The air grew heavier.
"I won't," Valerie said softly but firmly. "I'm not a parasite."
Bianca laughed again.
"A parasite?" she mocked. "Then what do you think you are now?"
Valerie ignored her.
"I also don't want the Duke to misunderstand," she went on. "I don't want him to think—"
"Misunderstand?" Count Austin cut in sharply. "Since when have you cared about feelings?"
He stepped closer.
"Remember this well, Valerie. You are nothing more than a woman warming the Duke's bed."
Valerie felt her chest tighten, yet her face remained calm.
"Once the Duke marries," Count Austin continued without hesitation,
"you could be discarded."
Countess Austin nodded, her voice now cold, stripped of all pretense.
"That's exactly why," she said, "you should be filling your coffers now." "If not, how will you live later?"
Bianca curled her lips into a grin.
"Don't tell me," she said, "you plan to crawl back to this family with nothing once the Duke throws you away?"
The room was silent.
