Within a week, all the servants in the household, the Viscount of Dolhm, and Peter Knight, had noticed that Seren had been crying.
Next was Lady Anika Dalton.
The lady came on a sunny and comparatively warm afternoon, bringing some infant-sized clothes she had knitted. Seren had also assumed she came to laugh at her, but the lady never laughed or smiled at all, as she usually did, upon seeing Seren.
“I do apologise, Your Grace,” Lady Anika said upon consuming her tea, “but I must ask: is His Grace around? I need to speak to him for a short while.”
Seren no longer cared if they were sleeping together, and directed the lady to Blackfall’s study, and Lady Anika went on her merry way.
After five minutes of sipping her tea in silence, however, Seren could not resist the urge to eavesdrop. She tiptoed towards the room. Thankfully, there were no servants nearby, as they usually avoided the duke’s part of the house.
Seren pressed her ear to the door, and the first words she heard was, “what the absolute fuck?”
The words came from Lady Anika.
A lovers’ quarrel, perhaps?
The lady continued, “if you did not care for her, you should not have married her.”
And he should have married Lady Anika instead. The words only confirmed Seren’s suspicions.
“And have an illegitimate child?” Blackfall said.
“Okay, now you have a potential heir; but what will you do with them? Discard them? Ship them to some faraway boarding school as soon as they turn of age?”
“Most of the aristocracy do. You should know your family is an outlier and not the norm.”
“Fine, but why her? You could have waited for someone you actually love.”
There was a pause.
And Blackfall said, “because I do not have time.”
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We've come to the end of part 3 aaaaa
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YOU ARE READING
The Duchess
Historical FictionSeren Ferguson marries the Duke of Blackfall after becoming pregnant with his child. It is, by all accounts, a loveless marriage. Will their relationship improve, or will she find love elsewhere, in unexpected places, from unexpected people?
