Awakening Love Reborn to Be His Duchess (Elowen Hale) novel Chapter 274

19:48 Tue, May 12 d

Awakening Love: Reborn to Be His Duches

Chapter 274 Help

69

Furshed

He lifted her with unsettling case, his voice lowering to a murmur. “Easy now, Miss Ashcroft. If you’re already worn out this quickly, how do you suppose you’ll manage later?”

The tone he used was almost gentle.

“Relax,” he continued softly. “Once you understand how good it can be, you’ll enjoy it.”

He forced her down onto the couch.

Her back struck the cushions hard enough to send a sharp jolt of pain through her spine.

His hand remained tightly over her mouth, pressing hard enough to restrict her breathing and make any cry impossible.

Tears flooded Sylvia’s eyes as panic surged through her.

Inside her mind she cried out desperately.

Father, please save me.

Elowen… please.

Piers–Piers, save me.

Yet no one came.

The tears finally spilled over, and in that moment Sylvia understood with crushing clarity that no one was coming to rescue her.

In the dim light of the room, Piers’s face rose in her thoughts.

Before leaving earlier, she had seen him once.

He had slipped away to the northern side of the city to buy the frozen dessert she had been longing for. When he handed it to her, it was still chilled.

She tasted it, and it was better than any she had ever tried before.

Piers had sat beside her and spoken gently. “The engagement was arranged by His Majesty. Even if my mother dislikes the idea, she cannot openly oppose his will. I have thought about it seriously.”

His voice had been steady. “My mother may never warm to you, but in the end it is our lives that matter. I will sit for the royal examinations. If I earn distinction and take office the way she

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19:48 Tue, May 12 d

Chapter 274 Help

hopes, she may come to believe that marrying you was the right choice after all.”

Sylvia had looked at him with concern. “But you never wanted a life in office. I don’t want you forcing yourself into something you hate because of me.”

Piers had only smiled.

“It wouldn’t be only for you,” he said lightly. “I have never tried it before, so I assumed it would be dull. Yet so many people compete for it that perhaps it is more interesting than I thought. Who knows? It might even suit me.”

Sylvia had been about to speak again, but Piers reached over and brushed a small smear of dessert from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

“Don’t worry,” he told her softly.

His gaze had been warm and reassuring.

“For all we know, I might not even pass. If that happens, we will simply remain at Falconcrest Manor. And if my mother truly cannot stand you and you find yourself unhappy, we will move elsewhere. Is there somewhere you would rather live?”

Sylvia’s heart had stirred at those words.

“Rivenshire,” she had answered quietly.

Her cheeks flushed slightly. “When I was young, I traveled there with my father. The bridges and the willow trees… the place felt almost like paradise.”

Piers had nodded without hesitation.

“Then Rivenshire it is.”

Now the memory of his voice and face slowly faded, dissolving from her mind.

And in that desperate moment, Sylvia found strength she had not known she possessed.

She opened her mouth and bit down hard on Geoffrey’s hand.

She put every ounce of strength she had into the bite, as though determined to crush bone.

Geoffrey hissed in pain and jerked his hand back just enough for his grip to loosen.

Sylvia seized the opportunity instantly. She tore the hairpin from her head and pointed it straight at him.

Her hair tumbled loose around her shoulders, but it did nothing to hide her eyes, wet with

19:48 Tue, May 12

Chapter 274 Help

tears, red with fury, and blazing with hatred.

Her voice trembled and came out rough.

“Stay away from me.”

Geoffrey shook his injured hand twice before lifting his gaze back to Sylvia, a grin slowly spreading across his face.

To Geoffrey, she looked less like a frightened lady and more like a small creature baring its claws in defiance.

What had seemed like an unremarkable face at first glance now carried a fierce, vivid intensity, and that sudden spark only made her more compelling in his eyes.

The urge to dominate her surged sharply through him. He watched her with a slow, leering smile as he spoke.

“Easy now, pretty thing. That pin belongs in your hair, not in your hand. Start waving it around like that and you might hurt yourself, and that would be a real shame.”

Sylvia’s fingers tightened around the hairpin until her knuckles turned pale. Instead of retreating, she stepped toward him, her voice cutting and resolute.

“I suggest you leave while you still can. I am Piers’s betrothed, and our match was granted by His Majesty himself.”

Her breathing was uneven, yet the words continued without hesitation.

“My father was General Aldric, who gave his life on the battlefield for this realm. His Majesty is my cousin, and Cassian is as well. My aunt is Selene and the Marchioness of Havenstead.”

A fierce light burned in her eyes as she held his gaze.

“I will never betray the man I am to marry, and I will never bring disgrace upon my family.”

Without giving Geoffrey any chance to respond, she stepped forward once more with sudden resolve and drove the hairpin straight into his chest.

For a brief moment Geoffrey remained perfectly still.

He stared at Sylvia, and then his gaze slowly dropped toward his chest.

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