Page 57 of To Desire

“I missed his burial?” Darien said, his voice cracking.

“It was a simple one,” Liana’s mother said. “’Twas agreed that when you returned, you might like to hold a burial ceremony.”

“Aye.” Darien cleared his throat. “I would indeed. Thank you,” he continued. “For your service to my father. I would also ask for your blessing to take your daughter as my wife. You may consider the matter⁠—”

“You do not need my blessing, my lord. You are the earl of Ellsworth, and I am but⁠—”

“The mother of the woman I love. So aye, I do need your blessing and would very much like to have it.”

Liana held her breath as the most private woman she’d ever known decided whether or not to offer her blessing to allow Liana the most public of all positions on Ely.

Her response was . . . odd. Liana’s mother smiled.

“The night your father returned here, the last time I would see him, to ask if the rumors at Wallingford were true, I told him all I knew. That my daughter had been right to question me and accompany you to Castle Blackwood. But I told him also of the relationship between you.”

“You did?” Liana squeezed Darien’s hand even tighter.

“What did he say?” he asked.

“He was quiet, for a moment. And muttered something about an alliance. And then said—I wish to get the words correct—‘My son has always done as he pleases, and though I may not admit as much to him, his instincts are always correct. If he is with your daughter in that way, I can only assume it is because they are in love, and I wish no more for him than the safety of his position, the care of his people, and the love of a woman he holds in high esteem.’ It pleased him, as it pleased me, even knowing such an action comes with some measure of danger.”

“Thank you,” Darien said. “Both for telling me of his blessing, one he was not able to give me himself, and for your own, if you can give it.”

“I do, my lord. Though I am sorry your father is not here to tell you the same himself.”

Liana looked up at him, wishing she could have somehow shielded him from the pain he was enduring. But, she supposed, it was not her duty to shield his pain but to find moments of pleasure to counterbalance them.

Their lives would provide both, of that she was certain. But Liana was just as certain, she and Darien would navigate all of it, together.