The Lady Who Sinned

V. A Lady Scorned

Once upon a Town...

Belinda stared outside the window of her dormitory in Madam Pearson's. Mary and Cressida were walking arm in arm in the garden, laughter on their faces.

She despised it. Why would Cressida Belverst be friends with Mary Featherton, a nobody? Did her father not own the scandalous clubs in Wickhurst?

Mary was not such a challenge, always crying and cowering in one corner, which merely vexed Belinda. Girls should not cry. Girls should be like Cressida Belverst—strong and opinionated.

But some could be like Belinda, too; haughty and confident. It made her a little different. Perhaps, someday, it would also make her special.

*****

She was too silent as they walked out of the tavern. McKenzie could not tell what she was thinking, but every part of him knew she could be planning something else.

Clear her name?

How would she do it? Everyone caught her in a room with a dead lover. How else could she change that fact?

All of her efforts to escape and survive all these years could go to waste with one wrong move if her father got to her first before they could even prove Emmet Carrington broke the law.

Beside him walked a woman scorned by the entire town and her family. He could tell by the way she carried herself now, despite the very ordinary dress she was wearing, that she thought too highly of herself. He could tell by the way she stuck out her chin, her eyes looking down her nose at the path before her, that she considered everyone to be beneath her.

She had built her own prison. She had become unreachable in so many ways before her banishment. If it was another woman, forgiveness would have been given, even understanding. But she was Belinda Carrington and her name itself evoked too many opinions. The moment she was caught in that scandal, it was over.

No one sympathized with her fate when she was banished, for no one received the same act of kindness from her. If the gossips were to be believed, Belinda was always the first to say something vile against anyone who graced the gossip columns of the Herald.

Emmet Carrington committed a crime banishing her aboveground and he shall pay for it once proven. It was possible to put her father in prison, but it would not erase the scandal that caused the banishment.

*****

He told her they would travel to Easton, his brother's estate. He thought it would be safe there while they make plans, he told her after boarding the hired carriage. She was, after all, still being hunted, he added.

She would go with him, but she could not stay long. She would find Nana, get an estate and new gowns. She would find Julia. And then perhaps she could spare the time to ruin everyone who had a role in her banishment.

She would force the truth from Emmet Carrington's mouth. And maybe, just maybe, everyone would believe her. Maybe she would be welcomed back into society.

Ah, she was dreaming again. There would be no future for her in Willowfair. Maybe in other parts of the Town, yes, but that would be plans for later, after everything was done; after she ruined her father's name, and she showed her mother the monster they created. After Willowfair witnessed the real Belinda Kate Carrington.

"You will face more challenges than the last time you were here," McKenzie said, breaking his silence, his words obviously chosen carefully. "How do you plan to clear your name?"

She peeled her eyes from the view outside and squarely met his gaze. "A woman does not reveal her secrets, Mr Haverston."

His jaw twitched, but his eyes remained mild. Did he think she could not read the questions in his thoughts? He must have so much of them. The problem was, he was not voicing them. Was he wary she would take offense—that she would think he was judging her like the others?