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suchadearie · 6 years ago

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A Game of Hearts and Steel (14/?)

A/N: *throws glitter* Hello again I’m back how have y’all been... This time it’s been just 8 months since the last update, so I’m calling this progress!

Summary: When her father, Lord Avon, gambles away Lady Belle’s virginity, she’s not amused. and Lord Gold, winner of this rather indignant prize, finds himself thrown out at a rapier’s point. But when it turns out that the shipping company he’s set his eyes on only comes with Lady Belle’s hand in marriage, he decides to overcome his hurt pride to obtain said company. But his attempts of courting Lady Belle are not as successful as he’d like them to be…

Rating: NC-17 (overall)

[Masterlist][Recent Updates]

Read on AO3

Thanks to @maplesyrupao3 for looking it over for me!

Belle had hardly been gone for an hour when a boy delivered a letter to Gold's doorstep. He was still in his room, looking out onto the garden while remembering her softness beneath his lips. Those five kisses had been the best kisses of his life, and if he never was to have another kiss of hers, he could still be happy to have had as much. When Dove knocked and brought him the envelope made of creamy paper, his name scrawled onto it in her unmistakable hand, his heart lurched into his throat.

"She can't be without my help for even five minutes, can she?" he quipped, trying to hide the wild beat of his pulse as he picked the letter up from the tray. Dove only raised his eyebrows, and Gold waved him away. He wanted to open her letter in privacy, free from Dove's judging scrutiny. Turning towards the window again, he waited for the click of the door that indicated Dove's exit, tipping the envelope against his lips and inhaling its scent. Much like a fool in love, he had to admit.

The feeling dissipated like a wisp of smoke in a strong breeze after reading the first sentence, and by the end of it, the letter was shaking so hard in his grip that the writing blurred before his eyes. He crumpled the paper in his fist.

"Dove!" he roared.

The door opened almost immediately, as if Dove had been lurking outside, waiting to be called. "Yes?"

"Call for the carriage."

Dove frowned and Gold raised the fist with the balled up letter and growled, "Now!"

"Is everything alright, my Lord?" The man still didn't move, as if he were deaf.

Gold started pacing. "Do I look like everything is alright? Apparently Lady Belle didn't know any better than to run home to Papa and announce her engagement!"

"Oh. I'm sorry that your plans to marry the girl have been thwarted— "

"No, Dove, she announced her engagement to me!" He threw the letter against Dove's chest, from where it tumbled to the floor like a slain bird. Dove followed the letter's fall with a puzzled look in his face.

"I don't understand. I thought you wanted to marry her?"

"But without being asked? She just up and confronted me with it!"

"Yes, I can't imagine how that must feel," Dove said with a slight head shake. He bent down and picked up the letter, smoothing it out and skimming over the scribbled lines.

"I did everything so she wouldn't be forced into such a situation! I did not want to force myself on her. I —"

"You wanted her to choose you."

Gold glared at Dove. "I wanted her to be free," he stated with as much dignity as he could muster.

"Ah, yes. Anyone with eyes could see that you gambled for her body, bought shares of her company and schemed your pretty net around her because you wanted her to be free."

"You are supposed to be on my side."

Dove raised his bulging brows, the corners of his mouth twitching. "I am," he said dryly, "but it appears that you don't know what you want. Only a few months ago you decided that the only way to get that shipping company was by marriage. Well, you did it. She's going to marry you."

Gold exhaled, blowing air through his teeth. "Yes, but why? I offered her every way out."

Dove observed the letter in his hand, wrinkling his nose. "Ask her."

"I would, but I'm still waiting for the carriage!"

With a subtle roll of his eyes, Dove turned, placing the letter on a sideboard by the door before he left, his silence speaking of his exasperation. Gold picked up the letter once more, rereading it. It made no sense and a slight edge of unease crept into him, piercing the dark cloud of his anger.

"My Lord,

I could no longer keep the secret of our engagement to myself. I informed my father of our plans. Your presence is required here to bring light to this matter and make an official announcement.

Yours, Belle"

This time, he folded the letter more carefully and slipped it into the inner pocket of his jacket, adamant to demand an explanation for every single word of it. Then he headed downstairs and out to the waiting carriage.

***

At Avon's town house, he was not only awaited by Lady Belle and her father, but also by Lady Leopold and a Mr. Humbert, Bow Street Runner.

Lady Belle shot him a silent, pleading look upon his entrance, as if he needed more than one short look at her panic-stricken face to realize the reason for this turn of events. They'd been caught after all.

Gold hurried across the salon to where Belle sat on the same sofa she’d occupied when rejecting him, pulling her hands into his in a blatant display of affection. Out of the corner of his eyes, he observed Lady Leopold watching with a stony expression as he kissed Belle's knuckles. He let go of her hands and turned to face the rest of them.

"Lady Leopold. What a surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"It's not a pleasure for me, my Lord. My step daughter, the murderer of my dear husband, has been freed."

"That's quite tragic, but it has hardly anything to do with Lady Belle, has it?"

"Lady Belle housed the vile creature! Who says she didn't help her escape? I demand that the house be searched."

"Now you're reaching. How would the delicate Lady Belle be capable of helping a criminal like your daughter? It makes no sense."

Lady Leopold scowled, baring her teeth. "She wasn’t home when my step daughter escaped, and she was nowhere to be found all night. Even you must admit that looks suspicious."

Gold glanced down. Belle's face was pasty, her eyes fixed on her hands in her lap, her lips pressed into a thin line that did little to stop her trembling.

"Not at all,” he said. “It’s hardly suspicious for a member of the upper class to spend the night away from home. However, my fiancée has been with me."

Lord Avon, who'd been quiet till then, whimpered.

"It's interesting, dare I say convenient, that no one has heard of this engagement yet, isn't it?" Impatience brimmed in Lady Leopold's voice. She stood from her chair, taking a step towards them, the air around her almost crackling with menace.

"Not at all. Considering the… circumstances, we wished to keep it quiet. I'm sure you understand."

"Oh, I understand perfectly." She tossed her head back, her lips forming a cruel snarl. "You took the filly for a ride and enjoyed it enough to buy up the whole stable. The story of how you won her… attention is all over London, my Lord."

Belle winced. Gold stepped in front of her, planting himself smoothly between her and Lady Leopold.

"You see, my Lady," he said, his voice low and full of menace, "some of us value integrity and pedigree. Not everyone is willing to stoop to carrying on with servants or Bow Street Runners."

Lady Leopold blanched. She narrowed her eyes at him, but Gold offered nothing more than a thin smile, refusing to let on what he truly knew and didn’t know. Without another word, Lady Leopold swept past him and headed for the doors, leaving the salon in a rustle of silk. Mr. Humbert followed her more slowly, pausing at the door.

"I'm sorry for causing such upset, my Lord. I think we're done now. Seems like Lady Blanchard was helped by the greed of her guards." He bowed, and Gold acknowledged it with a nod. He waited until Mr. Humbert had left before turning around and facing Belle.

"How dare you," he growled, completely ignoring the presence of Lord Avon. If possible, Belle turned even paler.

"I accepted your proposal, my Lord. I thought that's what you wanted."

"You didn't accept anything. You faced a perilous situation and saved yourself by throwing me to the wolves!"

"So you don't want to marry me anymore?"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Avon interjected, but neither Gold nor Belle paid him any mind.

"I didn't want to be presented with a fait accompli!"

Belle stood, smoothing out her skirts with a somber look in her eyes. "Well, I'm sorry that you had to experience something as upsetting as that, my Lord. Since you no longer desire my hand in marriage, I suggest we announce the retraction of our engagement."

"There hasn't even been an official announcement of our engagement yet!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Besides, this would ruin what’s left of your reputation, you know that. You'd be persona non grata once and for all."

Belle lifted her chin. "I have been a pariah before. And it's not like I have been eager to lose control of all my assets to my husband. You're doing me a favor, really." Her voice was taut, close to breaking, and it turned his insides upside down.

"Lady Leopold won't keep quiet about our indiscretion. This is different from breaking someone's nose."

"I understand that no one would want to marry me anymore. Since I don't wish to marry either, it’s not the worst thing that could happen."

"Certainly. But no one would want to do business with you anymore, and that, I imagine, is the worst thing that could happen.” He paused, waiting for the meaning of his words to sink in. “The ton is already squeamish about being associated with trade. How do you imagine them to react to the idea of trading with a loose woman such as yourself? You might as well open up a brothel.”

Lord Avon gasped, and Belle straightened, her eyes gleaming unnaturally bright. Red blotches crept onto her cheeks. He'd hurt her but he couldn't care less. After all, she had brought them into this situation, and after backing him into a corner and forcing them into a marriage she obviously didn't want, she didn't get to play offended.

"What does it matter to you? My ruin doesn't affect you at all! You can pretend that I was the one to break things off, and you'll appear the victim of this unfortunate affair."

"That's because I am the victim! You left me no choice in all of this!"

Belle took a step towards him, her hands balled to fists at her sides.

"I cannot believe this. You tried everything to trap me into marriage, and now that you finally succeed, you no longer want me? After all we went through? After —" She stopped herself, flushing darker, and Avon's eyes widened as his eyes flicked back and forth between them.

"Belle! You really… Did he —"

Gold inhaled sharply, but Belle was quick to shut down her father. "You don't get to act so shocked, Father. You gave him my virginity, remember? In front of witnesses?" She'd turned to her father, who shrank back as he had to face her wrath.

When it wasn't directed at him, her temperament was a glorious thing to behold, and Gold's stupid heart gave a little flutter. He wasn't quick enough to hide his smile as she turned back, and she frowned.

"And you! There's no reason to look so smug! You gambled for my body and threatened to take me right then on the table in front of everyone!"

"It was an idle threat. I thought we left that behind us, after everything we went through…"

"You might shrug it off, but the peerage is going to remember. You heard Lady Leopold. You ruined me right that moment, without ever touching me."

Gold stepped back, faltering. He was everything wrong with her life, and now she had to marry him, not because she wanted, but because she had no other choice. It was only just that she had left him no other choice either. He was nothing more but means to an end, a solution saving her from a sentence as an accomplice and a murderer. They would be each other’s means to different ends.

"I regret that, believe me," he murmured, then turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

Gold paused at the door, taking a deep breath before he looked back at her. "I'm going to purchase a special license. You should start planning for our wedding."

Belle dropped onto the sofa like he'd pulled the rug out from under her. "Oh. But — why so fast?"

"What, getting cold feet after all? Lady Leopold won't keep this to herself. By evening, all of London will know that you're a fallen woman. I'd rather get it over with than subject you to weeks and weeks of cruelty at the hands of the ton. Not that it's going to be any better like this, but at least we're free to leave town then until the worst is over."

Belle nodded wordlessly, the color drained from her face. With a nod, Gold started leaving once again.

"Wait," Belle called. It was getting ridiculous, but with a deep sigh, Gold turned, tilting his head.

"What now? Everything's decided, or not?"

"What about my ships? My company?" Her voice shook, and she had her eyes firmly fixed on her knotted hands in her lap.

"We all have a price to pay, I suppose. As my wife, your assets will belong to me. I will take good care of the company you created." There was steel in his voice, and he didn't try to hide it. He'd wanted control over her ships from the very beginning, before he ever knew her or her father, and he wasn't going to give up the one thing he'd pursued relentlessly just because he came to like her. She'd known that her ships were the price she had to pay for her safety, and she'd sacrificed them willingly. Gold wasn't going to turn soft or forget the one thing that kept him alive after his son had died his cruel death.

As he turned and left the room, a sob broke from her lips, piercing him to the bones. He ignored it.

***

The wedding was a plain and quick ceremony only a few days later, witnessed only by Lord Avon, Belle's friend Lady Abigail, and Dove. Belle's eyes were red-rimmed, and she didn't manage to look at him, not even when he put the ring onto her finger. When it was her turn to give him his ring, her fingers trembled so much that she dropped it.

Gold stared straight ahead as she fell to her knees in a cloud of powder-blue silk and satin and frantically searched for the ring, while the clergyman, parish clerk, and their witnesses gaped in horror. At last she found it, and Gold extended his hand to help her up again. She was shaking like an aspen leaf, but this time she managed to put the ring onto his finger. As they wrote the lines, her writing was even more of a scrawl than usually, and Gold had never been more relieved for something to be over than when she had received the copy of their marriage lines and they left the church and climbed into his waiting carriage. There wouldn't be a breakfast with their guests, and they were heading straight for his house, from where they would depart for their wedding trip the following day.

But first, they had a night to spend.

Gold didn't want to think about the night. Belle sat opposite him in the carriage, her white-knuckled hands clawing at her skirts, from time to time turning the ring around her finger. She didn't look at him.

After a while, he couldn't take the silence any longer. They would reach his house in only a few minutes, but damn him if he didn't have the guts to talk to his wife. They'd never been locked in silence like this before. "How do you feel?" he asked, making his voice gentle. It sounded forced and strained instead.

"I'm sorry about the ring. It just slipped out of my fingers…"

"No matter. Any bride would be nervous on her wedding day."

"You weren't nervous." For the first time, she lifted her gaze and looked at him.

He quirked his lips. "I'm not a bride. Besides, this wasn't my first wedding."

"Oh. I didn't know you were married before. What happened?"

Gold cursed himself for his loose tongue, but just then they reached his house and the carriage rattled to a halt. "We're here! Welcome to your new home, my Lady."

She narrowed her eyes but didn't say another thing, as Dove opened the carriage door. Gold climbed out, then helped her. Her hand was cold in his and he tightened his grip, not letting go immediately when her feet touched the ground and she’d straightened her skirts out.

"I'm safe now, you can let go of me," she murmured, avoiding his gaze.

"I know. You don't need my help, but maybe I enjoy holding the hand of my new wife."

She pressed her lips into a thin line and looked at the house where Dove waited. She still couldn't look at him.

"Let me show you inside then, my Lady. Dove has prepared you a suite."

She inhaled sharply, her eyes flicking up for the shortest moment. "We're not going to share a bedroom?"

"Not unless you want to. However, I hope we still might take some time to sate your… curiosity."

She blushed furiously and jerked her hand away.

"What? No longer curious? Or did you hope this marriage would be just a ploy to give you cover? I'm sorry to inform you that this isn't what I had in mind."

"But why not? You got everything you wanted! You stole my ships, and took my everything from me!" Her voice cracked, and she stepped back and kneaded her hands, as if she needed to exorcise the memory of his touch from her skin.

"Just because I wanted your ships the most doesn't mean I don't want you as well. And judging by your curiosity, you like me well enough as well. I can give you new things to care for. Children, for example. Most women are perfectly happy caring for a family."

She stepped even farther away, as if his words exuded poison, and tears welled up in her eyes. "I had everything I ever wanted," she whispered.

"Too bad. Maybe you should have fled on one of your ships then, instead of pressing me into marriage. Now, let's go inside and I'll show you to your room." He closed the distance between them and took her arm, leading her inside and ignoring her resistance. After a short moment of fighting his lead, she gave up, following him like a lamb to the slaughter.

Blackness roiled inside him, and for a moment he wondered if the loss of her affection was too steep a price to pay for finally getting his revenge. Then he remembered the broken body of his boy, and decided that there was nothing he wouldn't give to make his son's killer pay. Belle's heart was just collateral.

#rumbelle fic #rumbelle AU #fic: A Game of Hearts and Steel #Regency AU #Lord Gold #Lady Belle #fic #long post #I shouldn't be writing this #I have so many other things to write #but sometimes you just have to go back #to writing what you love #WWYL #sooo... what happened while I was gone

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