Then she recalled the elegance and the expertise of Lord Dorrington, the manner in which finally he had played with the Prince, deliberately provoking him, deliberately delaying the moment when he would give him the coup de grace.

How could she have known, how could she have guessed that Lord Dorrington was so experienced a duellist? When finally Prince Ahmadi had collapsed on the floor of the conservatory of Carlton House, she had felt everything swim before her eyes.

She had known that she was fainting and yet she had heard Lord Dorrington’s voice say calmly,

“Will someone go to the assistance of my wife?”

How had he known that she was about to faint? He had his back to her and yet instinctively he must have been aware of the tension she had suffered and which in the end caused her collapse.

She was ashamed of herself for not having more fortitude.

But the Duchess of Devonshire had been very sympathetic. She had drawn Alyna from the conservatory back into the house and had insisted that she took a few sips of wine.

Then Her Grace said coaxingly,

“Let me take you home, Lady Dorrington. Your husband cannot leave immediately and I feel sure that we frail females, who are not usually privileged to watch a duel, are not required at this moment.”

“I would like to – leave if it is no – trouble,” Alyna replied.

She felt that she could not wait and see Prince Ahmadi carried through the house by the servants who were aware that Lord Dorrington had killed him.

He deserved to die and it was his own fault that he would not agree to the fight ending when first Lord Alvanley and then his own Minister had suggested it.

He had been stubborn in his confidence that Lord Dorrington would die at his hand and instead the roles had been reversed.

He had been the one to perish.

Alyna had felt that she could not talk about it and could not face seeing the satisfaction she knew there would be on the faces of Lord Worcester and Lord Alvanley.

Had they been fearful, she wondered, as Lord Grenville had been, that Lord Dorrington would not survive the Prince’s ferocious onslaught?

There were so many questions in her mind that were unanswered. But Alyna knew that the only thing that really mattered was that Lord Dorrington was alive!

Now she no longer need be afraid of every shadow or suspect that behind every bush there was an assailant waiting to kill him.

But even as a sense of relief swept over her, another thought came to her mind! She was now safe from the Prince, it was true, but would Lord Dorrington feel that his obligations to her were at an end?

Alyna felt as if she had escaped from one pit of destruction only to stand on the edge of another!