“I will not change my dress, just as I will not marry Robert Trench.”
My father’s dark eyebrows slammed down over slitted eyes. “You will marry him.”
“You don’t understand—”
His fist smacked against the tabletop. “It is you who does not understand.” He picked up the contract to dangle it in my face. “This is a contract—a binding legal document. If broken, there could be serious consequences. Lord Trench has the power to ruin us.”
I knew what a bloody betrothal contract was. And I also knew that it could be broken thanks to Lady Jane Fuller eloping with the butler instead of her fiancé, Lord Whitmore.
“How could he ruin us?”
By saying we’d broken a contract? It may cause a small scandal, but it certainly wasn’t enough toruinus.
His eyes shuttered, and he turned to stare out the window at the sea birds soaring through the clouds. “Some of my business ventures have not been as profitable as expected. Without an influx of cash from Lord Trench, I would have to dismiss the household staff and perhaps sell the estate.” Sighing, he dropped his head into his hands. “Your dowries are gone, Aveen.”
Suddenly, it all made sense.
The ultimatum.
The timeline.
Lady Eithne’s remarks that day in town.
Here I was, spending money hand over fist on Keelynn’s party and new dress like a dolt. Why hadn’t my father reigned me in? Why hadn’t he shared this crisis with us instead of keeping us in the dark?
Before I could voice the question, the answer became clear: my father hadn’t confided in us because we were nothing more than useless girls.
A nuisance. A burden.Profitable.
“Lord Trench understands our situation,” he went on, “but believes you will make a fine wife for his son. Without him, we would have nothing.”
I collapsed onto the chair, trying to make sense of the world falling apart around me.
“Robert cares for Keelynn.”
“I am aware of their affinity for one another.” His lips flattened. “However, Lord Trench does not feel Keelynn is mature enough. And I’m inclined to agree.
“So, you see why we cannot break the contract,” my father finished, opening the top drawer in his desk and tucking away the piece of paper signifying the end of my freedom.“You have a duty to this family—to your sister. I expect you to remember that the next time you lose the run of yourself.”
Break the contract, and we’d be left destitute.
Father could sell the estate for all I cared. After all, there were only three of us. What did we need this big old house for anyway?
Without money, we would no longer be welcome in the same social circles. Again, I didn’t care. But Keelynn would. She’d be devastated to see an end to the parties and dresses and other comforts she’d grown accustomed to.
And she still wouldn’t be able to marry the man she loved.
Unless I could find a way to fix this.
Rían had promised me a wish.
I could wish for gold. Lots of gold. Enough to pay our debts and keep the house and make the betrothal contract obsolete.
Except Lord Trench wanted Robert to marry me.
What if I ran away?
And leave my father with a broken contract and my sister penniless?