The Next Duke

Thirty Nine

Lillian opened her eyes to a bright morning. She sat up and looked around her surroundings. She was in a luxurious room of a four poster bed, earth toned walls and a grand dresser. On the dresser there was a jewelry box. It was once her mother's jewelry box that she inherited after her parents's deaths or so her brother says. She sighed heavily. It was strange, though, she got up, dressed in her night gown and went to look outside her window. Only it wasn't a window, it was a balcony. A very large balcony that connected two rooms.

She frowned, where was she?

She looked back at the box again, in a trance, as though she was watching a suspense movie. And she was sitting in front of the television eating popcorn with Charlotte.

Charlotte, she tried to recall who the little girl was. An image of a red haired and green eyes girl with an impish smile and a cute button nose appeared in her mind. She was such a beautiful child, full of laughter, a girl who smiled a lot. A girl who called her mama.

Thump!

Lillian found herself standing in front of her dresser in front of the jewelry box. She looked down and reached for the box and opened it. It only contained one object, it was a key. She knew the key was important. She knew it held something, a secret. She swallowed hard and took the key and grasped it in her hand. The cool metal object lay flat on her hand. Its grooves made indentions on her skin.

She bit her lips and began to walk. Mindlessly letting her feet move, directed by memory that she could not access, she didn't know where she was headed. Her eyes remained tightly shut as her hands reached out to insert the key i to a slot.

It was a perfect fit, she locked her eyes tighter, afraid that the key might not work. But she was even more terrified if the key did work. She twisted the key and her hand began to shake as the lock gave and the door swung open. She pushed the door open and she walked inside slowly. Once she felt a large object obstructing her way did she stop. She bit her lower lip and breathed in deeply to gain courage. She chuckled emptily, what good would it do to her if she opened her eyes.

The truth, her subconscious replied.

One...

Two...

Three...

She opened her eyes and gasped painfully. There were pictures of her found all over the room. There were pictures of her hanging on the walls. There was even one of her with her students. Her gaze centered in on one photo. It looked like the shot was stolen. It was taken from Hyde Park. She was in a gazebo, and she was dancing in a man's arms. She looked at her eyes and saw she was looking at him with stars and love in her eyes.

Lillian's eyes moved to the man she was dancing with. She immediately recognized him. It was the man from the painting, but this man was a modern version. Tears quickly lined her eyes as the memory of the night of the picture came to her. It was the night of a victory of some sorts. Her students were all finally free of the instructors who wished to be rid of them so they could pursue Joseph.

Joseph...

Joseph Conrad James...

The groom's name...

The tears finally fell as she realized who the man really was. The man who longed for her both in body and in spirit. Lillian gave a bitter smile as she looked closer at the picture, them she noticed she had a picture that was taken when she arrived. Lillian had to smile at that. She chuckled when she saw an inscription at the bottom of the picture frame. She was labeled as The Tyrant Witch. She remembered the one time he went on a drinking spree and was nearly abducted by two women. She remembered takin him under the shower and making him drink tea and water followed by making him throw up his insides. Whatever he had ingested had gone back up and out of his system. Then remembered the following morning when he wrapped her in the comforter sushi style. She took the photo and hugged it to her chest. Then she saw another photo of her, this time was labeled as the Siren she was wearing a backless dress her back was partially facing the camera and her head was turned to his direction. The smile she was giving him was full of sensual promise.