Sacrificial Bride to the Feared Lord Hastings-Chapter 103: Trust (2)

Victoria grabbed Dante’s hand before he could walk away from her and leave their friendship strained. "You must believe I wasn’t going to work with him. I made the mistake of not sharing it with you immediately, but I thought it would be best to wait after dinner," she explained.

"You spoke with Ophelia. It is little things like that which you do not need to do. Day after day, you give me more reason not to trust you. I cannot say for certain you wouldn’t have found his offer tempting."

"It was tempting," Victoria admitted. "I could have my home back, and as he said, in exchange for a woman I hardly knew, but I didn’t say yes then, and I won’t say yes in the future. I would never work with him. You must trust me that I know better. I only wanted the letter to offer you."

"If you are careful with how you behave, then there is no reason for me to doubt you. I hope your actions improve with how much planning you are doing. It is best that you remember that you do this to yourself for me to doubt you," said Dante.

"I know," Victoria replied, agreeing she had to blame herself. "That is why I didn’t accept his offer. I don’t want to lose you as a friend. There is some good that came from that talk. He was foolish to admit that he was close to Lord Valthorn."

"That was never a secret. Your uncle always blew where the wind took him. He became close to Lord Valthorn to be safe should they have won the war," said Dante.

"He said that I should get on the winning side. They must be plotting to be so confident that they are on the winning side. I could go to his side and watch-"

"No," Dante denied the offer. "It would be foolish for you to go to his side. You will disappear in the middle of the night and leave me to search for you. When we return, you will be at my mother’s side."

"You are sending me from the castle? I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t going to work with him and stab you in the back," Victoria said, upset Dante was doubting her.

"I will believe you for now, but there needs to be some distance for a moment. You find comfort in her presence, and she would be best to help you find the husband you seek. It would not be forever, and you are not banned from the castle. Go there and get her help," Dante suggested.

Victoria was disappointed, but she understood Dante’s reasoning. "I truly hope you can believe without any doubt that I wasn’t going to keep this from you. I have kept all your other secrets and protected you in ways you are not aware of. I would never work with my uncle. That is all."

Victoria curtseyed before parting ways with Dante. She didn’t want to attend dinner, but knew she wouldn’t gain anything from avoiding dinner.

’I should speak to Ophelia,’ Victoria considered.

With the new hold Ophelia had on Dante, it might work to speak to her instead of Dante.

Victoria frowned, her hopes low as she couldn’t believe Ophelia would help her. It surely wouldn’t work in her favour if Ophelia learned she was going to accept a letter accusing her of working with the Valthorns.

Less than an hour later, Ophelia stood by the door with Dante as their guests arrived. Ophelia wanted to get a good look at the men before they sat down for dinner.

"If your gaze had daggers, these men would be dead," said Dante.

"Well, they were celebrating the idea of us being dead, so I would be happy if my gaze killed them. If I were all three of them, I would have turned down the invitation. It would have made them appear guilty, but I wouldn’t come to the face of death," Ophelia said.

"Oh, am I death in the flesh now?"

"Yes, you are," Ophelia replied, nodding her head. "I have not forgotten how you fought the men at the event. I know that man," she said, her eyes narrowing on a man she had seen before. "I don’t know him personally, but I have seen him in Joel’s castle. I might be mistaken since he walked with a cane then."

"You are not mistaken. I know which man you speak of. He had an incident with a horse recently and had to use a cane for a few weeks. He swore loyalty to me," Dante said, eyeing the first man who was going to kill.

"If he swore loyalty, he should have told you about going to your enemy’s castle. It wasn’t for a ball. Joel frequently invited men to his castle, and they spoke in private. I don’t recognise the other men," Ophelia whispered as the group came up to where she stood.

"Lord Hastings," Harold Smith, the man Ophelia knew, greeted Dante. "This dinner came as a surprise to us, but it is a welcome surprise."

"I didn’t want to leave the capital without speaking to you. Why did you come without your wives? It is dinner," Dante said, but he preferred that the women weren’t present to see their husband’s fall.

Harold looked back at his peers. "I thought you had something important to discuss, therefore it wasn’t necessary to bring the women. Is Lady Hastings meant to join us?"

"She is," Dante answered.

"Well, seeing that our wives are not here, there is no need for Lady Hastings to sit with us. We wouldn’t want to scare her with what we shall speak about. You know how wives are," Harold said, followed by laughter.

Ophelia kept a straight face, unfazed by the man before her, thinking she was weak. "I am not afraid of what men like yourselves may speak about. I was the one who arranged the dinner, and I won’t miss it."

"Lord Hastings," Harold looked to Dante to settle the matter.

"She stays, and you are welcome to challenge me on it. I must warn you that I am not in the mood to put up with such childish matters. You might just lose your head early," Dante warned the group.

Harold laughed, thinking it was a joke, but his laughter ceased upon seeing how serious Dante was. "Ahem," he cleared his throat. "It appears we made an awful mistake by not bringing our wives. I look forward to Lady Hastings hosting dinner. Thank you for having us."

"You’re welcome. I will take you to the dining chamber," Ophelia said, leading the way.

"Lord Hastings," Harold whispered, wanting to speak without Ophelia near. "There is an urgent matter I must address with you."

"It can wait until we sit down, Harold. Don’t be rude," Dante responded, dismissing Harold.