Will Gets His Answers


The only thing that kept Will from blowing his cool was the pressure of Emilia's arm around his waist and her bright eyes as she had peeked up at him.

That look told him everything he needed to know at that moment. Despite everything that had been thrown at her today, Emilia wasn't going anywhere.

If someone were to ask Will what he had been thinking when he found out that his mother was the one helping the King of England blackmail him into becoming the monarch's political pawn, he wouldn't be able to tell them.

It was too much to take in, and his mind didn't seem to want to comprehend it until he heard it straight from the woman's mouth.

But when that woman's mouth opened, she sputtered, "Well, it would seem that now is not the time for catching up with my son. I should be going. The company here is..." She gave a condescending perusal of the room. "...less than ideal." His mother put emphasis on the last word, her eyes flicking over Lady Humphries as she did so. The countess was standing merely a step away from Lady Trotten.

Lady Humphries barely reacted to the slight, her hooded green eyes unmoving. Her gleaming brunette head tilted to the side slightly. Will was surprised to hear Leo cut in harshly, "You would be wise not to add insult to injury, Lady Trotten."

"Mother, you are not leaving," Will added, his voice surprisingly steady. "Do not mock us. We know you did not come here to catch up." He flashed a look at Andrew and Lord Clemonte, who silently closed the space between them, effectively blocking the exit.

His mother noticed and huffed, "Nonsense. Do not be dramatic, William. I shall return at a later time. You should leave as well, Lord Trevor." She flashed him a meaningful glare and then spun around, glaring expectantly at the two gentlemen behind her.

They did not budge.

"I am not certain what I have missed, but I would suggest you listen to your son, Lady Trotten," Andrew advised calmly, nodding to Will.

Lord Clemonte, the robust baron and owner of Potter Publishing, nodded in agreement. Will hadn't seen him since they wrapped up their scheme to restore Adelaide to the monarchy, but he was glad he'd come. Will was going to need him for what he planned to do next.

But before he could think about any of that, he needed to deal with his conniving mother.

"I want answers. Now," Will demanded of her. "You might have the king on your side, but as you can see, I also have powerful friends—friends that have accomplished more things than you or your king realize."

His mother turned slowly back to face him, and Will noticed she was growing ill at ease.

"Fine," she agreed. "What is it you wish to know?"

"What do I wish to know?" Will repeated, his voice a quiet menace as he broke away from Emilia and stalked toward his mother. "What do I wish to know?" he breathed in her face.

Will abruptly turned on his heel, striding across the space to grab the letter on his desk. Spinning around and holding it in the air, he said, "Why did you write this bloody letter? Why the devil are you working with the king? And most importantly, why are you trying to marry Emilia off to this incompetent fool?" Will jutted a finger at Trevor, who merely shrugged.

His mother's sharp gaze narrowed in on Trevor. She scoffed. "You are an incompetent fool, Lord Trevor. This is all your fault. Do not think for a minute that you are going to see any rewards for your poorly handled efforts."

"Yes, I rather assumed," Trevor replied, now seeming bored. "I knew that the minute those two showed up and ruined the plan." His eyes darted between Will and Theo.

"Enough," Will intervened. "I want answers, mother."

"Yes, yes," she replied hurriedly before surveying the room with a wrinkled nose. "Are we simply going to stand here like heathens, or are you going to offer me a place to sit, William?"

"You invited yourself in, mother," Will said coolly, "You needn't wait for my offers or invitations, it would seem." Nevertheless, he gestured to the most comfortable chair in the room, which sat behind the domineering oak desk.

"Well, you are aware that this used to be my home," she said stiffly, passing Will as she glided toward the seating. "That is until you forced me out."

"And I am now aware that you put that on yourself," Will replied, his tone similar to hers. "Answers, mother," he reminded her.

She sighed. "What would you wish for me to start with?"

"Emilia," he said automatically. His mother had jeopardized the safety of the woman he loved, and Will needed to know why. It would never be enough to forgive her, not in this lifetime, but he still needed to understand. "You can start with her."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense," his mother replied, bristling. "Much of it began with her, anyway."

"What does that mean?" Will growled, giving her a dangerous glare.

"She wasn't right for you, darling." She said it so carelessly, patting the curls on her head with a gloved hand before perching herself on the edge of the chair that Will had gestured to. She smoothed her delicate plum gown though it didn't have a single wrinkle amongst its folds.

"She wasn't right for me?" Will cried, not believing his ears.

"We are a respectable family. Our reputation is sterling." She gave a pointed surveyal of Emilia. "Her's is not. Everyone knows that she has no regard for polite decorum. She is an eccentric, William!"

Will's feet were taking him quickly across the floor. His hands slammed down on the wooden top of the desk as he leaned across it. He tried not to yell, truly he did. "Emilia is perfect the way she is," he asserted. "And completely perfect for me, which is why I will be marrying her the minute this business is finished. I will not allow you to continue to insult her or anyone else in this room!"

His mother merely harrumphed. "Let me continue. You see, King Ernest contacted me. You can only imagine my pleasure at being personally escorted to the palace. This was only weeks after he had been crowned, after all. But then he informed me of the plan he had for your father before his death. Of course, I was quite shocked. I do not know what your father was thinking, making such a deal with that Clermont Frenchman."

His mother patted her curls once more, and Will watched impatiently.

"Yes, I know of the plan Ernest had," Will interjected.

"Of course you do, darling," his mother replied demurely. "Do you think we could ring for tea?" She glanced around as if looking for a servant or a way to alert one.

"No," Will said succinctly.

She seemed annoyed by that, pursing her lips, but continued anyway. "Well, Ernest wished for you to continue in your father's stead once he had been crowned. He had heard that you returned to England. Of course, a king is not supposed to publicly interfere with the acts of Parliament, and yet he still wanted to provide influence over it."

Will listened, internally urging her to speak faster. He knew well what Ernest had wanted and how he had done it. He merely couldn't believe that his mother had known too and that she helped him.

"Well," she went on to say, "I told him you wouldn't be so easily persuaded. Your father had committed that treasonous act some twenty years ago, and he had since deceased. The king's proof wouldn't be enough to sway your actions on the matter. You had grand ideas of progressive influence, and you were... in love." She shuddered. "You would not have risked those things."

"No. I would not have," Will agreed firmly.

His mother shrugged. "So, we came up with a mutually beneficial plan. I rewrote that letter, indicating that I would also be implicated in the French transaction should it be revealed. And I added the bit about you following in your father's footsteps. I knew you would drop the chit when you learned of such dangerous implications for our family."

Will gripped the table, his fingernails digging into the top of it.

He heard Andrew's quiet yet compelling voice sound behind him. "You are a foolish woman. You created proof of your own treason. And for what?"

"For what?" His mother repeated, laughing. A cruel smile spread across her face. "My son is now the most influential lord in all of England. He is a confidante to the king himself. He is respected, revered. Our family's reputation in society has never been more exceptional. It was exactly what I wished for him. And as long as the king was getting what he wanted, he was no threat to me."

"But you could not even bask in the rewards of your efforts," Leo pointed out solemnly. "You had to leave for Scotland."

"Yes," she admitted. "I did not see that coming. Though, I should have known that William would become overprotective." Her lips curled, and Will felt sick to his stomach.

"What did you honestly think I would do when Ernest threatened our family with paying the deadly price of treason?"

She waved that question away. "I only played along with you so you would not become suspicious. But then the king sent for me to return."

"He did?"

Will wasn't sure who asked the question; he no longer trusted himself to speak, and the others had taken to doing it for him.

"Yes," his mother responded, looking over Will's shoulder to whoever had raised the question. But then she glanced back at him. "Ernest noticed your preoccupation, William. A few months ago, he mentioned that you hadn't been as responsive lately and demanded to know what was going on. So I looked into it. And you cannot imagine what I found."

"You looked into it," someone repeated flatly, questioning what that meant. Will recognized the voice to be Theo's.

"There are servants in this home that are still loyal to me," she explained proudly. "And they were very forthcoming with information as to your conduct given the proper incentives."

She wrinkled her nose in distaste then, surveying Will as he fumed before her. "They informed me that you had her sequestered in your home!" His mother jabbed a chubby finger in Emilia's direction. "Oh, and then I heard you were so very obvious at Prince George's funeral. Dragging her out of the cathedral as though she could not walk to the doors herself."

"Heard?" Will asked stiffly, barely getting the words through his clenched teeth.

"I have friends who were there," his mother said stiffly. "Lord and Lady Bennett. They have been most gracious in letting me stay with them while I have been in London."

There was a grunt from Will's left, where Theo was standing.

"Anyway, I knew it was only a matter of time before Ernest discovered your secret," she said. "And I did not wish to find out what would happen if he should. It was for the girl's own safety that she should marry another man. Honestly, I was doing it for the greater good—for you and her. The king would undoubtedly use her against you. Why can you not see that?"

"I can," Will admitted. "I can see that. But why can you not see that it would have been so much easier to just tell me the truth?"

As the words came out of Will's mouth, he realized that they were nearly the exact ones that Emilia had been shouting at him earlier.

His mother laughed. "The truth is so far buried beneath society's façade, my dear. Who even knows what the truth is anymore?"

"Your façade, mother," Will corrected. He took a deep breath and pushed his hands off the top of the desk. Looking around the room, his eyes connecting with those of his friends and allies.

Finally, Will rested his gaze on Emilia. She looked stricken, and he quickly strode to her, offering his hand and saying, "Now that we've found the truth, I think it is time that we dig it up and let it breathe a little bit. Shall we?"

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