The Duke’s Guests Laughed as the Maid Fell Into the Lake — She Said, “I’ll Remember Every Face”
Chapter 25
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They were Vane's men, all of them. If they took her out of this church, she would never come back. She would be in the river before the wedding cake was cut.Silas took her by the arm. His fingers were thin and cold and strong as iron."Your Grace!" Clara turned toward the altar. She did not care anymore that everyone was watching; she did not care about her pride. "Your Grace! Please, please look at me! You know me! You know I'm not mad! Please don't let them take me!"The Duke stood at the altar with Lady Cordelia's hand in his. He looked at Clara for a long, long moment. He looked at her muddy face, her bleeding wrists, her eyes full of desperate tears.And then he looked away."Remove her," he said coldly.Clara felt something inside her break. She did not fight anymore; she could not. Silas and the ushers dragged her backward up the aisle, and her feet slid uselessly on the wet stone. The guests stared at her as she passed; a few of them laughed again. Lady Cordelia smiled a small, triumphant smile and squeezed the Duke's hand.The great wooden doors swung open: bright sunlight, the cold air of the churchyard, a closed carriage waiting at the gate with its curtains drawn. Clara looked back one last time. The Duke was standing at the altar with his back to her, exactly as he had stood in the great hall, as if she had never mattered to him at all.The doors closed with a heavy, final boom.Inside the church, in the sudden silence, the vicar picked up his book with shaking hands. He cleared his throat. He found his place on the page again."If any man here knows of any reason," he said, "why these two people should not be joined together in holy matrimony, let him speak now, or forever hold his peace."The church was silent. The vicar waited. Lady Cordelia smiled up at her groom. In the front pew, Lord Edmund Vane folded his hands in his lap and let out a long, quiet breath. It was over. In one minute, it would all be over.The Duke of Ravensworth looked down at the bride beside him. "I do," he said.A few of the ladies sighed happily. The vicar blinked in confusion. "Your Grace, that isn't quite the right moment for—""I do know a reason," the Duke said, and his voice rang off the stone walls like a bell. "I know a very good reason why this marriage cannot happen."He let go of Cordelia's hand. Then he turned toward the back of the church and shouted:"Now!"Outside in the churchyard, Silas Crane was pushing Clara toward the waiting carriage. The two ushers walked close behind, blocking anyone from seeing. Clara did not struggle anymore; she felt empty, as if the river had washed everything out of her.Silas pulled open the carriage door, and a man stepped out of it. He was short and broad, in a plain brown coat with a thick red mustache. He held a heavy wooden club in one hand and a pair of iron handcuffs in the other.