Everyone in the room went so still at the same time and stared at her with petrified eyes. The overall effect was so comic that Sophia had to swallow a laugh that she supposed was maniacal in nature if released.

The bullet had shot past the Earl, barely a fingerbreadth away from embedding into his flesh and had gotten itself stuck to the wall, leaving a gaping, round hole.

The Earl's grey eyes stared at her, completely perturbed and Sophia leveled a cool gaze at him. "That was a warning shot. Next time I won't miss."

Blake took the opportunity to cuff the Earl and he grunted, snarling at Blake. Blake snarled back.

The two officers behind them also managed to get the cuffs on the Duke and Darius. They both lay bound on the floor. The Duke's eyes were full of malice but he spoke nothing, just regarding everyone with that blank look. Darius, on the other hand, was hissing at everyone in the room., his lips pulled back over his teeth in a feral growl.

Blake beckoned a blonde-haired man, that looked vaguely familiar to Sophia, forward, "James. Help the officer haul these men to their feet and then let them take these lords to to the carriage to keep watch over them." He shot a wary glance at Colette. "Take this lady with you as well and take care of her until I come."

Colette stared at him shakily, surprisingly very subdued, and shaking uncontrollably. Whether at what had just happened or the fact that there was dead man talking to her. Blake softened his voice. "Lady Colette, go with James. He will keep you safe."

The man Blake called James, hauled the men to their feet and the remaining officers paraded the men out the door, their faces yet bloody from the fight they had been in. Yet none of them complained. They were good men. Then James quirked Colette a grin and stretched out an upturned palm. "Shall we, my lady?"

Colette nodded faintly, her face ashen white and her lips warbling as she was on the edge of tears. She took the palm and two walked with the officers, one handling each man. The fourth officer still lay on the floor of the living room, still knocked out by the blow the Earl had delivered,

Blake and Sophia were left alone at last. After the brawl that just happened, the crunch of bone and sinew and flesh, the sudden tranquility seemed displaced and odd.

But Sophia's heart raced in her chest and when the excitement churning through her, died down, she finally looked at Blake. And then she launched herself at him and he captured her in his arms, twirling her a couple times, before releasing her, though his arms still circled her waist.

"You're here. You're actually here. You're here. You're not dead, You're here. You're here." Sophia knew she was blabbering nonsense, but Blake just ran a palm over her head, smoothening down her rampant raven black curls. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and Sophia leaned into it. Her nails dug into his back as she clawed at him, urging him to come closer, though the slight bulge of her stomach prevented complete proximity.

Warm tears slid down her cheek and when she felt a drop or two fall on her head, she knew he was crying too.

"I love you," she whispered and he echoed, "I love you."

She then stepped back from him, drying her tears and his with a swipe of her palm. She leveled him a furious glance, and then pummeled him on the chest with her fists, each thump echoing word. "Don't. You. Ever. Do. That. To. Me. Again."

Blake let out a low chuckled, as he trapped her wrists at the last punch and tugged her closer. "Are you blaming me for nearly dying, angel?"

"Yes. What a selfish man you are, Mr. Cavendish, leaving me all alone," Sophia teased back though last traces of tears were shimmering in her eyes.

"Selfish, eh? Why, Mrs. Caven-" he said before quirking his eyebrows together and claiming, "You are not Mrs. Cavendish yet, are you? We never got our vows sealed. We must rectify that immediately."

Sophia smiled up at him but before she could say a word, he yanked her hands sharply. She sprawled across his chest, a movement that she now realized that she could spend a lifetime doing, when once it was forbidden.

"But first..." He swooped down and kissed her softly rocking her gently. It was not like their usual kisses which were hot and full of passion, and hot raw desire but sweet. A bliss after an ordeal. A safe haven.

Sophia twirled her fingers into his hair and ran them through it. Then she pulled away from the kiss slightly, though their foreheads still, touched and breaths still mingled. "You know when I met you, I wanted to do this, so very badly. Just run my fingers through your hair. Feel that texture."

Blake frowned. "I recall that our first meeting did not go very well."

Sophia's lips crinkled up at that. "Why, Mr. Cavendish, it seems to me that meeting went very well. I personally think that slap was a good knock to your senses."

Blake's eyes fluttered in annoyance, mixed with the faintest traces of amusement. "Of course, you did."

James cleared his throat from the threshold of the front door and both of them looked at up him.

"If you two Victorian lovebirds, with all due respect my lady, are done reuniting, we have three murderers on our hand that require deportation and justice," he drawled to Blake. "Lady Colette is currently outside. She said she wanted to have some fresh air before we left. I was obligated to let her.

Sophia's eyes shot up at that and before she could stop it, she said, "Is she okay?"

"Yes, my lady. She is just... recovering I suppose. That was an intense incident. But how unfortunate it is that no one asks how I am."

Sophia gagged in surprised. Blake laughed, threading his fingers through Sophia's. "Don't mind him. He is lonely."

James bowed his head "Duke of Cambridge at your service, my lady."

The faintest memory of and amber eyed man and laughing smile came to Sophia mind. "The one who challenged Blake for me, the day in debutante ball."

James looked at her peculiarly and let out a large guffaw. "Yes, my lady. But it was never any competition. "He jerked his chin towards their linked hands. "Unfortunately, so. We would have made an excellent pairing you and I, my lady. My tongue is just as devilish as yours."

Blake and Sophia slowly made their way to the door while Sophia shot back wearily, "Too bad my lord, the Blake was more assertive with what he wanted and we went after it. I cannot say the same about you, your grace. And besides, I am perfectly content with who I am with now." She leaned against Blake's arm and James scoffed.

"All the more pity, my lady." James joked.

"Do you terribly flirt with every woman in sight, even a to be married one, your grace?"

"Perhaps." He smirked and then his lips pulled into a genuine smile. "But I am truly happy Blake found someone to settle with. All those years in his dreary company was quite irritating."

They stepped out to the gardens and James called out to Colette who was standing nearby to join them. Eyes, cast down, she trailed after the, lost in her own world.

Sophia laughed plainly. "Are you always like this, your grace?" His twinkling eyes was her only answer.

Blake let out a small bark of laughter. "James... James tends to be very friendly, if we are to put it in the nicest way possible."

James bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady. I have heard a great many things about you from Blake."

"I shall look forward to getting to know a man I can see Blake considers a brother."

"And I look forward to getting to you know you, my lady. Say, what do you say for some archery to get to know each other in a more relaxed setting?" The four of them had nearly reached the carriage.

And Blake howled at the fact that was how everything really started. James and Sophia just gave him a peculiar look. But it felt good to makes jests after everything.

It felt normal.

In one carriage, Blake, Sophia, James and Colette sat, while the carriage brought by the officers here was for the prisoners. The ride was long and uncomfortable, tiring all the parties. It was nearly sundown when they reached the city of London again.

It was nearly seven thirty in the night by the time they had dropped the prisoners off at the prison. It was a medium-sized jailhouse, used to house both nobles and commoners until their trial. Blake had conferred briefly with the Chief Constable on setting up and trial and he and James agreed to make the appropriate arrangements.

It was a miracle the borough that Blake got police forces from were very few willing to risk their lives to arrest the conspirators. Most boroughs refused to send officers to aid the masses in general, but the Chief Constable was an honorable man, who had served in the army and now resigned to doling out justice. Darius, the Duke and the Earl were pushed into one of the last empty cells, grumbling and cursing at everyone.

Sophia watched it all unperturbed, her heart finally relaxing that this ordeal was over. She could finally have peace.

After dropping the prisoners in the jailhouse, Blake took Sophia and Colette home, so he too could return to his manor and get some well-deserved rest. Sophia wanted to do nothing but curl up in his arms in his home, but she was all too tired to protest when they actually arrived at her destination. Finally, every shard of excitement was gone and she felt burnt and hollowed out. Weary and tired.

Colette... Colette hadn't spoken a word. Not at Blake being alive. Not at him saving them for the father. She just seemed so empty. Shell shocked. Absolutely caved into nothing. Despite her sister's betrayal, Sophia could not stop the seed of doubt and fear for her sister to gnaw at her.

When they reached their manor, Colette simply stepped out of the carriage and walked inside their home, without a goodbye or thank you for Blake. She looked like an animated corpse.

Sophia reckoned she looked none the better, but her sister.... Her sister was another case altogether.

Blake pressed a kiss to her forehead as he helped her get down from the carriage and he too clambered down to say his farewell.

"Goodnight, Sophia. I will come back tomorrow. We will discuss how to proceed from there."

"My father is going to die. All of them are aren't they, for attempted murder?"

As if that word caused him pain, Blake's hand drifted towards his abdomen where he had been shot and Sophia arched her eyebrows at that movement. "Can I see?"

"Not now. Later."

Sophia nodded slightly, barely even hearing the answer as she said again, "You haven't answered my question."

Blake let out a sharp breath. "Yes. According to Victorian law, your father and his associates will be hanged for attempted murder."

"My baby brother is going to be the Earl of Conway." Suddenly her eyes flashed with alarm. "What do I even say to my siblings? They are only nine. I cannot tell then the truth about their father, them being so young. And telling my brother he is the Earl.."

Blake clasped her hands in his and raised it up to kiss it. "That is a worry for another day. Not today. Go. Take rest."

Sophia bobbed her head. "Goodnight, Blake." She turned away from him and then twirled back, pressing palm on his cheek that was scruffy with a beard. "You need to shave."

"I know."

Sophia peered at his beautiful green eyes that glowed in the moonlight. "What I wanted to say was... thank you."

"For what?" Blake replied, narrowing her eyes. "I hope it is not for saving you. That is my duty."

"No. Au contraire, monsieur," Sophia whispered, "It's for coming back to me."

The trials happened a couple weeks later. It was a quick and fast, the judgment pronounced was what Sophia knew to be the truth. There was no way the three men could escape from this, when Blake' scar and the testimony of him and that of the Scottish witness was against them. Yes, they were nobility. But even nobility could not escape justice with money. The Duke has managed to procure a lawyer to represent all of them in the court but it was a hopeless cause.

Sophia could only watch as her father was condemned to death by hanging.

They were to be hanged the following afternoon.

"We don't have to go." Blake's voice was a caress, the next day.

"No. I have to." Sophia whispered as she donned dark clothes, pulling her gloves over her hand. The gown she wore was loose and fitting hid the bulge of her stomach ss much as it could. The public didn't need to know about her state yet, in case anyone she knew saw her.

But it seemed these days everyone was looking for the Brightons, when the Earl of Conway was said to be the murderer in their family. Gossip was gossip. No need to add to it with the news of her child.

The hanging would be private and done in the jailhouse itself. Family members were not allowed to watch. But Sophia wanted to say goodbye. What possessed her to do so, for someone who had hurt her sister, he mother, herself and tried to kill her love, she did not know.

"I am coming too." A soft voice came from behind her and Sophia turned to see Colette there, dressed as well, her blue eyes sad and downcast.

Sophia gave her a sharp nod. "We leave now."

When she broke the news that their father was going to die to Jeanne and Jeffrey, without revealing too much of the details except that he 'hurt' England and was a bad man, they of course had been saddened. But they had never known the man. The only parental figure that they knew was Sophia. The Earl has been a passing presence. She had also broken the news that Jeffrey was the Earl of Conway to him. He had accepted it without a shrug. A strong man already.

As they were leaving, she whispered a prayer of thanks that he had barely ever met her father. Jeffrey was a good person. And he would grow up to be a good man.

The journey to the jailhouse was quick and swift. However, inside it, every step Sophia took towards her father, the fear and despair in Sophia's heart increased. Her father was a murderer, an evildoer. But he was also someone who had been hurt before by his own father. It was not his fault he had turned like this. Ye, he had tried to kill Blake... but he would be gone soon and the last thing she could give him was forgiveness. For her own sake. For her own peace.

The three of them stood in front of the jail, Sophia's fingers linked with Blake's loosely. When her father had heard them coming, he suddenly stood up and stalked inside his cell and Sophia backed up, startled. Without the constant supply of alcohol, the past weeks, the earl's eyes, were clearer than ever before. His beard was scruffy and lined with grey and dirty. His frame was gaunter than before. The prison was not the worst in Victorian times, but it certainly wasn't the best either.

But those eyes. So clear, so piercing. Sophia's heart twisted at that. Was that how her father could have been, open and kind if he had not been haunted by his own demons? She would never know.

'Father." Both Sophia and Colette voiced their greeting.

He just stared at them coolly.

Sophia then whispered, "I forgive you, Father. For all you've done. To me, to Colette. To Mother. May you enter heaven." With those words, something unfurled in Sophia. The resentment she had harbored against her father. It was...gone.

The Earl's lips curled up and then he let out a large guffaw causing Sophia's eyes to widen in surprise. "You came her to forgive them? What a jest. I don't need your forgiveness." He banged his hands on the bars of the jail, curling around it. "I don't need anything. I am not sorry for what I done. I am only sorry I failed." The Duke and Darius inside the cell grunted their approval as they watched the exchange with careful eyes.

This was flung at Blake. Blake gritted his teeth but said nothing. The Earl then let out a peel of maniacal laughter and said, "I was always a terrible father to you two. Why are you here?"

"Because everyone deserves forgiveness, go to heaven."

The Earl growled at that. "I have stopped having faith in God the day he let my father lay a hand on me." His gray eyes brightened with rage. "I don't care where I go after I die. Perhaps, I deserve it for all I have done. Things you don't even know about."

"Lie what? Sophia whispered.
The earl just cackled. "Many things, daughter. Secrets that will stay buried with me. Now, goodbye. It is time for me to go."

He was right. Officers marched in and opened the cell doors and dragged the Duke, Darius and the Earl out cuffing them. They pushed them towards the gallows in the back.

Sophia watched the retreating back of her father, wanting to say something, anything, but her lungs were burning too much to say another word. She could only watch.

And then Colette spoked. "I forgive you too, Father."

Those grey eyes met those blues one for the smallest of moments, but Sophia could swear she saw something like pain flash across it. Pain in those clear, grey eyes. Then he whispered, "You remind me so much of your Mother. I miss her. So much."

And then he was gone.

The funeral was a solemn occasion. Sophia could not shed tears for a man she did not love. No one except for Blake Sophia, Colette and James, with Alessandra and a few other relatives came. It was large occasion nor a fancy one like her mother's that followed the norms of the era. It was kept silent. Quiet. The scandal of the Earl's treachery and being hanged was already spreading like wildfire in London. And they didn't need to increase it further by hosting a missive funeral for a murdered.

At the end, Sophia felt... more relaxed than she had in years. The threat of a father that could endanger her siblings no longer existed and her heart felt free. Unconstructed. At the end of the ceremony she pressed a kiss to her fingers to her father's casket.

"May you find a life that did not hold the pain this one had."

Blake was her anchor throughout the whole affair, helping her get the arrangements and everything ready. It was not too much, but still, she appreciated the pillar he was to her. Her rock forever.

"You know, we were going to have a funeral for you." Sophia said to him after everyone had departed to their homes and they were left to recline in the couch in front of the fire, stretching out their toes to warm then.
"Why didn't you?"

"I didn't believe you were dead, though it seemed like you were. I couldn't believe it and I couldn't do it. And your mother wanted to see your body. Wanted to bury it. She said it not would be laying you to rest unless it was done. An empty casket, she said, is no funeral. She knew your 'body' was there. She tried every day to get it, but apparently, the locals kept insisting that she was a stranger and that you had been a traveler and you were dead. The body wouldn't be given because it was 'buried' already. She was spitting mad."

"It sounds like my mother." Blake ruefully grinned.

"I think she hold no love for Gretna Green now."

"I suppose she doesn't. They rejected giving her a body that wasn't a body at all because her son was living. Nut they didn't tell her that either. How rude. Can you blame her?" he cheekily replied and Sophia grimly smiled.

"No, no I can't."

Blake repressed his hands on either cheek turning her towards him. Colette who was sitting with them turned her head at the movement and then resumed her staring into space. "It's over now. I am here. They are dead."

"I know. What happened to the Dukedom the former Baron was awarded with to which he wanted an heir and all of this even happened?"

"It passed back to Her Majesty. All titles and such as well."

"The irony of the moment is not lost on me."

"That's how life is. Full of twists and turns, thorns and brambles."

"Yes. Yes. I suppose it is."

A/N: SUPRISE UPDATE! YAY. Do you like surprises? Please say you want me to do this more often hahaha.

Anyway, what did you think of this chapter? I think this the second last or third last. We are almost going to be done! AHHHH. Are you sad or excited???

Readers! Thank you for taking your time to read this chapter! Be sure to vote, comment and share it with others! Every single thing means the world to me! I love you all!