She Was Dared to Kiss a Masked Stranger at the Royal Ball… Then the Most Feared Duke Claimed Her
Chapter 6
They remained at the safe house for two days. Two days in which the world beyond those shuttered windows shifted quietly. Messengers came and went at dawn and dusk. Orders were written in Brandon’s sharp, disciplined script. The assassin’s body was traced, identified, and connected to names Sienna did not yet recognize.
Lord Garrett did not return home after that dinner. London whispered. The North tightened.
Sienna washed blood from her crimson gown herself. She did not ask a maid. She did not want anyone else touching the evidence of what she had done.
On the third morning, a courier arrived before sunrise. Brandon read the note once, then again, his jaw hardening.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A name.”
He hesitated, and that hesitation was more frightening than anything else he had done.
“Someone who informed the conspirators where we would be,” he said at last.
Sienna’s stomach tightened. “Who?”
His gaze lifted to hers. “Miss Margot Hayes.”
The room tilted. “No,” she said immediately. “That is impossible.”
“She received five thousand pounds two days before the royal ball.”
He handed her the documents. Bank drafts. Correspondence. A payment marked discreetly as consultation. Sienna stared at her friend’s signature.
“She would not,” she whispered.
“She did.”
“She would never risk my life.”
“She did not expect you to be important.” The words landed with quiet cruelty. “She believed you harmless.”
Sienna swallowed the ache rising in her throat. Margot had dared her to kiss the masked stranger. Margot had laughed when Sienna stepped forward. Margot had insisted it would be amusing.
“They told her you would be safe,” Brandon continued. “They wanted confirmation of my interest — a public link. And when it proved useful…”
“They escalated,” Sienna breathed.
“Yes.”
She felt anger begin to eclipse grief. “Take me to her.”
They found Margot at a fashionable cafe in Mayfair. Cream gloves. New jewels. Her laughter froze mid-sentence when she saw the Duke behind Sienna’s shoulder. Her face drained of color.
“Sienna—”
“Why?” Sienna asked quietly.
Margot’s eyes filled instantly. “They said it was nothing. Just information. A silly dare. They said no one would be harmed.”
“You were paid.”
“I needed the money. My debts—”
“You sold me for them.”
“I thought you would simply be embarrassed.”
“You thought,” Sienna repeated slowly, “that my humiliation was worth five thousand pounds.”
Something cold settled in Sienna’s chest. She had defended Margot to her mother last season, had vouched for her character when the whispers began about her gambling debts. She had been loyal, had believed in the friendship they shared. And this was what loyalty had purchased her — a knife in the back, wrapped in silk and smiles, paid for in coin she had never known her friend needed.
Margot reached for her hand. Sienna withdrew it.
“That is what I was worth to you.”
Tears streaked Margot’s painted cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
Sienna rose. Brandon had not spoken once. His silence was deliberate.
In the carriage, Sienna stared straight ahead. “What will you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
“She betrayed you.”
“She betrayed you,” he corrected. “She is not significant enough to warrant my attention.”
The dismissal felt colder than vengeance. “And me?” Sienna asked quietly. “Am I significant enough?”
His gaze shifted to her hand — still faintly marked where she had stitched his wound. “You killed for me. You stitched me together. You did not flee.”
His fingers brushed hers, a deliberate touch.
“Yes, Miss Crawford. You are significant.”
The word settled deep within her chest. Not ornamental. Not disposable. Significant.
But significance had cost her a friend. And perhaps something softer inside herself.
As the carriage rolled through London’s polished streets, Sienna understood something new. The dare had not been innocent. It had been bait, and she had walked into it willingly. What she did not yet know was what Brandon was willing to sacrifice next.