Gaslight bled across the Duke's study
Alexander Blackwood stood like a tomb effigy, broad shoulders locked beneath midnight wool.
Silver gryphons clawed his cuffs — House Blackwood's crest.
Eyes like winter steel — empty, regretful
A raven strand shadowed his temple.
THUD
Silk and anguish slammed into his back
Kid-gloved hands fisted his coat
Heat, rosewater, and sobs wrapped around him.
Tears clung to her lashes like abandoned coronation pearls.
"Your Grace…" her voice broke
"You vowed — on your mother's ring — forever"
"Emily" he said, her name tasting of graves
His ribs ached as if his father's ghost stood between them.
He turned, sharp and cold.
But her grief cracked his frost.
"The Crown demands—"
"The COUNCIL exiles you to Bengal, I heard them plotting".
Her nails pierced through wool
"Two years, Alexander — forever — I'll be ashes".
He flinched, but swallowed it.
Duty and agony rebuilt his walls.
"You know whose breath binds me, Emily"
His voice rang like funeral bells.
"My father's final wish — his dying gasp — 'Marry Georgiana Hastings. Save the realm'
The decree is sealed in blood".
Her face turned pale like a burial cloth
"You trade us for a deathbed whim?"
"For survival ,"
The word crashed through the silence
"The Hastings merger halts French daggers at our throat
One does not refuse a king's last breath."
She stepped back — not defeated, only ruined
"And your soul? What happened to the man who loved me beneath the stars?"
"Duty is written in bone,"
His voice cracked, ice giving way to grief
"This cage is killing me too
But rebellion would slaughter the peasants we protected at Dover."
"Then let the bastards starve."
His eyes ignited with frozen wildfire
His voice dropped, low and sharp
"I am no rebel lord,I will be king.
The son who honors his father's final vow, even if it tears his soul apart"
Her words cut deep
"A king who kills love for a corpse's promise is a traitor to his throne.
What good is the Crown, Alexander, if it bleeds the only heart that beats for you?"
Silence pressed down — heavy as stone
He stepped forward, storm in his eyes.
"You think I don't scream inside
That I cherish this gilded hell
If I could, I'd raze Parliament, burn Westminster, salt the royal archives
Just to lie beside you one night in heather."
She drew in a breath.
Then whispered.
"Then burn it down"
A gasp — heresy
He said nothing, only moved
He pulled her close, crushed her against him
Foreheads pressed together — treason
Cold stone bit their cheeks.
His kiss was soft and poisoned
A eulogy shaped by longing.
Carrying kingdoms and a son's broken honor.
He tore away, his voice raw.
"I'll wed Hastings,but my heart stays buried with you.
No vow can reach it.
You are Eden in my wasteland, Emily,
My only angel."
She trembled, fingers clutching his chest like she could tear the ache from his bones
"Take me to Calcutta" she whispered
"As your mistress, your shadow"
But her plea died in royal air.
She stepped back.
Then curtsied — deep, broken, eternal
Her eyes gleamed like shattered empire glass.
And she ran.
Silk shoes cracked against marble like breaking bones.
Alexander didn't move.
King-to-be, gravekeeper of vows.
Torn between a dying king's command and the lady's maid who owned his pulse.
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