The Ruby in the Storm

Chapter 17: A Becoming

Chapter 17: A Becoming

"Well?" Ross asked, watching both men closely. "Why is my fiancée betrothed to another man?"

"How do you know that?" Phillip asked, eyes wider than saucers.

Ross clenched his jaw. "I was listening at the door, obviously. A servant let me in, before you ask. None of this is important. Tell me where Lucy is right now."

"Ross..." Phillip stepped forward slowly. "Please understand..."

"Understand what?" Ross rounded on him. He was so furious, he wasn't even sure if those two men would leave the room unharmed. "I did as you told me that night, Phillip. Lucy and I both did. I trusted you to care for her, and you had her betrothed to another?"

"For her own protection," Robert said, stepping around the desk. "If anything were to go badly, Lucy would have a marriage to a decent man to protect her. Phillip's brother and I had a deal—"

"A blackmail," Phillip interjected.

"Nevertheless, we had an accord, and Frederick is aware of the situation, and of you."

Ross wasn't having it. "Where is she?"

"Ross, you know we cannot tell you that," Phillip said.

"Where. Is. Lucy?!" Ross grated out, advancing on the both of them. "I swear to god if you don't tell me then I will kill you both and then I will tear this entire bloody house apart!"

"You can do both of those things to no avail because she is not here," Robert said coldly. "Lucy is safe, that is all you need to know."

"She is my fiancée!"

"Not anymore she is not!" Robert snarled. "She has another now."

Ross shook his head and laughed. "Do you honestly think I give a shit about that false union? It is nothing, a farce! Lucy is mine, Mr. Quincy, and I do not care anymore what it is you want or what the consequences are, I am going to find my fiancée and we are going to leave this place forever!"

"Ross, be reasonable..." Phillip tried."

"I have been," Ross growled. "All my life, before this disaster, before everything. I was the reasonable man, standing to one side and holding my tongue because it was reasonable. Lucy is the one thing that I have fought for, and I will be dammed if I have the two of you standing between us. Now where is she?!"

Robert and Phillip exchanged a look that Ross could not discern. The last time he remembered being so angry was that night when he saw James trying to rape Lucy. This fury didn't even match that, but it came dangerously close.

"If you want to know where she is," Robert finally said, watching Ross closely, "then there is something we need from you first."

Ross stiffened. "I am not giving you anything, Quincy. You tell me where my fiancée is!"

"I will," Robert replied, "but that comes later. What I need from you takes precedence."

"What could you possibly—"

"The Magistrate announced Lucy's paternity to the town," Phillip said before Ross could go on. "He told everyone that Arthur Denning is Lucy's father, not John Quincy."

Ross felt something like a bucket of ice water rush over his flesh, and chills ran up his arms and spine. His heart thumped loudly and violently in his chest and he could not discern if he was furious—more so than before—or terrified.