《To Defy A Duke》Chapter 21
Advertisement
Eliza falls off the bed with a squeal and lands on the hard floor with a thump, she scrambles to her feet in a hurry and stares at his very much awake and alive face for a few seconds. He's alive, the realisation sets in and her heart feels like air and relief tears spring into her eyes.
"You are alive, oh thank god." She dives on top of him and hugs him, afraid that if she let go he would go back unconscious.
"Hello, to you too." He laughs but then winces as she jostles his wound.
"Oh sorry." Her hands fly to her mouth, she pulls back immediately with a pinched face.
"It's just a small wound." He places more pressure on his better side as he tries to sit up, Eliza scoffs but reaches over for pillows and places them behind his back and head.
"You were unconscious! And in that time I almost went insane, riding without shoes and attacking people." She insists, plumping the pillows and shooting him a mock glare.
"Sounds like I missed a lot," Jasper says setting into his crown of pillows and offering his hand to her.
"A little," Eliza replies taking hold of his hand and sitting next to him. She studies his face, the rugged line of his jaw, the tousled mess of his hair and the way his blue eyes sparkle.
"Oh, I should tell everyone you are awake, we have been dreadfully worried." She says remembering the clueless people waiting downstairs.
"Everyone?" He asks with a frown, not letting go of her hand.
"My uncle, Luis, your mother, sister and James." She informs him.
"My mother and sister are here?" Jasper repeats in disbelief.
"They arrived this morning, I presume James let them know."
Advertisement
"I see."
"I'll be back in a moment." She promises as she peels her hand from his grasp before running for the room. She hurtles down the staircase and skids into the dining room. The table is laden with food, a roast chicken, a terrine of soup, plates of vegetables, slices of bread and butter, jugs of wine and a lamb stew, the kitchens evidently didn't stop working even when their master is near death.
"Eliza!" Benjamin stops halfway through eating a forkful of chicken, "When did you arrive back?"
She shakes her head and ignores him, catching her breath a little before crying, "He's awake, Jasper, he's awake."
Helen drops her wine glass and it shatters, staining the tablecloth a burgundy and Benjamin gasps.
"Really?" Penny pokes her head around her mother to look at Eliza with shining hope.
"Really." She confirms with a beaming smile. Penny springs from her seat, quickly followed by her mother and they tear from the room and hasten up towards the bedroom. Eliza goes to follows them but stops before the first step and sighs, she walks back to the dining room and takes a seat next to her uncle.
"Aren't you going to go up as well?" He asks, tucking into his meal once again.
"I should give them some privacy." She says picking a slice of bread from the bowl in front and taking a bite.
"Ahh." Her uncle cuts into his potatoes and chews thoughtfully.
"Did I hear you say sir is awake?" Luis steps into the room with a hopeful expression.
"Yes, he just woke up," Eliza confirms with a smile.
"Brilliant, I shall send for the doctor at once." He replies with a buoyant grin, he skips from the room, forgetting to bow at all with excitement.
Advertisement
"They will probably wish to catch up," She says referring to Helen and Penny, "I think I might go for a walk around the grounds to clear my head." She finishes her bread off and stands.
"It has been a stressful few hours." Benjamin pats her hand sympathetically. "Take all the time you need."
Eliza smiles and hugs her uncle around the shoulders. In the hall she takes the coat she arrived in off a hook and fits it over her green jacket. She pulls open the door and slips into the cold evening. The wind is battering, it makes the old trees groan as they lean into the pull. Leaves whip around her as she runs to where she left her horse. In her rush before she left him tied to an old fence. She undoes the knot and jogs with him towards the stable. The stables provide s safe warmer place and they are deserted apart from a few horses that pour at the ground and nicker as she leads her horse into an empty stall with a bed of hay, she lifts the saddle off his back and removes his reins, he immediately dips his head and takes a long drink from the water trough.
"Damn." She curses as she watches him, "I forgot....damn."
She shuts the stable door on him hydrating himself and hunts in the stable for feed and rugs, towards the back she finds a tub of grain and a rack of carrots. She pours some grain into the feed bucket in the stall and offers him a carrot but he turns his nose up and buries his face in the grain instead. Sighing she leans against the door and looks around at the other horses. There are 6 including Captain, all strong looking with shiny coats, the two closets whine to her. They still have tacked on and their food troughs are empty.
"Oh, you poor things." She says and she lets herself into the first stall. She places her hand in front so the horse can smell her before she advances.
"Good girl," Eliza whispers to the mare as she undoes the buckles on the saddle and slides it off her back, next to go is the reins. She repeats the process with the stallion next door. Eliza fills both horse's feed buckets and carries three rugs from the back over, she throws them over Captain's and the two horse's backs.
"They must have forgotten about you with all the chaos regarding Jasper." She tells the mare, "But don't worry he's well." She rubs her nose and kisses her cheek.
Captain tosses his head in annoyance, he doesn't like his mistress fraternising with another horse.
"So we have finished our food have we?" Eliza shakes her head and the mare glares at him pointedly and nickers gently into Eliza's neck making her giggle.
"Miss!" An alarmed Luis steps into the stables holding his hat to his head as the wind tries to steal it.
"What's wrong?" Eliza hurries over.
"Nothing miss." He reassures. "Sir requests your presence."
Advertisement
- In Serial13 Chapters
Trash
Low self-esteem leads to depression. A disease that plagues our society today. It controls people without them even realizing it; their thoughts, actions, and emotions. We should always be observant of our loved ones and support them because we never know who's already at the edge. A gift, a phone call, a smile can go a long way never hesitate or it might be too late. A college student, after an unsuccessful attempt to kill himself in the depths of depression, meets someone special in his life. Will this person help him to gain confidence? Or will he only go further down the depths of despair...
8 143 - In Serial55 Chapters
My Teen Wife by Kajal
Meet.... Kajal Mathur... the youngest daughter of Industrialist Ramesh Mathur. A 19 year old bubbly girl. Kajal is smitten by love... she hate the concept of Arrange Marriage and always dreamt to have a love marriage with a happy go lucky cool guy. Kajal is very close to her elder sister but very far from her father. She is distanced from him because he is a business man and according to her a businessmen are nothing but feelingless stone hearted robots . Meet... Raj Saxena.,28.. the construction king . One of the top youngest business tycoon of India. Also an unwanted son of his distanced parents. He tries his level best to impress them but gets nothing but disappointed in return. Due to his reserved nature people found him arrogant but in real he is just a kind hearted soul craving for love. Both are poles apart from each other. They won't even know that Almighty God has decided to destined them for seven lives. But how.... Stay tuned..... To know thatKindly ignore the grammatical errors in this story.#1 in craziness 🤪 in 13.7K stories
8 187 - In Serial95 Chapters
[BL] Rebirth of the Little Mute
Rebirth of the Little Mute重生之小啞巴Author(s)穆青延Status in COO93 + 2 Extras (Completed)DescriptionMu Xiaoke was a fool in his previous life, but he couldn't help and his older brother both fell in love with Fu Jiayun. He is a little mute who's a total failure, how could the other party choose him? He shouldn't compete with his older brother, or marry the Rong family as a substitute for his older brother, otherwise he wouldn't die alone in the wilderness and his corpse wouldn't be found.God gave him a chance to be reborn. When he returned to his first year in senior high school, he knew that he could not repeat the same mistakes again. He had to stay away from his older brother, Fu Jiayun, and Rong Yanzhe. The person who treated him as a stand-in for his older brother and kept abusing him. This time, he didn't ask for anything, as long as he could live well.It just didn't occur to him that when he kept a respectful distance from those people, they instead came to pester him endlessly. He was in panic and unexpectedly provoked another man who shouldn't be approached...---NOTE: FOR OFFLINE PURPOSES SO DON'T REPOST MTLED IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THEN IT IS IN POOR QUALITY I DID THIS FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO CAN'T AFFORD PROPERLY TRANSLATED AND LIMITED INTERNET CONNECTION SO PLEASE DON'T CRITICIZE THE QUALITY NOR THE WAY I MTLED IT THANK YOU
8 14735 - In Serial20 Chapters
The Sleeping Prince
Most stories start at the beginning. There's an understandable logic to that.This story, however, begins at the end.The Prince is dead, or sleeping. The armor is magic, or haunted. The castle is abandoned, or cursed. The faeries are sleeping, or mourning.Time stands still, but only there.
8 192 - In Serial79 Chapters
The Villainess Fell In Love
A second chance to pursue the man who truly loved and cherished her. This time, it won't be too late. • • • | • • • The hatred is mutual.Li Wei loathes Khan Bojing and he despises her. There's no way on earth or heaven would they willingly come together... Until pain ensues a passionate night between them and their fates are forever sealed. Still, describing their marriage as loveless is not far-fetched.Then time turns back. And everything changes. A new beginning starts now, here in this moment. Anything from this point on is possible.Including a love story between the villainess and the second male lead. • • • | • • •All credits of cover artwork goes to the original artist. #fantasy #rebirth #villainess #secondmalelead #magic #romance #somemature/smut #someviolence #definitelyfluffy
8 240 - In Serial33 Chapters
Vo Gali Thi Ishq Ki (TELEPHONE BOOTH)
Previously known as 𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒕 - 𝑪 𝑳 𝑶 𝑺 𝑬 𝑵 𝑬 𝑺 𝑺💓𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑟-𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖 𝑗𝑎ℎ𝑎𝑛,𝑝𝑟 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑛 𝑘𝑖 𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖.𝐾𝑎𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑒 𝑔ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑖,𝑉𝑜 𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑖 𝑡ℎ𝑖 𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑞 𝑘𝑖...._𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑛𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑖---------------------------------A collection of short stories, that will take you to a journey of love and passion.>>Qᴜʀʙᴀᴛ (completed- on going translation)>>Fɪᴛᴏᴏʀ. (Complete and translated)>> Tʜᴇ ᴛᴇʟᴇᴘʜᴏɴᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴛʜ (ongoing)>> Mᴏʜᴀғɪᴢ(coming soon)
8 197

