"Would you leave Miss Sophia and me for a moment, Fanny?" Nicholas said in a calm and distinct voice, despite the ringing in his ears, despite the loud and wild rampage in his chest.

Fanny's eyes flickered toward Sophia for a short second before she bowed her head and exited the room, the cloth cover for the clay still in her hands.

The discrete closing of the chamber door was a clear signal for Nicholas to slowly face Sophia who seemed to be indifferent, acting nonchalant as she finished tying her sandals.

"You do have a gift for molding," Nicholas said, breaking the silence, leaning his hand on the table beside the bust of clay. Now that he had a closer look, he realized she had not finished molding his ears.

He saw her stiffen for a while before she shrugged. "You must realize you are the last man whose face I have memorized by touch, my lord," she said calmly and softly. She looked up, her gaze blank. "Is it perfect? You can have it as a parting gift."

Nicholas closed his eyes to maintain a bit of patience. When he opened them, Sophia was straightening on the bed, her face impassive than before. What was going on in her mind? What was she thinking? Was she nervous as him? Was she angry? Was she devastated? Desperate?

He wished he could see through that blank look in her pale olive eyes.

But she had closed him out now as she did one year past. She was once more prepared to let him go without giving herself a chance.

He saw her struggle with a smile. "Do not feel utterly honored, Nicholas. I molded that clay with the intent to mock you. It is unfinished."

"Yes, I see that one ear is missing."

"I did not mean to mold an ear."

"You were not?"

She nodded. "I was trying to figure a way to put a knife through it. But I believe a sword shall serve me better as it will reach the other ear."

Nicholas sighed and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the chair facing the table, lifted it off the ground and settled it in front of her.

Sophia stiffened as he slowly sat down facing her. He leaned against the chair, arms crossed over his chest and one leg over the other in an easy and relaxed manner.

"And what else do you intend to do with it?"

She shrugged, her composure slowly disintegrating. "Find a pole to attach it to and have it on display outside the cottage with a sign that says, 'unleash thy anger here'."

"Hmm. They will not appreciate it, Sophie. It will merely scare your bloody neighbors."

She nodded. "And you."

The corner of his lips lifted into a smile. "Because you do not like me at all?"

She nodded. "Well, I do not entirely hate you."

"And you do not love me either, yes?"

He watched as she blinked and her mouth opened to form the lie he knew she was about to say. But she did not utter them. Mayhap she couldn't or perhaps she no longer wished to bother with a lie.

Either way, his heart was already celebrating. Bloody tarnation, he could even picture his own mother planning another engagement ball and a grand wedding! He knew he was close to turning that picture into reality.

He simply had to be patient, insistent and desperate.

"Why did you not tell me you tried to stop the ambush, Sophie?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Anger flashed across her face. Nicholas' smile widened as he realized Durley would have to answer to his sister's wrath very much later.

She did not offer a reply. She simply looked away, waiting for his next words. She was not making this easy, Nicholas noted wryly.

He took a deep breath and uncrossed his legs. Leaning his forearms on his thighs, Nicholas tried to catch her eyes and he did not care if she could clearly see him now or not. He did not care if he was but a mere shadow in front of her. What he wanted was for her to hear his words.

"Why did you not tell me one year ago, Sophie? When I came to accuse you?"

She blinked, her eyes moistening with tears. Why was she fighting this?

"Because you thought it was the only way for me to never return," he answered for her. When her face hardened, Nicholas added, "Why the bloody hell would you not want me to come back, Sophie?"

When she kept her silence, Nicholas nearly growled. "I believe you are partially blind, Sophie, not mute."

Finally she opened her mouth and her voice was shook as she hissed, "Because Marcus was planning to spy on you further because Osegod wanted it and I did not want to do it!" She lifted her chin in an attempt of a haughty mien but a tear dropped from her eye and landed on her tightly clasped hands. "There. You have your answer. Now, can I go and call for my brother? Unless you have more questions you wish answered to help you sleep peacefully at night?"

Nicholas did not bother to hear the last part of her speech for he was looking at her incredulously. "So you thought it was best that I hate you?"

An eyebrow arched high as she curtly replied. "Yes."

"You had many chances, Sophie. Did you realize that I took you against your will because of the fury I had over the ambush? You could have saved us both the trouble—"

"You wanted to know more about my brother and I did not want to tell you. The ambush was not truly a part of your goal. The anger over it was merely what pushed you to do what you did. There was no use correcting you on that regard. It does not change anything."

"It does!" He reached for her and grabbed her by the shoulders. He gave her a shake. "It does when I am bloody hell in love with you, damn you!"

Sophia did not even show her surprise. Of course his words were no longer a secret. But what infuriated Nicholas was that she replied with a sigh and a question. "What do you want, Nicholas? That I confess the same?"

"No, because I already believe that you love me in return," he snapped, making her blink with confusion. "What I want is that you stop looking down on yourself."

Suddenly her eyes blazed with anger. "I do not—"

"No, you claim you do not. You do not hate yourself or your color, but you care what others shall think of the people who associate themselves with you!" He took her hands in his and squeezed. "Can you not trust us to defend our own decisions? Can you not trust me to face my choices?"

She tried to pull her hands away but he held firm. If he let her go now, he would merely tire himself by going after her and at the moment Nicholas was in no condition to ride his horse to Rock'oles and abduct a colored woman and bring her to Tiny Town. He would rather travel back to Whiston with her and allow his mother the luxury of planning the grand wedding she never had the chance to when Maxwell eloped to Tiny Town with Maxine. Again, he could picture Lady Alice's blue eyes twinkling as she discussed the colors of flowers, ribbons, laces and many other things that ought to be a part of a wedding other than the bishop and the church.

Nicholas brushed the thoughts away, concentrating on what was at hand.

"Sophie," he gently said, pulling her closer toward her. "Sophie, will you listen to me?"

"If you promise to speak with sense, yes."

"Many question my sense, Sophie, my family amongst them," he admitted, "but I also believe that they have already come to terms with my tendency to be gullible, foolish and even careless. And wanting you make those propensities even worse. And I do not want to spend the rest of my days wanting you. I want to want you with you."

Sophia shook her head and groaned. "Nick, you are being—"

"I am being rational, Sophia. And you are making things difficult."

"You are asking me to marry you!"

"Of course I bloody am!"

Reality must have finally dawned upon her for she finally paused and her eyes went wide. Nicholas could swear he even heard her small gasp of surprise. When she finally blinked, returning to reality, her next question almost made him groan. "After you have abducted me?"

He winced. "Perhaps you can forgive me later."

He saw her resolve start to wane as she scoffed. "I do not remember you asking for my forgiveness."

"I am sorry," he immediately uttered. "I am sorry for abducting you. I am sorry for hating you."

"No, do not feel sorry for hating me for I pushed you to—"

"And I am sorry if I cannot let your brother take you away from here," he continued, not hearing her. "And I am sorry that if he ever gets in the way, I will have the two footmen and the entire population of Puck to tie him inside the village chapel while I take you to Tiny Town. And I am sorry that he shall be fed with Fanny's cooking until we return as husband and wife."

Nicholas's heart swelled as he heard a chuckle escape through her lips and a tear rolled down her eyes. He reached up to wipe it off with a finger.

"And I am sorry that you will be subjected to more ire and face more scandals after I take you as my wife. I am sorry that Wickhurst will not grow to like you as fast as they did two of my sisters-in-law. I am sorry if my family will be overly protective of you and smother you with dramatic speeches and many other acts worthy of feigning a faint to survive." He bent down to press the back of her fingers against her lips. "I am sorry."

Sophia's laughter rumbled in her chest, her shoulders shaking and her tears streaming down her face. "I do not have a name, Nick. I am merely Katerina Elizabeth. I am not even Sophia."

Nicholas looked up and saw the acceptance reflected in her eyes despite her words. "You will always be Sophia to me, darling. Katerina Elizabeth does not exist until you remember her." He leaned forward to press his lips against hers. "And you do have a name," he whispered in his kiss. "From this moment on, you will forever be an Everard."

*****

"The bloody bastard is pacing outside your bedchamber holding the bust of clay with his handsome face molded on it," Marcus said to Sophia.

Sophia smiled as she dried her tears.

"And he told me you have finally become a fool to accept his proposal."

She chuckled shakily. "It does not mean the marriage shall happen very soon," she tried to assure her brother. "I cannot very well go away and—"

"You are free to go now, Sophia," Marcus interrupted. "Marry the bloody bastard before he comes to Rock'oles whining like a child and disrupt the place again."

Sophia shook her head. "I cannot leave you, Marcus. Not when you are having difficulties with Osegod."

"Sophia," Marcus sternly said, taking the seat that Nicholas had hesitantly vacated earlier when she demanded that she wanted to speak to her brother alone. "I do not wish to keep you away from your own happiness now that you have finally found it." He took her hand. "And perhaps it is best that you are far from me. Osegod knows of my secret but he does not know about you. We cannot wait for that to happen. He shall use me for his plans in return for his silence but I cannot allow him to find a need to use you. He wanted you while thinking you are my mistress. He would even want you more should he learn you are my sister. If we stay together, he is bound to find out."

"But what do you plan to do, Marcus? Osegod can talk anytime and if he does, the Trilbys will know."

"No, he will not for he still finds a need for my cooperation. What I am planning to do is dangerous and I do not hope for you to be in the middle of it all. Before they discover our true connection, it is best that we part."

Sophia started to shake her head. "No, Marcus. We found each other. I do not wish to lose you again—"

"Once I am done, Sophia, I will come to you," Marcus patiently interrupted.

Sophia felt a lump in her throat, panic rising inside her. "But I will worry for you. I cannot be happy knowing you are somewhere putting yourself in danger."

"I will not disappear. I will be around, Sophia. I always will be."

"Marcus—"

"Do you truly believe I can give you the happiness Whiston can?" her brother asked, squeezing her hands. A whimper escaped her throat when she heard the break in her brother's voice. "No, I cannot, my dear, for I am a broken man."

"Marcus, please, we can live our lives in peace. I can marry Nicholas and you can find a woman who shall give you happiness and help you heal. Please, let your hatred go—"

"No." The finality in her brother's words caused her shoulders to sag with grief. "We have already talked about this, Sophia. My plans remain the same. As for you, you are lucky to have no memory of the past and you must take it to your advantage. Do not wish to remember. Simply make new memories."

Sophia was now shaking with tears. She was not crying for herself, she was crying for the man holding her hand. She had done her best to convince him that his vengeance would merely ruin him.

But how could one ruin one that already was?

"Marcus, how can I ever leave you? I am your sister."

"And I am your brother and it shall never change," he whispered. "But I believe you also do love him immensely and that too shall not change. If you stay with me, Sophia, you will learn to hate me for the hate I harbor inside is too great for both of us. I will never rest until I get my revenge and I do not want to lose you should I finally get it." Sophia leaned forward to wrap her arms around her brother's neck. He let her and pulled her in a warm embrace. "I want you to choose the Everards to save you and to save myself. The time will come when I will come and find you. I will be at peace once my goal is met, but I will be even more broken. I would need you to help me fix myself. And I need you safe."

Sophia was shaking her head when her brother gently pushed away from her. She tried to desperately look at him, to see beyond the familiar shadows and it was amongst the moments wherein she hated not seeing him.

She reached up to touch his face and found that they were dry. He could not even bring himself to cry.

"Marcus..." she choked, crying for the broken man in her arms. "Promise me you will find me. All the time you can spare, find me. I demand that you do. Even if it is merely a passing whisper in the streets or a short greeting in the opera for I swear to you, dear brother, I shall be attending hundreds of them. Find me where it is safe. Find me often, Marcus, please."

Marcus chuckled and leaned over to plant a kiss on her forehead. Sophia's eyes closed tightly at the act. "Now, sister, you must start your new life with a scandal. I believe the Everards do have the propensity of causing the most shocking ones. I shall expect an increase in income for the Herald publication in the coming months."

Her tearful laughter filled the room.

He did not promise but Sophia heard it in his voice. This was farewell for now, but she knew he shall find her often.