Page 10 of The Duchess’ Little Miracle

“I did not promise to take care of her. I promised to help him figure out what she needs,” Seraphina insisted. She turned back to the mirror, brushing her hair. “I am very good at figuring things out.”

Leonora watched her for a long moment, her laughter fading. “You’re going to do it anyway, aren’t you?”

“I have to,” Seraphina said. Her hand stopped moving, and she looked at her sister through the mirror. “You understand that if this person tells the ton that I am the one writing the column, the ton will eat us alive? They will come for me, they will come for you... for all of us. If I do not find them, everything Lady Byron sacrificed to give us a good life will be destroyed. I would rather face a dozen crying children than let this family fall apart because I was too scared to keep my end of a bargain. I will make it work. I always do. Just trust me.”

But as she spoke the brave words aloud, she knew deep down, she didn’t believe it entirely. For the first time in her life, Seraphina was terrified. She felt completely in over her head. The truth was, she didn’t know anything about the Duke of Norwyn. She didn’t know what kind of man he truly was, or if he had told her the complete, honest truth in his study. For all she knew, he could still be the blackmailer, playing a clever game with her. Or he might know exactly who the culprit was and be leading her into a trap.

She didn’t know a thing. But she knew she had caught a single thread, and she had to keep pulling it.

She had to fix this because she remembered all too well what the ton was capable of. The ton had almost ruined her family completely when they first arrived in Mayfair. The nasty gossip about their appearance, the whispers about how odd they were, and the cruel jokes about three completely unrelated ladies being raised as sisters by Lady Byron had nearly broken them.

Now, someone was threatening to start that gossip all over again, armed with a weapon that could soil Euphemia’s reputation too and pull their whole lives down. Seraphina refused to let that happen.

No matter the cost, no matter how scared she was, she would be the one to fix this.

CHAPTER FIVE

“Afiring squad would be predictable,” William whispered, his deep voice hushed as he stared rigidly at the nursery door. “You can reason with soldiers. You cannot reason with whatever is happening in this room.”

Seraphina shifted slightly in her day dress, tilting her head to look up at him. “You look as if your coat is buttoned so tightly you cannot even take a full breath, Your Grace. It is a seven-year-old child, not a foreign diplomat.”

“She has rejected three separate plates of toast this morning,” William muttered, his eyebrows drawing together as if he was frustrated. “The governess believes it is a silent protest against the French tutor. I believe she is simply trying to break my spirit.”

“Well, at least she’s not... throwing teacups,” Seraphina whispered back, folding her arms over her chest.

“That would be good. At least she’d be doing something,” he said, rubbing a hand down his face with a look of pure exhaustion. “She does not do anything at all. She is completely quiet. She does not speak a single word to me; she does not touch her meals, and she simply sits by the window. But the nights are the real problem. She wakes up screaming from nightmares. The entire household is awake at two in the morning, and I am entirely at a loss.”

Seraphina felt a prickle of sympathy, but her own internal panic quickly pushed it aside. She knew everything about writing political strategies, but she knew absolutely nothing about quiet, traumatized little girls. Seraphina knew she treated children like strange, fragile specimens, keeping her distance and speaking to them as if they were a fully grown adult.

It was not her fault. Lady Byron had not raised them with any particular gift for softness.

“Have you tried talking to her?” Seraphina asked, trying to sound practical.

“Of course I have tried talking to her,” William snapped softly, looking more frustrated with himself than with her. “I manage estates, I speak in Parliament, and I deal with the finest minds in the realm. But when I sit down in front of that child, she looks at me as if I am a monster, and my mind goes entirely blank. I do not know how to bridge the gap, and honestly, I am not so sure I want to.”

“Well, standing out here like two statues isn’t going to fix it,” Seraphina said, taking a deep breath to steady her own racing heart. “Shall we open the door now?”

William straightened his coat, shifting back into his stiff posture. He turned the handle and pushed the door open, stepping into the bright, sunny room.

Alice was sitting on a small cushioned sofa by the window, her tiny hands folded neatly in her lap. She looked incredibly small against the grand backdrop of the Norwyn estate. Her eyes snapped toward the doorway as they entered, but her little face remained completely blank, devoid of any joy.

William cleared his throat, the sound booming in the room as he walked forward, his steps stiff and formal. “Alice,” he said, his voice carrying the exact same tone he probably used to address the House of Lords. “This is Miss Seraphina. She has come to visit with you today. She is a woman of great intelligence and opinion, and she will be spending some time in your company.”

Seraphina wanted to bury her face in her hands.

A woman of great intelligence?

She was terrible with children, but then she was nowhere near William’s level.

Alice didn’t move. She didn’t blink. She just stared at Seraphina so intently that it made Seraphina want to look for a large piece of furniture to hide behind. The utter silence in the room stretched out, incredibly awkward.

William looked from Alice to Seraphina. He looked completely out of his depth, his hands twitching at his sides as if he wanted to run.

“Right then,” William said quickly, taking a step backward toward the nursery door. “Now that introductions have been made, I find I have a deeply pressing matter to attend to. The estate ledgers require my immediate attention, and the manager is waiting in the study. I shall leave the two of you to build a proper rapport.”

Seraphina’s jaw dropped. She turned her head so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, glaring at him in absolute shock.

“Your Grace, you won’t stay?” she asked him.