As the music commenced, couples started twirling around the room however all eyes were pinned on the debutante who was wearing something no woman had ever worn to a dance before. Edward's jacket was too big on her thin, petite frame and it did nothing less than bring her all the attention that should've been dedicated to the bride of the evening.  

Leo, unlike anyone else, of course, was staring at the floor even as they danced while Rebecca tried her best to not look in the direction of Edward and Esther, who on the other hand were just as unaware of their surrounding as one could be. 

The lack of a jacket on Edward had left him to the mercy of his single fabric cotton shirt which was thin enough for the ladies to very conveniently steal glimpses of his chiselled muscles. His heavy muscular arm was on the show even after being fully sleeved and his pants that hugged his arse ever so tightly was nothing less than the subject of the city's next big gossip. 

He was of course, all for the attention and couldn't care less, Esther however was not appreciating any of it at all. 

Each time Edward came closer and locked his hand at her waist she arched her back even further. She could easily crack her spine if this were to go on for long. Fortunately, soon she got used to the sensation and stopped reacting. Her gaze was fixated on a trail of long heavy drapes that lined the fringes of the hall, determined to not acknowledge the presence of her dance partner. 

"For someone who enjoys dancing so immensely, you are awfully quiet." Edward put in an attempt to pull her attention to himself with a cunning set of words.

"You wouldn't know if I enjoy dancing or I don't to be such a fine judge, Your Grace." Esther's reply came with no delay but the dreadful tone of annoyance expressed her disinterest clearly.

"Oh, I would. Of course, I would. I remember your big wide smile from the dance you very generously allowed me on the season's opening ball." Edward reminisced, sounding truly grateful to Esther's disbelief. "Five months, has it been?" 

"I think so, yes." Esther continued to be as dry as ever.

"Funny, is it not? We are supposed to be betrothed for marriage and yet we are only dancing our second dance together when the season is about to end." 

"I suppose it is." 

"I wonder if there are many such couples in the ton." As Edward continued to try and wring her in a conversation, their movements loosened and they started swaying to the music naturally. 

"I can assure you, you are the only one for none of the gentlemen I am sure were so inclined to causing troubles for their ladies so often as you, pardon my words. Your Grace." Esther retorted, now looking straight into his eyes with no sense of guilt or regret. 

"You are cruel, Miss Sherbourne." Edward simply replied with a lopsided grin causing Esther to look away before her lips reciprocated his twitch. 

"That is perhaps one of the most delightful compliments I have ever received." She whispered back. 

"Did I make you blush?" Edward asked in a tease. 

"If you call the reddening of my face caused by sheer annoyance, blush. I think, yes." Esther retorted and sighed, signalling an unspoken end to their conversation. 

They continued dancing for some more silent minutes. Esther let her eyes wander the crowd and stop at Leo and Rebecca. They seemed tired. Their movements were draggy and their faces were very often than not dropping the fixated smile they wore throughout the evening. 

"Miss Sherbourne, did I not as- request," Edward stopped to correct himself immediately, "request you to not address me as 'Your Grace' when there is no one to listen?" 

Esther looked at him in a daze wondering where that conversation even came from and how to put an end to it in the quickest manner. "I shouldn't know how to address you, if not so." She replied and gasped as he raised her off the floor with firm hands on her waist.

"You could call me by my name," Edward suggested with a raised eyebrow when she was on her feet. 

"Your name?" Esther repeated. "As in your first name, not your surname or your social identity?" 

"My social identity, as you may call it, is confidential, I am afraid. But I could always give you my name." 

Esther gulped while her eyes were locked in his. She looked calm on the outside but behind those dry eyes, she was already picturing what it would feel like to call him by his name and what his name would be. 

Nothing too flashy she assumed. He seemed a man of fewer words. 

The thought of having spent the past season addressing him by his name felt too vivid in her head. The sense of intimacy it would bring, had they exchanged names earlier, perhaps would cover for the lack of connection they experienced the entire season. 

That was certainly it. Intimacy. They never shared any of that. It was only business and that was what never allowed them to share jokes or flirt like any other couple of the season. 

Their whole situation was rigged. Cursed by the lies it was built on. 

Had they met in any other setting, perhaps the past season could've turned out to be the best few months she would have ever lived. He was a man of great sense after all. He danced the best dance she had ever shared. He was a great friend and loyal to his Duke and the dukedom. A true keeper of his promise. 

Clearly, he was a man of strong will and possessed a wealth of attributes if only she could look past the lies. But she couldn't, for that was all they shared. From the beginning to the very end. 

"Your Grace is quite convenient for me. Let us not complicate things." Esther breathed out and they bowed to each other concurrently as the orchestra hit the closing note. 

Edward replied with a smile but Esther did not wait to receive it. As the dance ended and the couples dispersed from the floor, Esther spotted Leo and Rebecca going separate ways, the former heading to the corridors to her glee. 

She turned on her heels and made it after him without wasting a minute. 

Leo turned into a well-lit corridor and Esther followed suit leaving the party behind them.

The echo of their footsteps became louder as the distant sound of the music receded and soon Leo realised he was not walking alone. He stopped in his steps and slowly turned around to meet face to face with Esther.

"Esther," He whispered as he took notice of her, his forehead was glistening with the hint of unseasonal sweat.

"Leo, a word?" Esther whispered back in a hesitant voice. She was almost certain if she were to say one thing wrong, he would run away and she would never catch hold of him again. 

"I- I do not think I have anything to say to you." He stuttered while the droplet of sweat that hovered on his forehead earlier fell down to clash with his eyelash. 

"I, however, do have a few, if only you would care to listen," Esther spoke dropping her hesitance as he clearly seemed to be trying to avoid a most obvious conversation.

"Esther, I understand your concerns however I am afraid I cannot do anything at the moment. If you could only wai-"

"That is a lie of course!" Esther cut him off violently causing her voice to bounce back to her.

"Please, you shall attract ears," Leo warned, his frowned forehead the very picture of terror.

"You can do a lot if only you try, Leo," Esther spoke in a considerably lower voice. "And you must. It is already very late. Florence, she is heartbroken." She added painfully.

"Flor-" Leo couldn't completely say her name. He sighed and his face met his hands as he tried to rub his anxiety away. "Esther, I understand. Trust me I do, but this is not the time to-"

"This is not the time to argue, that is what it isn't. Take a carriage and go get her back. And break off this engagement, for God's sake!" She added in disgust. "I am certain you will be made the Lord in a day or two and then you shall do as you wish. Whatever is stopping you from marrying the woman you love? Or..." Esther paused for a moment as her eyes came down to slits, "did you never love her at all?"

"How could y-"

"Am I interrupting what seems quite an interesting conversation?" Edward's voice cut Leo off and Esther turned around as if she'd been caught stealing. Edward smiled as their eyes met causing Esther to sneer in annoyance.

"Your Grace." She said, "what brings you here?"

"It was your pulling voice if I must be honest. One can hear you down the hallway." He joked as he walked ahead closer to the two of them. "You walked out on me before we even finished dancing, I-"

"Your Grace, do you mind? We are having a conversation." She interrupted making him stop in his trail, paying no heed to his attempt at humour.

"Oh, I am afraid I do. My friend, Lord Benjamin wishes to have a word with you."

"Lord- Lord Benjamin, right," Esther repeated as she realized he was referring to the Duke. "I shall go and see him then." She said and began walking towards the main hall momentarily when she realized she was leaving Leo behind and their conversation was yet nowhere near the conclusion she wished to arrive at. She stopped mid-step and looked back at Leo and then back at Edward again. "I shall take a minute more here with Leonardo. Lord Benjamin can wait until I am done with this conversation, I hope?"

"His carriage is ready at the entrance to leave London. He might not return this season at all if you are to let him leave unspoken today. If it is not important, you may continue. I shall let him know you do not wish to speak to him anymore." Edward added causally with another one of his sinister smiles as if everything he said was a part of one of his very calculated plans.

Esther huffed in disappointment as she failed to make the right choice. 

If what he said was true, which of course was the most doubtful, she would not be able to meet the Duke that season at all. When she would get another chance to talk to him was a question of great uncertainty. She couldn't wait for the next season to break the engagement. 

For a moment there she considered telling the fake duke to convey the news of her breaking off the betrothal to the Duke, however, from what she knew of his trustworthiness, she could not place half her trust in that man. It would be just as unsafe as waiting till the next season in a sense. She could not take that risk. Relying on him was suicide. 

But so was leaving Leo until she had convinced him to bring Florence back. 

There were only four days before the wedding. 

"Then I shall let my friend know about your occupancy?" Edward urged causing Esther to go into a deeper state of anxiety than she already was. 

On second thought, there were still four days to the wedding. It would only take Leo a day to go to Buckingham and get back with Florence. She had put the thought in his head already. Perhaps it was best to not push him so much in one attempt. 

She could convince him the next time they meet. Perhaps at the lunch tomorrow at the Radcliffe Estate or at the after-opera ball at Viener Hall. There was plenty of time. 

The Duke, however, was an emergency. 

"I will see him now," Esther said and without waiting for any of the two men to acknowledge, she made it towards the main hall. 

She was finally ready to put an end to it all. Or so did she believe, however, now that she had only a few steps left between her and her long-awaited destination, she began to feel her feet getting heavy.

The constant gaze Edward was holding her with, obviously did not help. It was curiosity perhaps, he was clearly the most eager to know what it was so confidential that she must tell the Duke herself. Or perhaps it was some sort of supernatural realisation, his eyes seemed to hold her guilty as if he knew she was about to cast him aside. It was of course not very ethical of her to put an end to something they started together, all by herself. 

It was not right. Not the fact that she was about to break her betrothal. That was of course the most correct thing she was about to do in a very long time. But the fact that she was getting second thoughts was horrifying. She wouldn't know how to justify her hesitation if she were asked to. And one must never take actions, or have thoughts that they cannot justify. 

It was silly. 

And witless. 

And absolutely absurd, not to mention. 

She pulled her eyes off Edward's hypnotic ones and lifted her feet off the ground to move faster out of the corridor when she felt it, the same infuriating feeling closing around her gloved wrist. The man certainly did not know to learn a lesson.

She gasped as his almost possessive grip on her wrist restricted her movements any further. 

Ha! Who was she kidding? She was stronger than to have a man restrict her movements in one wrist grip. If only she wished to move that is. 

But for someone looking for an excuse to die, a paper cut is a dagger to the heart. 

She turned her head to find him leaning in dangerously close to her face. She flinched but knew better than to pull apart. She wasn't weak. 

Or perhaps she was. Weak for him. 

And tired, in all honesty. Tired of it all. she had been trying too hard lately to be true to the picture of herself she'd painted long ago that she was now too scared. She was scared she might disappoint herself by being anything else. Anything less, anything more.

However, one gets tired of being scared too.

It is a human tendency. You cannot keep living the same life for too long and this was it for her. She was now finally too tired to be afraid anymore of being her true self. She wanted to break through. She wished to fly free of her own self. 

It was relieving. She could feel it. As she allowed her eyes to find a home in those in front of her. She cared not who they belonged to, for they gave her what she most needed. Warmth. And a little pain. 

Now that she gave it some more thought, the pain wasn't actually a metaphor at all. She could feel it all too real in her skin and her bones, as if- as if someone was pinching her skin, blocking her veins. 

"My hand." She hissed, "you are grinding it. Let loose." 

Edward's jaw fell as if he only then realised what he was doing to her. "My a-" he stopped as he remembered her dislike of his apology. 

"You shall not hold on to things so tight that it hurts." Esther heard herself whisper. 

Edward looked into her eyes sucking her breath out of her lungs. The proximity was painful, just as much for him as for her. However, it seemed the best time to risk it all. "What if the thought of them leaving hurts worse? So much that you come to justify hurting them?" Edward's hot breath fanned Esther's face as he said those words that were too heavy for her to take in. 

"You must let go what wishes to leave. It is 

the only way you can avoid the bruise." 

"Some bruises are pretty. Worth adorning."

"But they all hurt." 

Edward looked at her as if she were poetry for him to read and never take his eyes off until he had completely, irrevocably, consumed her yet he felt himself nowhere near the end. He was trying to drink her dry without realising that she was an ocean, the water was poison and all he ever did was stir storms in her tranquilness. 

He sucked a deep breath of sanity. They needed to stop. One of them had to take the first step back. He decided to be the one. "Miss Sherbourne," he whispered in a throaty voice, "Your Duke has been waiting for long now. You must make hurry before the time is gone."

His words breathed sense back into Esther. She too took in a deep breath before gathering her skirt in her hands and striding back into the main hall and out in the open sky. 

The garden was now scarce of admirers. There were only a few couples hiding in the bushes and men puking their drinks out scattered across the vast extent. Esther paid them no heed and made it directly towards the entrance. The adrenaline helped her clear her head, or merely push the disturbing thoughts away. She had many more important things to do.

The heavy metal gate was locked and manned with guards when she reached it, unlike earlier when it was wide open to the guests' welcome. 

"Milady." One of the guarding men walked up to her and presented a very decent bow. 

"May I ask why the gates are locked?" Esther enquired in curiosity. 

"To prevent intruders, milady." The guard replied. 

"Are we expecting intruders?" 

"Such are the orders, milady." 

Esther frowned at his unyielding answer. She had never in past heard of an event in London being threatened by intruders. 

"Please open the door, I have a friend to meet outside," she ordered and the guards obeyed without a hiccup. 

The heavy metal gate took a long minute to slide ajar. Esther sprung out the moment the guards stepped aside. 

The air outside was somehow colder. Or perhaps it was the sudden silence and lack of lights and colours that brought her the chills. 

There was no man nor a carriage in view. The night was pitch black, she hadn't realised earlier as the party was too bright to notice. She walked a few steps into the road alongside the fences of the Valentine Estate. 

"Lord Benjamin?" she called out pulling the flaps of Edward's jacket around her torso, even though he clearly was nowhere near to respond. 

"Lord Benjamin?" She repeated louder and walked ahead into the street, "Your Grace?" 

Esther hung her head on her neck in defeat after a few long minutes of waiting. 

She was too late. He was gone. 

She picked on the threadings on the jacket as she turned around to go back into the party that had now turned as distasteful as it could. Her feet didn't want her to go back in. 

She could just return home but her mother would then worry about her. 

She stood there contemplating various possibilities while she took little steps back towards the gate when she heard a thud and jumped back in alarm. 

"God," said a painful voice and Esther realised it was a person trying to skip the fence into the Estate. 

She brought her eyes to slits to recognize the face that seemed very familiar in the dark corner. 

"Juliette?" She asked in alarm.