So, there was a life and death situation, but she couldn’t squash that tiny voice in her head telling her that Reed didn’t want to see her anymore.
It was the afternoon of the ball when the duchess declared they rest before getting ready. They were in the parlor, finishing up tea. “There will be dancing until dawn,” she declared. “And you ladies must be ready.”
Bridget seemed the most excited out of all of them. “I can’t wait.” Her pretty blue eyes sparkled. “Perhaps I’ll meet my True Mate tonight.”
“You know,” Julianna said as she turned her head toward Bridget. “You never did tell us about this knowing your True Mate thing.”
“Signorina, please!” Rossi stuck his head from behind the large canvass and waved a paintbrush in the air. “Do not move!”
“Oops! Sorry.” Julianna returned to her original pose, seated with her hands on her lap, her head turned toward the artist.
“I suppose no one has told you about my family legend?” Bridget asked.
“No,” Elise said.
“Well, how do I explain it?” She looked up thoughtfully. “The Lycans in my family always know their True Mates as soon as they meet them. We’re supposed to get this feeling or reaction. I’m told it’s difficult to describe, and it’s not always the same for everyone. But, when you feel it, you just know.”
“How does that work? And why only your family?” Julianna piped in, though she remained perfectly still.
“I don’t know why, that’s just the way it is,” Bridget stated matter-of-factly. “It happened to my parents, to Eleanor’s parents, Eleanor, and Reed too.”
Elise felt like she’d been struck on the head with a blunt object. Reed already had a True Mate?
“No, not to Reed,” the dowager duchess said in a scathing tone. “That … woman he married was certainly not his True Mate.”
Bridget covered her mouth in horror. “Oh, I’m sorry, Your Grace. I didn’t realize.”
“He’s married?” Julianna said, her head snapping toward them which earned her another reprimand from Signore Rossi.
“Was married,” the duchess corrected. The air seemed to grow colder, and the tension in the room became thick as molasses. “That woman is no longer with us. I would say God rest her soul, but …” She stood up. “We will not speak of such things as it’s not something one discusses in polite conversation.” Without another word, she strode out of the room.
Elise let out a breath as soon as the air in the room felt normal. Reed was married. Had been married, apparently, but his wife died. What had happened to her? She scanned her memories of the past week, trying to remember if there had been any indication he’d had a wife. There were no portraits of her, no feminine touches in his home, and no one mentioned her at all. It was like she’d never existed.
“So, what’s the story with the wife?” Julianna asked Bridget. So lost in her thoughts, Elise didn’t realize that Signore Rossi had packed up and left, leaving the three of them alone.
“I’m afraid I was too young to know,” Bridget said. “And no one will tell me the exact details. I only know that he was married, and she died a year or two after the wedding.”
Julianna let out a snort. “You’re not really serious, right? About the True Mate thing? Like, you’re supposed to just know who he is? You lock eyes across the ballroom and bam! You’re my True Mate?”
Bridget looked at her like Julianna had just told her that Santa Claus didn’t exist. “Of course I’m serious. It’s all true. At least for my family.”
“Bull—I mean, I’m having a hard time believing it.” She stretched her neck from side to side and rubbed a hand on her lower back. “Man, sitting for hours isn’t easy work. I think I’ll take the old bat’s advice and get some rest. I’ll see you guys tonight.”
“I think I’ll take a wee nap as well.” Bridget bid Elise goodbye and followed Julianna out of the parlor.
Elise sank deeper into the couch, her emotions a whirlwind inside her. She wasn’t sure what disturbed her more—the fact that Reed had been married to someone who wasn’t his True Mate or that his real True Mate was somewhere out there, waiting for him to recognize her. She supposed she should feel sympathy for the poor woman seeing as Reed was such a cold-hearted snob who thought everyone was beneath him.
But no, there would be no True Mate for him.
Not now, and not ever. Her throat tightened again, thinking of what would happen to Reed. And all because of them.
You can’t change the past, she chided herself. The future she knew depended on it.
Maybe it was better that Reed was avoiding her. She swallowed the tears forming in her throat and stood up, her fists at her side.
Protect the family. Get home. Keep the past intact.
Those were her main objectives, and she would focus on those for now, rather than trying to change things she had no control over or pine for a man who was, for all intents and purposes, already dead.
Chapter Twelve
“Ah, so this is where you’re hiding.”
Though Reed cringed inwardly, his face remained impassive. Of course Jeremy would come to White’s looking for him. He looked up at his brother-in-law’s disapproving face, but didn’t move.
“May I have a word, Your Grace?” Jeremy said in a terse tone.
“If you will excuse me, gentlemen,” he said to the other men at the card table as he stood up. “I have some family business to attend to.”
“Can’t stand to lose another round, Hunter?” Hugh Montley, the Earl of Haughton, joked.
“You’re not leaving now, are you?” Viscount Byron waved at him to try and get him to sit down. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen you lose this much.”
“Which is why I should cut my losses short.” He gave them an apologetic nod and then followed Jeremy out of the card room.
