"Must we really meet at his house," Emilia muttered as they got into the carriage, cloaked in darkness.

"Emilia, you know as well as I that it is the safest place for us all to meet," Theo replied, exasperated. "You are more than welcome to stay home."

Hopefulness was tangled in Theo's voice as he spoke, but Emilia scoffed it away immediately.

"Nice try, brother. When I went to Andrew to learn more about your secret project, he said that he would tell me everything, but there would be a sacrifice."

"Lord Trotten, I presume," Addie stated, the answer obvious.

Emilia nodded, solidity on her face. "He said I had to be ready to face Trotten again."

Addie gave her wrist a quick squeeze. "And face him you have," she said reassuringly.

"Tonight is no exception."

"I know what he did to you was awful," Addie hedged, "but I am inclined to think he still cares for you."

"What?" Emilia sputtered. "How could you ever believe that after I told you what he said to me?"

"Just the way he gazed at you all night at Weston's. He couldn't take his eyes off of you, Emilia," Addie insisted. "Not to mention the way he wanted to protect you from being there."

Emilia's eyes rolled back into her head. "He simply thinks I am a menace who will ruin anything I come near."

Addie ignored Emilia's commentary. "He even said that the only reason he ever supported King Ernest in the first place was due to blackmail," she said in a conspiratorial whisper.

Emilia spun sharply towards her at that, interested.

"He said what?"

"Theo wouldn't stand for his presence at Andrew's the first night we all gathered there. He wouldn't let it go until Lord Trotten stood up and declared that the only reason he had ever shown support for King Ernest was that he was blackmailed into doing so, but he wouldn't say anything further," Addie explained. "I don't condone his actions against you at all, but perhaps he has changed. I rather like him and Lord Farrington."

Emilia was positively beside herself at the statement, stammering its ridiculousness, and Theo seemed to be in a similar state. She heard his snort from across the carriage.

"Farrington was overly kind to you, Adelaide," he pointed out, his voice laden with distaste. He shifted in his seat. "At least he's quit that now that he's realized he was flirting with royalty."

"Yes," Emilia drawled, "at least that makes one of you."

Theo glared at his sister, and Addie couldn't help but laugh at the scene, even as a blush spread across her face in embarrassment.

"Trotten's an ass," Theo said, ignoring both women. "But we have no choice at this point but to trust him."

"Perhaps we must trust him in this," Emilia said, her words cutting across the carriage, "but I do not need to forgive him." She crossed her arms with finality.

Addie waved the thought away. "No, of course not. He shall have to get on his knees and beg before you even consider the action." She smirked then. "But when he does, I do hope you consider it nonetheless."

Emilia glowered at her from across the carriage. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but you are positively addlepated."

Addie just shrugged and watched the darkness of London roll by the carriage window. It had been another late-night summons, and Addie longed to know what news Andrew had. She had been waiting with bated breath and needed to come up for air.

****

Lord Trotten pulled Theo aside the moment they stepped into his stately residence. The man tugged on his coat sleeve and led him into a dimly lit parlor off of his receiving hall.

"Really, Lord Trotten, you must have been warned against manhandling dukes at some point in your youth," Theo said warily as he straightened himself and faced the man who had ruined his sister.

Lord Trotten, however, did not seem to have much patience for his ill-humored guest.

"I wanted to warn you, Kingfield, but if you've no use for information regarding your beloved princess, then I shall leave you to your own devices," Lord Trotten said quickly and quietly, throwing the bait between them.

Theo knew that he was doing exactly as Trotten expected him to, but he couldn't help himself from responding with urgency all the same.

"What of her?"

Lord Trotten pivoted away then, sinking his hands in his pockets as he did so. Theo grew weary of the other man's dramatics.

"Tell me, damn you."

Trotten had reached the window then, turning back around to lean against the sill casually. He appeared the exact opposite of how Theo felt. Relaxed, poised, without a care. Theo's distaste for him grew.

"There's been a proposal," he said, leveling Theo with a heavy gaze. Theo's eyes narrowed in response.

"What kind of proposal?" Theo asked.

"For Her Highness, of course."

"Yes, I gathered, Trotten. But of what kind do you mean?"

Theo thought of the various political ploys they expected as retaliation from the king. The possibilities ranged from complicit cooperation—which was ultimately unlikely, to say the least—to extreme revenge, a greater possibility knowing His Majesty. But of all the outcomes that had gone through Theo's head, what Lord Trotten said next had never even been considered.

"Why, the one that ends in marriage, of course."

Theo stiffened from head to toe.

"Marriage to whom, exactly?" Whatever the answer was, it was unfathomable in Theo's mind. No one was fit to marry Addie.

Lord Trotten was staring at him as though he was dense. He likely was. Dense, that is. For his whole body was losing feeling as he anticipated the answer from Lord Trotten. He couldn't think clearly, let alone stop his fist from slamming down on the side table he leaned against.

"Naturally I'm talking about the prince, Kingfield."

Theo's fist clenched even tighter. "Her cousin?" he asked, surprised. Then he shook his head to dismiss the idea altogether. "That isn't going to happen."

Lord Trotten nodded, as though he was expecting Theo to say that very thing. Theo didn't know when he had come to be so predictable.

"You might find that the others have less of an aversion to the idea," Trotten pointed out, making Theo want to punch him. Hard. "And so I wanted to warn you."

Theo rubbed his face in his hands before scrutinizing the other man. "Why?"

Trotten didn't hesitate. "Because I know what it is to lose the woman you love. I know what that sacrifice looks like."

Theo scoffed. "You speak of my sister?"

Trotten nodded, solemn.

"You didn't lose her, you swine. You left her. And I should have called you out for it."

"Why didn't you?" he asked, seemingly filled with genuine curiosity.

"Emilia wouldn't let me. And unlike you, I respect women's wishes."

Lord Trotten nodded again, and Theo began to wonder if that was the only thing the man was able to do, but then he spoke. The words came out on an exhale, shaky.

"Is she here? Emilia?"

It was Theo's turn to nod.

Trotten sat back on his heels, hands in his costly pockets, as he looked toward the ceiling.

Theo let out a dark chuckle. "No kind of divine intervention will save you from her now."

"You shouldn't have let her come. It's too dangerous." Trotten spoke harshly, and when he dropped his gaze from the ceiling to his would-be brother-in-law, the truth was clear. Lord Trotten was angry. No, Lord Trotten was furious, or some other word that meant more than angry, for that didn't seem to summarize it. Because his fury was driven by an emotion that Theo knew was uncontrollable and unpredictable. Love.

Addie was right. Lord Trotten still cared more than a little for his sister.

And without warning, Theo was angry too, but for an entirely different reason. His feet carried him until he was just a hair's breadth away from the other lord.

"No." He prodded his finger into the other man's chest. "You had your chance to love her. To care for her and to keep her safe. But you didn't, did you?"

Trotten pushed away Theo's hand and grabbed his lapels, twisting the fabric in his hands with desperation. "I did!"

Theo's eyes grew wide in shock, and Trotten instantly dropped him and swiveled away, rubbing his hands through his jet black locks.

"I did," he repeated, quieter this time. And then, before Theo could question him further, he left. Releasing the breath he had been holding, Theo braced himself for the onslaught of the evening ahead and followed the viscount, hopefully leaving their uncontrollable emotions behind.