Fiona stood up to meet her husband before he came to where Selene was now. He wasn’t to be back so soon which was why she wanted Selene to come at this time. "Excuse me for a moment, Selene."
Oliver Carleton entered his home and immediately began searching for his wife to get answers about the carriage out front along with the man who questioned him about entering his home. "Fiona, who has come?"
"Oliver," Fiona shushed him. "I have Selene over at the moment. The carriage and guard are with her. Should I fetch you something to drink or is there something you returned for?"
"Guest? We don’t have money to spare on you treating guests and I said I do not want that woman here. Why do you go out of your way to not listen to me? Don’t shush me," Oliver said, pushing past his wife to find where Selene was seated.
The last thing he needed amid their financial troubles was for it to be said that he was harbouring a traitor.
"Oliver," Fiona spoke softly but she knew Selene could hear them. "She is my friend and she is already here so leave us. I haven’t used any money for this. I prepared everything myself. Please," she pleaded, pulling on his arm to stop him.
It was already embarrassing for Fiona to have Selene overhear this.
"I don’t want you running around like a servant to serve anyone, especially not for that woman. I have already told you that I do not want her here. That should be enough for you to not go behind my back like this," Oliver angrily spoke.
"She is married to Lord Blackthorn," Fiona tried to reason with Oliver.
"That is all the more reason for you to distance yourself from her. You must start to think about yourself and realise why everyone distanced themselves from her. You will be burned if you keep her at your side. Send her away or will do it," said Oliver. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"I cannot. Oh, Selene," Fiona released her husband. "It is not as you heard."
"How isn’t it? Your husband does not want me here and had I known his anger was this bad, I would not have come. I figured what happened with my parents would make you want to distance yourself from me but I didn’t know your anger turned this bad," said Selene.
Selene didn’t like Oliver having this temper around her friend which was why she wanted to visit Fiona more often to see that she was well.
"You are not welcome here. I don’t care who you have married. Being with Lord Blackthorn will not change the past. Get out," Oliver pointed to the door.
"Oliver, we cannot shun her for what her parents did. Selene is not a traitor and we should not speak as we like to her. You must care who her husband is," Fiona tried to speak sense into her husband.
Fiona didn’t know what had gotten into Oliver for him to not be worried about Lord Blackthorn. She believed Selene wouldn’t go so far as to have her husband ruin them but they should still be careful.
"It is my fault. I did not tell Selene that you did not like her here. I didn’t attend her wedding so I thought of doing this to make up for it," said Fiona.
Fiona closed the door before she could see Selene get into her carriage safely. "Did you need to embarrass me before my friend? You even went as far as to stop me from going to the wedding. Couldn’t you let me have this?"
Oliver walked off to find himself something to drink.
"We of all people should not treat her poorly. Not only because of the name she holds now but it is thanks to her family in the past that we were able to hold ourselves above water for years. It looks bad on our part to not treat Selene well. I owe her that much so I want to meet with her," said Fiona.
"We are not forever indebted to that family because they helped us. They did that without us asking. Besides, I have become close to Gabriel. He is the one who helped us recently. Do not forget that. We don’t have a friendship with Lord Blackthorn. We have one with Gabriel,’ Oliver reminded Fiona.
"You only spoke to him because of my friendship with Selene-"
"And I don’t intend to change it because she has found herself another husband. Fiona," Oliver stopped to grab his wife’s shoulders. "I am not telling you again not to have her here. Just do it. When everyone was speaking about who was close to the Harrisons, your name came up but I saved you from being ruined. It is your time to think about me."
Oliver sighed. He knew his approach had been wrong but he was thinking about their lives. "I know it will be hard to lose a dear friend but we are already struggling. We cannot afford to have her troubles brought upon us. She is still the daughter of a traitor and once Lord Blackthorn realises how he too will be affected, he will despise those close to her. Do you get it?"
Fiona nodded her head. It hurt to end a friendship she cherished but she had to keep her marriage. "I understand."
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