To Defy A Duke

Chapter 48

"Without a credible witness." Jasper snatches up the letter, crumbles it up into a ball and throws it into the fire. The flames lick up the paper greedily, Eliza bites her lip as the parchment burns away into nothing. She watches him stand up and pace on his side of the desk, he runs a hand through his hair and kicks the claw of his desk, she jumps and folds her hands in her lap.

"Why?" He whispers to himself. "Why would he do this?"

"Love?" She suggests tentatively.

"She's a servant!" He articulates.

"So?" She raises her eyebrows at him.

"They have no place together in society!" He states in a final tone.

"Becuase she's a servant?" Eliza asks, "How do her circumstances make her any less deserving of him?"

"Because......" Jasper pauses and turns and looks her straight in the eye, she shifts in her seat. He leans across the desk and points a finger at her

"It was you."

Eliza frowns at his accusing finger.

"That's why you went to town." He says, "You were their witness."

She rises to her feet slowly and looks him in the eye, her voice steady.

"I wanted to tell you." She starts to say as she standing. "But..."

"But you were contented to ruin my best friend's life." He finishes bitterly.

"I have not ruined his life! He loves her!" She exclaims assertively.

"How would you know?" He spits at her.

"He wrote me a letter!"

Jasper scoffs and turns around to face the wall. Eliza walks around the desk and places a hand on his shoulder.

"You know just as well as I do that James would not risk his reputation, his inheritance for anything less than love."

"It was not your choice to make." He shrugs her off and walks away.

"It was theirs and they made it together." She insists.

"Shouldn't we make choices like this together?" He says bitterly, she almost stamps her foot in frustration but she clenches her fists and speaks calmly.

"I couldn't tell you, Jasper, James asked me not to tell you, I knew you would try to stop them."

"I am your husband, you should tell me everything."

"Being my husband doesn't give you that right." She says.

"You didn't even think!" He seethes.

"I did, I thought that they deserved to be together and that no one's opinion however logical or valued was worth breaking their hearts."

"You realize that you have ruined his life and destroyed any chances he has in society."

"Why does any of that matter if they have each other?" Eliza cries, "If James is willing to give up everything to be with the one he loves then why does it matter?"

"Because." Jasper says, "Becuase it does."

"Anyone would die to have a person who loves them enough to give up everything," Eliza says slowly.

"Even you?" Jasper turns around and looks inter her hard face.

"What is that meant to mean?"

"Never mind." He turns away, Eliza walks back to her chair and leans on the arm.

"I know you are angry and I am sorry that I went behind your back but your friend is happy, doesn't that count for anything?"

Jasper sits down heavily on his chair, he massages his temples.

"I am sorry, but I had to do what I thought was right." She says quietly, strength draining from her voice.

Jasper doesn't even look up.

"Just leave." He mutters.

Eliza sighs and looks back once as she leaves the room. Her tears begin to pour faster and faster as she shuts the door behind her. Her sobs echo a path as she walks to the hallway. Her vision blurs as she runs up the stairs to the room, she slams the door and buries herself under the covers, not bothering to undress. She pulls the blankets up to her chin and places her head on the pillow. She flicks her shoes off using her toes and curls up into a ball. She drifts in and out of a distorted dream, his words swim in and out, they make her turn over on the mattress. At one point in the night when she thought she was awake she thought she could see the outline of a figure standing over her but when she blinked it was gone.

In the morning when she wakes up the other side of the bed is untouched. Her misery from the night before is still hanging around her head and she feels unrested and sick She slowly creeps out of bed and sits in front of her mirror. Her eyes are red and bloodshot, her hair is tangled and messy and her skin has a grey tinge. She looks nothing like the happy woman she was yesterday afternoon, she looks nothing like herself. She is too absorbed in her depressed appearance to hear the heavy footprints advancing towards her room.

"What is this?" Jasper bursts into the room holding something in his hand. Eliza turns around quickly to look at his angry face.

"You are writing about my father in your letters now?" He slams a piece parchment on the desk and begins pacing the width of the bedroom. Eliza picks it up and recognizes Charlotte's handwriting, it is dated for yesterday, a reply to her first letter.

"You read my letter?"

Jasper stops pacing around the bedroom.

"This letter is addressed to me, you had no right to open it," Eliza says standing, still holding her letter.

"Just as you had no right to interfere with James." He replies, his voice flat.

"I didn't interfere, he asked me."

Jasper snorts and leans against a bedpost, she feels her restraint snap inside and marches over to him.

"Why can't you accept that your best friend's happiness involves someone who had the unfortunate luck of being born into a lower class family," Eliza shouts. "He loves Cecily enough to give up everything materialistic, he doesn't care about what he's lost because he has her!"

Jasper looks down at her.

"You need to stop blaming me for this." She says, she lowers her eyes to the floor. "I am going to go outside.

She leaves him standing in the middle of the room, his jaw locked and eyes furious. Eliza calms her heart as she walks down the stairs and out into the garden. As soon as she is alone she runs around the side of the house to the part of the ground hidden by trees and plants. She trips over a loose root and falls onto the trunk of an apple tree with a yelp. She screams in frustration and begins to hit and kick the solid trunk. She doesn't feel the pain until she stops, panting, and a dull ache flows up her wrists. She sinks down onto the mossy ground and puts her head in her hands. She knows in her heart she did the right thing but the pain it has caused and the things they said to each other, she shivers and hugs herself.

"I love him but I can't do this."