The Governess

Chapter Sixteen

"You will pack your things and leave this house with the utmost immediancey," Mrs. Langley commanded. Her features were icy, and dark. Her cheekbones looked concave and shadowed. Her thin mouth twisted into a tight frown as she spoke to Violet like a mother disciplining her child.

"Please ma'am, I beg that--

"Enough." Mrs. Langley halted Violet's words with the wave of her hand. "Your true character has been revealed to me, in your--entanglement--with my brother in-law. Your morals are obviously corrupt, and thus you clearly cannot be trusted to govern my children."

Violet felt her extremities begin to shake, to tremble. Everything she had feared, had worked to prevent, was all coming to her in one swift nightmare. She felt like curling up into a ball and crying herself to sleep, but she couldn't. Her bed was no longer her bed. Her freedom was no longer hers. All she had were her tears, but she would not allow herself to shed them. Not now. Not in the presence of Mrs. Langley.

Alfred Langley sat in silence, and if it wasn't for his grunting softly, Violet would have completely forgotten of his presence. She blinked rapidly, in an attempt to push her tears back in her eyelids. She dared a look at Mr. Langley, who, to her surprise, held an expression similar to that of, could it be, sympathy? His eyes, usually cold, held a soft warmth which Violet had only witnessed in his brother before. Would he say anything? Would he condemn his wife, as he often did? When Violet met those soft eyes, he looked down and shifted in his seat.

No, he would not.

"I've called a coach for you, be grateful for my kindness." Mrs. Langley said. Violet looked down and nodded. It wasn't truly a kindness, but she wasn't about to argue with the woman. A young lady traveling in a public coach at this time of night was borderline dangerous. One never knew what sort of people would be traveling at such a time.

"Might I. . . might I say goodbye to the children before I take my leave?" Violet collected herself enough to look at Mrs. Langley, who only scowled more.

"What udacity you have, girl!" Mrs. Langley shouted, but quickly collected herself. "I believe it best you leave while they sleep. Saying goodbyes would make more. . . complications."

Violet only nodded. She managed to give Mrs. Langley a half curtsy, before bolting to the doorway. She needed to leave before she crumbled in her own misery. But then, suddenly, there was Edmund. She crashed into him, and he held her back, inspecting her pained expression.

"What is going on in here? I heard shouting from the library." Edmund looked to Mrs. Langley, then his brother, both of whom met him with silence.

"They know," Violet breathed. If she wasn't standing so close to Edmund, she doubted he would have heard her. Violet pulled away from him, but Edmund reached out and took her arm. It wasn't an aggressive hold, but a protective one. He rubbed his thumb up and down her arm, in an attempt to comfort her.

"And what of it?" Edmund spat. He bit down on his jaw, causing it to flex.

"You cannot be serious, Edmund," Mrs. Langley scoffed.

"I am quite serious, actually," Edmund said. His fingers loosened around Violet's arm and they slid down to her elbow, as he stepped towards Mrs. Langley. In doing so, Edmund blocked Violet's view of the woman, with his broad shoulders. He was a barrier between Mrs. Langley and herself, like an angry bear, protecting his territory.

"Is it so unimaginable to you that I love Violet? When she is the single most pure and kind and beautiful creature that I have ever known?"

Edmund's words pierced her in the best way that words could. He said them with an urgency and boldness that Violet had never heard before. It was raw, and true. He did love her then. Felicity overtook her countenance, despite all the pain still within her.