Loving Lady Georgianna (Spirited #2)

Chapter 19

"We are not oblivious, you know."

Suzanne's words cut through the silence, and Georgie released her bottom lip which abused flesh she had worried between her teeth.

The carriage jostled, and the solid, anterior wall comforted her as it bumped along the outer flesh of her upper arm. Georgie wasn't sure how long she had been staring out the window, worrying, or where their final destination was. Home could mean hers or theirs, but she was too consumed with her thoughts to care.

Vincent - Thorne, she corrected - had exited the carriage long enough ago. So why could Georgie still feel the imprint of his fingers on either side of her waist or the searing press and scrape of his lips along her neck? How could the harsh cadence of his fiercely whispered words echoed with such finality?

But you don't love him.

"We know our mother sired Vincent with a man not our father," she continued.

Georgie's attention snapped back to the carriage and to the twins who were watching her earnestly from their position across from her. Her eyes narrowed, warily, glancing from one cool gaze to the other. "I beg your pardon? You know what, exactly?"

Bernie's gaze met hers, a dark brown that was so different from her brother's, and now, Georgie knew why.

Thorne wasn't legitimate.

"Vincent may believe we are innocent children, untaught in the ways of the aristocracy or the sadness in our parent's marriage," Suzanne piped in, straightening her back and glancing at Georgie with an alarming gravity, "He believes we have no knowledge of the man our father is, but he is mistaken."

Bernie's next words only confirmed Georgie's suspicions and set bile rising in her throat. "We know Vincent isn't, in truth, of both our parents.

"Why have you not said anything?" For the man Georgie knew, with the weight of his family on his shoulders, hadn't a clue that his sisters knew.

"What use would telling Vincent bring?" Suzanne said, gravely. "More pain that he already carries?"

"What would he have us do, for that matter?" Bernie asked, settling back into the squabs and becoming one with the shadows. "How could we change fate?"

The wheels clattered, voices drifting from the outside world and intruding on their solitude. Georgie wished to scream at the unfairness of it all, but it was true. What place did females have in the affairs of gentlemen? What could two girls do - both young and innocent and frightened - to protect their family? Georgie's fingers swept along her burn scars and she thought of Greyson. The night of the fire when he had come home late in his cups - Vincent alongside him, with nary of word of where he had been or the plans they had made - and finding her in the arms of their stable master, shivering and shaking and crying.

Not just her gown had been ruined; it had been her face as well.

What could a young man do to protect his family?

"Vincent is my beloved brother - us sharing a father or not - and he protects us as much as he can. But now -" Suzanne broke off, raising her chin as she gazed steadily at Georgie, "we are old enough to protect ourselves -"

"-and we wish to protect him," Bernie finished.

Georgie gave them a watery smile, wondering about their past and the uncertain future. Her mind cast back and she tried to piece together the signs she had missed. It all fit into the jagged bits of himself Thorne had given her over the years. Every time they would converse and Thorne would cast away her inquiry with a charming smile and say something ridiculous that would turn her attention elsewhere.