she took a step towards her, she realized she had also come prepared. A blade flashed in her hand while she gritted her teeth and slowly glanced over her shoulder.
“Poison would arouse suspicion,” she said. “I only gave you a sleeping potion to weaken you while I made the fire look like an accident.”
Laura shook her head. “It didn’t work, did it? The duke saved me again!” And I am still here!
Andrea shook her head sadly. “No, he didn’t,” she whispered. “You don’t remember anything about the previous morning, do you?”
Laura closed her eyes briefly, and at that moment, she saw Andrea clearly. She was the figure at the doorway, smiling happily at her lifeless body. Someone had rushed into the hallway and had screamed at her, and Andrea briskly disappeared from the door. Someone risked their life by jumping into the thickening smoke afterward and had dragged her out into the free passageway.
“Josephine,” Laura whispered, opening her eyes and noticing that Andrea had taken another step towards her. “She—she saw you and saved me?”
“My own mother,” Andrea whispered bitterly. “She never really understood my affection towards the duke.”
Laura shook her head confused
ly. “You have feelings for the duke?”
“Feelings? I love him!” Andrea groaned. “I waited all this while for his mourning period to be over–at least that was what Mother assured me. The duke would love me after he was done, mourning his wife. And when he finally did, when he was supposed to be mine, you came along, taking him away from me. I saw the way he looks at you, Miss Williams. I saw how he holds your hand and how he pulled you close and kissed you by the balcony.”
“You have been stalking him…and me,” Laura muttered. She actually pitied Andrea, thinking about all the expectations she might have had in respect to the oblivious duke.
“Aye,” Andrea replied, “that, I have, and Mother knew. She is in the library now, telling the duke about everything I have done. She wasn’t supposed to find me or you before I ended it all. She didn’t know I would do anything to make sure that that the duke becomes mine…that his children become mine too.”
“Anything, like making sure the duchess dies at childbirth?”
Laura had deliberately mentioned that to see if her suspicions were right. Andrea didn’t flinch. She only shrugged and took another step towards her. She held up her blade, fastening her fingers around its handle. “The duchess was in the way too,” she said.
“What about the duke?”
“What about him?” Andrea paused.
Laura could feel her heart beating rapidly against her chest. She was afraid but escaping death twice had a way of expecting the best from worse situations. She had that little hope that someone could get to the room before Andrea realized that she had actually been stalling her.
“If you love him, perhaps he also loves you,” she whispered, clearing her throat.
Andrea blinked rapidly at her. “But he kissed you,” she grunted. “He wouldn’t let you leave despite all the threatening letters that I wrote.”
Laura closed her eyes and winced in pain. She imagined all the time she had tried to figure out who could hate her enough to use words such as “wretched whore” and “wench” to describe her. She should have known it was always Andrea–the girl had never walked past her without a scowl or a hiss.
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