Love's Unexpected Awakening Elowen's Choice novel Chapter 274

He lifted her with unsettling ease, 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 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.

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