Chapter Thirty-One, Consolation

Victoria took a drink of tea and then paused, seeing a carriage pull up to the front of her home. She leaned forward to look out the window to see that it was her husband. He exited the carriage and her younger brother shortly followed suit, his expression not in the least pleasant. She was under the impression that he might have been forcefully dragged to her home. She turned away from the window after Dane glanced up at the snow that was falling more heavily now that it was getting deeper into the season.

Setting her teacup on the saucer on the end table, she stood up and glided over to the doors, opening them wide enough so that she might catch some of their conversation. She knew Dane well enough that he would not outright tell her what was on his mind, especially if it involved Sabrina. She returned to sitting at the divan and raised her teacup to her lips as the doors opened and the butler murmured, “Good afternoon, my lords,” which was immediately drowned out by Dane’s irritated voice, “It’s almost been five days! Five days! You would think that would be enough time for her to get over her petty piss fit!”

“It’s a good thing you’re not married now,” Leon grumbled in response. Clearly their outing together had put them both in foul moods. Victoria frowned slightly, seeing her chances of extracting any information from either of them ultimately lessening. “Give her time, Dane. You’re acting like an insensitive prick.”

“Have you forgotten that I come from a family where insensitive pricks originate from? Be thankful you never had to meet my father, Leon. If you’d had to deal with him to get married to Victoria, you would have had to poison him in order for the wedding to happen.” Victoria heard their footsteps start towards the drawing room, where she was currently situated, each set fast-paced. “I’ve had the damn ring burning in my pocket for the past two days. How am I supposed to get it on her finger if she refuses to see me?”

“There’s a simple solution for that, Darling,” Leon snidely returned. “Take the ring out of your pocket and force your way through her door. Have you even tried to contact her?”

“She told me not to!”

“Since when have you ever listened?” He demanded as he violently threw the doors open. Leon shot a glare at Dane a few steps behind him. When he turned his attention back to the room, he halted in place and Dane stopped a moment later, his mouth turned down in confusion. His gaze swept the room and landed on Victoria, startled.

“Oh.”

“What a lovely way to greet your sister,” Victoria remarked, sipping at her tea, calmly surveying the two males. “It certainly is not a particularly accurate representation of your intellect.” Dane’s response to that was a thoroughly sarcastic roll of his eyes. She smiled, enjoying his bad mood even though she knew she shouldn’t. It was when he got angry that she feared him. When he or Nicolas was simply frustrated, they went into the attitude mode. She was certain they would stomp their foot if it didn’t bring their sexual appeal down a notch. Some days she wished they would so she relive the days when she would bend down and pinch their cheeks, saying, “You are just so cute!” That, however, really would piss them off.

“I was under the impression you were going out today,” Leon flatly said, trying to reign in his negative emotions to rearrange the calm, soothing mask he always wore.

“I cancelled my plans with Melissa at the last minute. You needn’t worry, Leon,” she added as he opened his mouth, “I am not going to invade yours and Dane’s personal affairs. Sabrina sent me a note with an urgent request, so I am on my way to her home. I wanted to finish my tea first.” She flicked a look to Dane’s face. A black, doleful look entered his eyes, his mouth pursing in a thin, straight line. Her amusement faded, seeing the injured look behind the temper. “That is, if neither of you need me...?” She queried, watching Dane more so than her husband. For a moment, it appeared as though Dane might have asked her to stay, but instead he drew in a breath and controlled himself just as Leon had a few seconds ago.

“No, sister,” her brother quietly assured, smiling lightly. Nothing could erase the hurt in his eyes, though, no matter what his words were or how much he smiled. “This is between Leon and I. Have a nice time.”

“Thank you.” She stood and brushed her lips over Leon’s and then turned to Dane, kissing him on the cheek briefly so as not to embarrass him. “Don’t stress yourself too much, alright? You have dealt with too much lately. Haven’t you thought to take a break? You are always working so hard to make things right...” Dane eyed her and then shook his head, his eyes hardening obstinately.

“No, I have yet one more thing that needs mending. I won’t sleep until I know it is fixed in my favor. If it isn’t dealt with at all...” He paused, staring at Leon over Victoria’s head for a moment, as though the elder male held the end of his sentence. He looked away and sighed wearily, staring out the window. “...Then I’m giving up my gaming hell to Nicolas and leaving England.” Victoria stared at him, shocked. Leon muttered something beneath his breath that not even Victoria could understand. From what she gathered, it was in Spanish. “Go on to Sabrina’s, Victoria,” he continued, dismissing his words as nothing more. “She’ll start to wonder if you’re late.”

“...Of course.” She gave a shaky smile and then hurried out of the room.

Once the doors shut behind her, Leon moved to the glasses and brandy, pouring both him and Dane a glass. Dane went to stand at the window, a wistful expression taking hold of his features. Leon joined him at the window and handed him a glass. For a moment, neither of them said anything until Victoria and the carriage was rolling away from the house. “Are you serious about what you said?” Leon inquired in a purposely bored tone.

“Yes,” Dane replied, not bothering to meet Leon’s gaze as his companion turned to stare at him. “Yes, I was very serious.”

As for Victoria, she was dwelling heavily on Dane and Leon’s behavior as of late. From the bit of conversation she gathered from eavesdropping, Sabrina had been avoiding Dane lately and told him that she did not want him calling on her. It seemed strange that this would suddenly happen. In fact, she wished she knew the background details of the event so that she might be able to convince Sabrina to call for him. And I’m worried about Leon, too, Victoria admitted to herself, pulling the curtains back from the window so that she might see the snow that was falling thickly on the roads. I thought that he would tell me what he and Sabrina talked about after she and Melissa had left, but he didn’t. He didn’t even tell me in the following days. I can tell that something is going on – no one has told me anything, though. Nicolas and Casper haven’t been over to the house in the past week and this is the first time Dane has been.

Heaving a great sigh, Victoria thrust the curtains back in place and stared ahead of her, a bit wounded at being left out. Wasn’t I a part of everything that happened with Reggie and Radisson? I thought I was somewhat included. And am I not Sabrina’s friend? Why did she never tell me anything? Why did Leon not tell me of their conversation? Did he really think it so personal that I not know? After awhile of brooding over this, she decided, Of course Leon would not tell me. I should know by now that Leon’s idea of honor is greater than any other man’s. If he was consulted by someone like Sabrina, who disliked him in the beginning, he would keep what they talked about to themselves.

When the door opened, she started in surprise, turning to stare at the footman. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. “My lady?” He extended a hand, as though unsure of what she was doing still sitting serenely in the carriage. She blinked and then slid forward, offering her hand. She stepped down with assistance and she murmured a vague ‘thank you,’ before moving forward towards the gates. A butler was waiting to open them. He smiled in greeting and she returned it fleetingly.

He escorted her inside the house, where he removed her thick fur coat. As he was putting the coat away, Sabrina appeared in the foyer and smiled in greeting. “Victoria, I am so glad you came.” Victoria gave a tiny smile in answer and as Sabrina drew near, Victoria brought her into a friendly embrace. Sabrina returned it in kind. “I apologize for calling you out so abruptly...” They pulled away and Victoria shook her head.

“No, it is quite alright, Sabrina. There are some things I must discuss with you, anyway.” Sabrina nodded agreeably and after sending an order to a maid to fetch them some tea and cakes, she ushered Victoria to the parlor. All the curtains were pulled away to let in the light and there was a low, warm fire flickering in the hearth. As the two females settled at the divan together, Victoria could tell simply by the sad twist to Sabrina’s mouth that she was not at all happy. She had expected her to be spiteful and unpleasant; for some reason, Victoria had imagined that now that Dane had solved her problems, Sabrina was shunning him to get him out of her life. It was apparent this was not the case. “How are you?”

Sabrina lifted her shoulders helplessly. “Miserable, I suppose. You know that I am not talking to Dane, I suppose?”

“I only found out today and by eavesdropping, at that. My house has been lonely of late. Leon is there, but my brothers haven’t been over, let alone Casper.”

“Casper is still dealing with some of the less significant issues in the underworld, I hear,” Sabrina responded softly, waving a hand as the maid entered with a tray. She curtsied and left the room, shutting the doors behind her. Sabrina served them tea, adding, “I only know that because Nicolas has been over several times in the past five days. He is acting like an overprotective, overbearing, aggravating...” She sighed, rolling her eyes slightly before taking a drink of her tea. “Well. Needless to say, he won’t leave me alone. Every time he comes over, he has something unpleasant to say about the way I dress. ‘Why are you wearing those drab colours? You look like you’re going into mourning!’ or ‘Don’t you ever look at yourself in the mirror when you wake up?’ or his favorite thus far, ‘That dress makes you look fat.’”

“Oh, my,” Victoria murmured, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “But why is he even coming over? Don’t you think that’s a bit unfair, Sabrina, allowing Nicolas to visit when Dane is not? It’s sort of waving a piece of meat in the face of a starving dog and laughing at him.” Sabrina lowered her eyes to her tea as Victoria added sugar to hers.

“He hurt me, Victoria. The day that I talked to Leon? Originally I was going to tell you, but Leon...He told me that it was possible that you knew why Dane and the other two associated with me at first and I couldn’t bring myself to talk to you about it.” Victoria abandoned her tea, thoroughly offended. Seeing it, Sabrina set her tea aside and took her hands, asking, “How could I, Victoria? You knew Dane better than anyone and you only gave me a mediocre amount of warning.” Releasing her hands, she bitterly continued, “He never even told me. Casper came to tell me because he saw that I was getting attached to Dane and he didn’t want me to be hurt. He knew that I needed to know before I went any further. Dane never even thought to tell me the truth!”

“...I don’t understand, Sabrina,” Victoria admitted, looking away. “That doesn’t explain why you never talked to me.”

“Dane and Nicolas were competing to bed me,” Sabrina explained, “and you knew that they had done this before, but you never told me. Did you not think it suspicious that all three of the infamous rogues of London had their eye out for me and were bothering with some little widow just out of mourning?” Victoria turned to object to the almost caustic tone, but saw the betrayal on Sabrina’s face. Her indignant rebuttal faded as she realized Sabrina had every right to feel betrayed. Out of all of them, only Leon and Casper had been honest. Victoria had never even really tried to stop either of her brother’s pursue of Sabrina except for the night when she first met her. Otherwise, she let them do as they wish and turned a blind eye. She also did not encourage Dane to admit his originally intentions to Sabrina. In truth, Victoria had forgotten all about it.

“Did Leon tell you about this?” She murmured softly.

“No, Casper told me what they had been up to when they first met me. Leon told me about the previous time it had happened. Do you understand why I can’t see Dane now? I know that Leon said he loved me, but how I can trust Dane if he won’t even reveal what he’s really like? I’ve opened old wounds so that he could see what was beyond the surface but he is not willing to do that for even me.”

“Can you truly say that you want to see the person Dane was before he met you?” Victoria queried. “You have seen glimpses of it, have seen glimpses of the people Nicolas and Casper really are. Dane doesn’t have to try to stifle it because he rarely ever loses control. He’s afraid to do that – everyone is afraid for him to do it. I cannot even handle it when he gets angry, Sabrina, because he has more of our father than even Nicolas. Once he unleashes his temper, it is hard for him to control it.” Victoria raised her teacup and took a slow sip from it. “He’s become so much more like the little brother that I remember and less like the rogue that Society sees. You’ve even tamed Nicolas somewhat.”

“I don’t believe you,” Sabrina muttered feebly, turning away and crossing her arms beneath her breasts in a familiar gesture of protection.

“Do you know what Dane said today, Sabrina?” Victoria gave a faint smile at remembering it. She had not had time to consider over it in the carriage because it was too strange an idea for her mind to completely grasp. “He said that if he did not manage to fix yours and his relationship, he would give up his gaming hell to Nicolas and was leaving England.” Sabrina whirled around to stare at her in disbelief. Victoria stared ahead, remarking, “Even though Nicolas is the richest, Dane’s gaming hell has been the most successful. He devotes himself to that place like a man does his family. Not to mention, England – mostly London – has always been his favorite region, no matter how many times we’ve traveled. That he would give up both of those things to escape the pain of your rejection...He would never give those up for anything else, Sabrina.” She finally looked to Sabrina to see there was a dazed look on her face.

“He would give up his gaming hell?” she whispered in amazement. She quickly blinked and said, “I want him to say it to my face. Forgive me for being so distrustful, but I would not like to discover that you are lying to me and go running back to him.” She also took her tea and raised it to her lips. After a thoughtful drink, she stated, “I will call on him tomorrow...And if he says those same things to me and I find that he is sincere, then I will take him back. I still intend to talk to him about the other thing, though.”

“That is fine, just so long as you do talk with him.” There was a pause. “Do you mind me asking why Nicolas has been on your doorstep when I have not seen him at all?”

“He’s angry with Casper and thinks I’m being ridiculous, so he has been trying to convince me to go see Dane.” She took another drink of her tea, her eyebrows knitting together. “He seems to think insulting me and picking fun is going to make me call for Dane.”

“That is Nicolas’s solution for everything, it seems.”

“But anyway...I wanted to ask you a favor, Victoria...”

X

Nicolas shoved his sister’s butler of his way as he stormed into the foyer. He tore off his coat and scarf, tossing them on the sputtering man. As he continued to the drawing room, he announced to its occupants, “I am outraged at the audacity of some women!” Leon looked up, annoyed, while Dane ignored him, a book covering his face. “Can you believe that I was sent away when I went to Sabrina Shields’s house?” Dane snorted. Nicolas glared and stomped to the divan that Dane was lying on and grabbed the book, saying, “Don’t be an ungrateful ass, Dane. I have been diligently going to her mansion every day for the past five days to get her to talk to you. She doesn’t even appreciate my constructive criticism on her outfits!”

“If it is anything like the comments you give Victoria on her outfits, then I can imagine why she is so unappreciative,” Leon said with a smirk. “Did you call her fat?”

“Of course not!” Nicolas indignantly snapped. “I told her that certain dresses made her look fat, that is all.” Dane let loose another snort. Nicolas’s expression grew absolutely mutinous and as Dane sat up, Nicolas slapped the book on his forehead, sending the younger of the two brothers tumbling back onto the divan, howling. Leon raised his eyebrows. One would think by their attitudes that Dane was not depressed and Nicolas was not insulted. “Not once has she denied me entrance and all of a sudden she thinks that she can turn me away like some common good-for-nothing! I thought about climbing over the gate and breaking in, but it is broad daylight and seeing as how I didn’t have any gloves and the gate was freezing, I decided to turn away.” Dane once again moved to sit up, but Nicolas smacked him again.

“Get that damned book away from him before I end up with a concussion!” Dane growled, holding his throbbing forehead. Nicolas flicked a look at him to measure how much his forehead really did hurt. Satisfied, Nicolas tossed the book at Leon, who caught it with ease.

“I was done, anyway.” They heard a carriage roll up and Nicolas moved to the windows, flicking the curtains aside to peek outside. “Damn! It’s Victoria. I was hoping to be gone before she got back...She’s going to give me hell for not being around. With that wife of Blake’s, I suspect?”

“No. Sabrina,” Leon pleasantly responded. Nicolas heaved a groan of dismay. He glanced around and then ended up remaining by the window, seeing as how there was no good place to blend in what with all the light colours Victoria preferred to adorn her house in. They could hear the doors opening and by the time Dane had successfully sat up, his palm resting on the place where Nicolas had thumped his forehead, Victoria’s shoes could be heard tapping down the hall. She stepped in as Nicolas had not bothered shutting the doors. She raised an eyebrow at Nicolas curiously.

“Well, I am surprised to see you here, brother,” she said. “Don’t even try to leave, because you and I are going to have a long talk about familial duties.” He gave her a sullen look. She smiled in a satisfied manner and then turned to Dane, holding out a letter folded and sealed with wax. Dane stared at it uncomprehendingly. “It’s from Sabrina. It was easier sending it through me.” After he took it, a bit disbelievingly, she held out her other hand, her hand made into fist. “She wanted me to give this to you.” He stared at her fist as if she might be holding a tarantula. “Why are you just staring at it? Come on, hold out your hand.”

“No,” he moaned, pushing her hand away. “I don’t want to know what she has to give me that is so tiny.” Victoria frowned and grabbed his hand, forcing him to put it out, palm up. She slapped something in his hand and curled his fingers around it. She patted his hand soothingly and then left, calling, “Nicolas, you had better not sneak out. I want to have a word with you after you’re done with the gentlemen.” Nicolas muttered something evil beneath his breath and pushed away from the window to stand in the middle of the room with his arms folded over his chest.

“What is it?” He demanded. Dane uncurled his fingers and a puzzled expression crossed his face. He closed his hand before either Nicolas or Leon could get a look at the object and opened the note, unfolding it. He read through it quickly and his mouth twisted in distaste. Leon stood and snatched it from his hands, holding it front of him. “Read it, already!”

Leon raised his eyes in a haughty stare towards Nicolas and then read aloud, “Dane. I am still very hurt by your distrust in me and although I wanted to call for you, I knew that I could not without knowing how much I could really trust you. As I said to your sister, how do I know that I can trust you when I have bared my soul to you and you have only shown me bits and pieces of yourself? I want to understand you and sometimes I think I do, but you always pull away like you don’t want me to. I understand Nicolas and Casper better than you. Nonetheless, I think it’s possible you are earnest in your affections. I’m willing to talk with you tomorrow. I gave Victoria something very precious to me. If you can’t figure out the message that is in it, then I suggest you think real hard on it overnight. Yours, Sabrina.” Leon looked up after the somewhat lengthy letter. “What did she give you, Dane?”

“A ring,” Dane answered, uncurling his fingers and holding up a petite wedding ring. “You know...I never noticed until now, but she kept her wedding ring on even after her husband’s death.”

“That’s the ring from her last wedding?” Nicolas asked. “A bit boring if you ask me.” Dane pushed his hand into his pocket and dug in it for a moment before raising another ring in his opposing hand. Nicolas blinked and peered at the second ring. “That, on the other hand...”

“Is unoriginal,” Dane finished. “That’s the entire point, though.” Nicolas held out a hand and Dane handed him it, putting the other ring in his pocket. As an amateur thief and a man who appreciated any kind of thing that might bring in money, Nicolas knew more than the average man when it came to the quality of jewelry. He held it up to his face, staring at in interestedly. The design of the ring was anything but common, looking almost like the Darling emblem, but with added twisted lines to it. The bright blue jewel placed in the middle shone brightly.

“It’s completely genuine,” Nicolas said, lowering the ring. “Real silver and a real blue diamond. Where did you come up with the design, Dane?”

His younger brother smiled at him and said, “It’s the Darling emblem combined with the Shields emblem. Not the emblem on Sabrina’s home – that’s Mackin’s – but the one on her father’s carriage.”

“Interesting,” Nicolas murmured, returning the ring. “Do you think that by giving you that ring she is trying to indicate that she’s ready for marriage?” Leon glanced at Dane to see that he was smiling contentedly for the first time in the past week.

“Yes, I think that is exactly what she’s saying.”

End Chapter Thirty-One