It took Aurora a moment to recover from the question. Once she did, she immediately removed her hands from Reginald's who looked equally as confused and embarrassed.
But the damage had already been done.
"Anthony, it's not what it looks like," she pleaded, walking over to him.
The viscount scoffed, "what a promising start to the conversation. That comment simply screams innocence." The sarcasm in his voice was thick and harsh.
Aurora stopped between him and Reginald. She glanced between the two and saw such anger in Anthony's eyes as she had never before witnessed.
"Leave," he grunted at Lord Harding.
"No." Came a resolute response.
"Reginald -"
He paused her mid-sentence with a raising of his hand.
"Lord Bridgerton -"
"I said. Get. Out." The viscount appeared to have gotten a hold on his emotions and was now determined to see the man leave his house.
'A man who had no right to be here in the first place,' he thought to himself
Reginald glanced at Aurora for confirmation. He feared leaving her alone with the former rake, especially now that his temper was flared.
Whilst Harding had tried to respect the viscount, and had always treated him in a gentlemanly manner, he was not unaware of the man's temper and felt reticent about the idea of leaving Aurora to bear the brunt of it.
"It is fine, Reginald. I shall be fine," came her calm voice.
With that, he sent her a grave nod, collected his things from the table and fled from the room.
On the way out he caught one of the servants - the housekeeper, he presumed - and warned her that her mistress might be in some danger.
Briefly explaining the situation to the housekeeper, he departed the house in order to prevent any more misgivings.
Back in the schoolroom Anthony was pacing Cooley back and forth we in front of the now cleaned blackboard.
"I understand that you did not wish to marry me but really, Harding?" He began, "if you love him so much why didn't you just marry him in the first place?"
Whilst she could tell that his ruling emotion was anger, Aurora felt saddened to see the hurt that lay underneath the surface.
She had not realised until now how much he genuinely cared about her.
Or about his own reputation.
Yes. That seemed more likely.
"I can explain-"
"No." He deftly cut her off, "I do not want to hear it. Aurora how could you? I thought we were reaching an understanding! This morning-"
Here he broke up, unable to continue until he had regained some control over his fluctuating emotions.
"This morning when we were promenading I felt... close to you. I felt like we were becoming closer like we might have a mutual affection for each other."
There were tears in his eyes that threatened to spill over. aurora's already had, no matter how hard she had tried to keep them at bay.
"Now I see that this was not that case. That you were only putting up a façade to hide your affair with Harding."
"Anthony be quiet and listen to me," she interrupted him with a decisive tone.
Despite looking as though he desperately wanted to shout at her further, the viscount simply glared at his wife.
"I am not having an affair. I am not. I respect you too much Anthony, and beyond that, I l-" she paused, "I care about you. Lord Harding was here today along with several others. We were not alone, the only reason why he was still here was because he was helping me clear up."
This did not seem to gratify Anthony's innumerable questions.
"If that was the case then why was he holding your hand? How do you propose to explain that?"
She gulped.
How was she supposed to explain it without unveiling the details of her society?
Her hesitation was more than enough for the young Bridgerton who simply stormed out of the room, slamming to door behind him and leaving a sobbing Aurora to contemplate what had occurred.
All she had wanted was to provide young women with and education.
And now it might be the destruction of her marriage.
If one could even call it a marriage.
***
Dear readers,
Thank you for sticking with this story so far - I do sincerely hope you're enjoying it. Don't forget to comment any suggestions et cetera, as sometimes I do take them in mind when planning out the story.
Sorry this is a shorter chapter - I have a philosophy exam tomorrow so I'm spending most of the day revising. This probably means that tomorrow's update will be a shorter chapter too, I hope you understand.
Whilst you're here, feel free to check out my Benedict fanfic called 'Secret Truths' and my Friedrich one titled 'The Bridgerton Princess'.
Finally, I've started working on a Harry Potter Marauders era fan fiction so keep an eye out for that!
Yours faithfully
Valentina