Chapter 14

"You haven't said a word to me this morning. Come now, sweetheart... what makes you so angry?"

Magnus walked beside her. He had skipped his lesson with the captain this morning, waiting in front of her home very early to walk her to the market.

"Magnus, what were you thinking, bringing me to the ball last night? Has it never occurred to you that your family would not like me at all?"

"I don't care what they're thinking. All I care about is you and me, us..."

"But it's not that simple, Magnus. Sooner or later we will have to face their rejection... Your family will never let you have a relationship with a woman like me..."

"No need to worry about that, my dear. They won't bring us down. I love you and you love me. It's all that matters."

"Magnus, the duke drove me out last night!" Ava said desperately. Magnus' face went pale.

"What... what did he do to you?" He stopped and held her arms tightly.

"He humiliated me in front of some guests, very badly. He pretended to mistaken me as one of the servant. I managed to escape, but he found me and told me to leave at once."

"Bloody hell!" He cursed.

"I swear I'm going to break his neck."

"Magnus, don't you understand? It will never work between us... Your parents will do exactly the same. A woman like me has no place among the peers, among your family."

"I don't give a damn about the peers. My family, they may go to hell... I'll never let you go!"

"Magnus, there's something I need to tell you..." After a moment's hesitation, Ava continued

"The duke, he knows who I am."

He frowned in confusion.

"I've wanted to tell you the day I knew who you really are. But you just revealed your identity, and I thought it would be too much to take. I'm not just another country girl, Magnus." For a moment, she was thinking how to start.

"Do you know Desiree Marlowe?"

He was silent for a while, thinking.

"The once famous actress? If I'm not mistaken she had long disappeared, rumor has it she has become a duke's mistress... Wait, I remember... she is the one people call Livingston's whore?"

A tinge of red stained her cheeks upon the way he mentioned her mother. She nodded.

"She is my mother, the duke of Livingston is my father."

He froze instantly, but a second later he chuckled.

"Nice trick, sweetheart."

"That's true, Magnus. I'm not joking."

"Christ..." He whispered as he began to recognize the clear resemblance of her feature with the picture of the iconic actress he once saw in a newspaper.

"Have you heard the scandal about the duke's illegitimate daughter running away from her betrothal with Roger Irving?"

"Holy Mother of God..." He expelled a hiss. He knew that, the scandal had caused a commotion in the ton and made the poor Roger Irving an object of derision ever since. Faintly, he recalled the woman's name from the news and talks.

"I am the woman, Magnus. Roger Irving is my betrothed."

A long silence filled the air. She had never seen Magnus in this state before. He seemed quite taken aback.

She took a deep breath.

After she told him the truth, would he still feel the same for her? Would he believe her story? Would he still love and want her the way he did before? A scandalous, shameful woman is even worse than a peasant.

But she couldn't keep it from him forever. Besides, if he couldn't accept her as she truly was, there was no reason for them to keep seeing each other.

'Come what may' she heard her inner voice said. Then she told him everything. Everything at all.

***

She had prepared for the worst, but as her story had neared to an end, fear crept through her mind. What if everything changed after this? What if he didn't want to see her again? What if it was the last time she walked together with him, holding hands, talking to each other? Suddenly she felt like it was too much to bear.

The duke would tell him anyway, she thought. If she told him first, at least she had a chance to explain the reason behind her scandal.

"Now that you know it" she couldn't help her voice quivering a bit. "Do you still think about me the same way?"

Magnus turned at her and look at her straight in the eye. He had been silent throughout the revelation. She caught her breath, suddenly turned her gaze away, couldn't abide his gaze any longer. She bit her lip, feeling restless in anticipation.

"Nothing of it can change my feeling for you."

Her breath came in shuddering relief, she almost sobbed. She felt like a heavy burden was just removed from her heart. Magnus came closer and embraced her in his strong arms, stroking her hair gently.

"I'll never leave you..." his voice soft yet firm and reassuring. "Never..."

***

"If he ever offends you again, my dear, I swear I will beat him to pulp."

Magnus said later as they walked together to her home.

"It's extremely unnecessary... I will not take pleasure if you do that." Ava said carefully. She remembered Magnus once said he was never be able to defeat his cousin in swordfight. With a sideways glance, she studied him briefly. Magnus was way more strong built and muscular, but there was something that made the duke somewhat fearsome and menacing.

"If only he is not that damn perfect, that pompous ass. Is there anything he can't do? He can do anything exceedingly well. I wonder what is he made of. He graduated from the university with excellent grade. He made an outstanding performance in the House of Lords and the parliament. Even in art, he is so damn talented."

"My father is only listening to him. He is proud of him like he is his own son instead of me. Sometimes I think, he has more significant resemblance with my father instead of me... Not in appearance, obviously I'm a young version of my father. But they both have the same excessive pride in theirselves, their conceit are extraordinary."

Ava felt a surge of fear squeezed her stomach as he mentioned how conceited his father was. He would undoubtedly despise her like hell. She would entirely be considered as a misfit to his noble family. She couldn't imagine living with so much hostility surrounding her.

"My parents admires him. The people praises him. They say Evergreen prospers under his reign. He is everything I can't be."

"That's not true." Ava touched his hand.

"Had you been given a chance, I believe you would be a better ruler than him, a greater one. You have many inherent qualities that he is lacking. I've never met a man as compassionate, sincere, and caring as you are..."

"You don't need to fortify my vanity, my sweets..." A mischievous smile played in his lips.

"I know very well in what matter he cannot touch me. No matter how good he is,

it's a well known, indisputable fact that women love me better all the time..."

He winked wickedly and laughed at her scowling expression. She had no doubt about it. With the hard, stony look on his face, no woman would ever dare flirting with the duke.

***

Early morning the next day, Ava got a message from Magnus through a peasant boy. He never sent her message before. Ava smiled at his messy handwriting. He told her that he couldn't walk her home from the market, but he would meet her at her home in the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon, they met and he told her that from now on, he would send her message to meet somewhere. Because his training with the captain was getting more intense, probably he would not be able to walk her home from the market everyday.

"There's something I want to show you. You'll love it. It's not something you can see everyday in the city." He said as he pulled her hand.

"But where are we going?"

"The Moonlight Tower in my house."

"Your house?" Ava took a halting step at once.

"I'm not going with you. I will never set foot in your house ever again."

"Don't worry." He smirked. "We're not going through the front door. Nobody will ever know we are there."

"Magnus, I don't understand..."

"We'll go through a secret passage. My house has a few ones. I'll show you this one first."

"All right, perhaps nobody will know when we enter the house, but what if somebody find us there?"

"No way. Nobody has set foot into the Moonlight Tower again for a long, long time. It's simply isolated."

They went through the forest, crossing a pathway Magnus seemed very familiar about. The shortcut lead them to the back of Vermont Manor. There was a small gateway in the high wall surrounding the manor. It must be a back door.

Seemed like the gateway had been abandoned for decades. Almost all the railings were entangled by vines. Magnus drew a key from his pocket and unlocked the gate.

At first, Ava hesitated. But the back side of the manor seemed very quiet and secluded, hidden under the shadow of tall trees, far away from other parts from the building. A gracious tower stood tall before them.

They entered the building through an unlocked door and climbed up the small spiral staircase. They reached the top in the perfect time. The golden flame had risen up from the horizon spreading the brilliant rays of light over the blushing sky. The land below them bathed in the shimmering golden lights. From a distance it looked like a small miniature of a village. The various cottages, the windmill, the river and the wooden bridge above it, the stony road, everything looked softly luminous in the radiant glow.

"Magnus, it's ... it's magnificent, I've never seen something so magical..."

She was wonderstruck at the breathtaking, picturesque scenery. It reminded her of some beautiful paintings she had seen in a gallery in London.

"Have you ever seen anything as beautiful as this?" She turned to meet his unwavering gaze on her.

"I have" He replied in a husky voice.

"And it's even more beautiful..."

"Really, what is ..." She ceased at once as his hand lifted to caress her face.

"Actually I'm looking at it right now..."

"Magnus, you're such a flatterer..." She turned her blushing face from him. She rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. The world dwindled to the place they were standing now and there were just the two of them, lost in the beauty of heaven passing by, and she wished she could make time forever frozen still at this very moment.