The Duke's Bed Warmer

Chapter 202: Beyond The Door

Whole castle was buzzing. Servants whispered in corridors. Courtiers gathered in groups, talking about how Lord Ashby, the kindest man in Ravenmoor, had been led away in chains. The rumours were growing wild with each passing second.

Austin and Alina ignored all the whispers and glances as they left the library and walked through the castle corridors in silence. Nobody dared to ask anything seeing the rage on their faces.

They walked straight to the east wing and stopped in front of the door. Austin hesitated before knocking. It wasn’t going to be easy. Austin and Cecily have been waiting for this moment for five years and now when it had finally arrived, he didn’t know how to tell her.

Lord Ashby was like a father figure to Cecily as well and he knew she’ll be devastated on knowing the truth.

"I don’t know how to tell her that the man who taught us chess tried to kill her because she mentioned a letter to a tutor," Austin whispered. "I wish it wasn’t this difficult."

"There was never going to be an easy way to tell her the truth." Alina said, holding his hand gently.

Austin pressed his hand tighter, took a long breath and finally unlocked her door. Cecily was sitting at the piano with her hands resting on the keys. She knew something was happening in the castle after seeing all the commotion through the window.

She immediately turned when she heard the door open and one look at their faces was enough to tell her the commotion had something to do with her.

"What happened?" she asked. "What is happening in the castle?"

"Sit down," Austin murmured.

"That’s what people say before they give bad news."

"It’s not bad news," Alina said immediately.

She looked at both of them carefully, then sat on the sofa. Alina joined her while Austin remained standing.

"We...we found the person who set the fire," Austin said finally.

Cecily froze on her seat.

"He has been arrested and is in the prison right now."

"Who... is... he?" Cecily stammered as she slowly stood up.

"Lord Ashby."

To their surprise, Cecily didn’t gasp or cried. She looked away from Austin, her mind racing.

"The smell before the fire....library?"

Austin nodded.

"Why?" she asked. "What did I do?"

Austin explained her everything. He began with their father and Ashby involved in a network that sold women and accidentally, she had seen a few documents in the old store room. She mentioned it to your piano tutor and Ashby panicked. He set the fire to destroy the evidence unaware that you were in the room.

"I don’t even remember that document," Cecily said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I had to get burned and spent five years behind a locked door... because I mentioned a letter I didn’t even understand properly??"

Austin looked away, unable to look at her.

"If I had known the truth back then, none of this would have happened," he said. "I spent five years searching for the person who did this to you while trusting him every day."

"It’s not your fault, Austin. You didn’t know."

"I should have. I failed both as your brother and as a duke."

Austin had carried her out of the fire and spent five years hunting for the person responsible while laughing with the same person. She knew words won’t comfort him.

So she walked over and hugged him. For five years, he had carried guilt for failing to protect her, making her live behind a locked door while he himself searched for answers. The truth didn’t erase that pain but it atleast gave them closure.

When they pulled apart, both of their eyes were red.

"Come," Austin said and walked to the door.

It was the same door he had opened and closed a hundred of times. The same door he had locked to protect his sister from the danger he didn’t know . The same door that had become a cage because love and fear had used the same key. But now the danger was over and the reason for the lock was gone.

He pushed the door open until it touched the wall with a loud groan. The sunlit corridor stretched beyond it. After five years, Cecily saw the passage that connected the east wing to the rest of the castle. She had looked at the door daily, stopping herself from crossing it. But today there was nothing stopping her.

Cecily walked and stood at the door. She looked at the long corridor ahead of her once her own but now felt strange and unfamiliar. She took a deep breath and stepped across. The cold stone touched her bare feet instantly.

"The floor is cold," she whispered.

"I’ll go get your shoes," Austin said and turned.

"Don’t," Cecily said, stopping him. "I want to feel it."

She slowly began to walk. Her hand brushed the walls, feeling the texture of the stone she had long forgotten. Austin and Alina followed her silently.

When she reached the corner, she turned to right towards the garden. Cold night air rushed in, carrying the scent of winter lavende as she stepped inside.

She stopped immediately as her feet touched the wet grass. Then she looked up at the sky. She had been watching this sky from her window for five years and now finally there was nothing between them.

"The sky feels bigger," Cecily whispered.

Alina took her left hand while Austin took her right as the three of them stood together in the grass under the stars.

Tears spilled down her face as she looked at the sky, the garden, and the endless space around her.

"I can feel the wind," she said. "And the grass under my feet."

Both of them smiled. Cecily looked like a small child seeing the world for the first time. They stayed in the garden for a long time. There was no rush or hurry to go back.

"Alina..." Cecily murmured.

"Yes?"

"You said you’d wait until I could attend the wedding."

"I did."

Cecily turned to look at her.

"I think...I can be there now," she smiled.

Alina smiled back fighting her tears while the corner of Austin’s mouth twitched. Cecily looked up at the stars again. The sky stretched endlessly above her. And standing between the two people she loved most, she felt grateful for the second life they had given her.