Was this . . .
Was thisfinallya faint glimmer of the boy she had known?
“Truly?” Allie could hear the hope lacing her words. “When? And how?”
“Upon your marriage to a man of my choosing. As your dowry.”
Allie’s spirits plummeted.
Marriage. Of course.
More the fool her to soften toward her twin for even one second. Kendall had kidnapped her for this very reason, after all. She was to be a marital pawn in his bid for power.
“As my . . .dowry.” She inflected the worddowrywith the same disdain astaxesora pox. “If so, the mines will belong to my husband, not myself. So they are not my own, but instead the carrot you will extend to see me married off like the brood mare I am. You speak lies, Duke.”
Kendall’s chest heaved.
“The Salzi Mine has made you the most eligible of heiresses,” he snapped, “and this despite your advanced years and—”
“Advanced years?! You call meuna zitella. . . a spinster.” Her eyes narrowed. “I know this may be difficult for you to recall, Your Grace, but we are, in fact, the same age. That makes youuno zitello,a . . . a . . .” Allie floundered, searching for the male equivalent of aspinsterin English, but came up empty. “. . . an old bachelor,” she concluded lamely.
As a language, English was sometimes decidedly lacking.
“Must I now explain to you how life is different for men than for women?” he asked, voice dripping with condescension. “Surely you are intelligent enough to grasp that?”
Allie was fairly certain her eyes had devolved into flames.
Uffa. Was fratricide legal if one were sufficiently provoked?
“As I was saying,” her twin continued, “despite your age, many have already petitioned me for the privilege of courting you. The value of the recent saltpeter discovery cannot be underestimated.”
The saltpeter.
Of course.
Several months past, a vein of pure mineral saltpeter had been discovered in a section of the Salzi Mine that hadn’t been worked since the medieval age. Typically, saltpeter manufacture was an arduously slow process involving vats of dung and ashes left to rot for years on end. But in a select few places, saltpeter could be mined.
The discovery of such saltpeter had been a revelation. Why, even Mr. Penn-Leith had mentioned it this evening—his uncle sought a contract to ship the saltpeter to market ports in England.
Heaven knew Kendall didn’t need the financial gains the saltpeter offered. But he did crave the connections and power it promised, particularly in wooing potential suitors for herself.
However, there was delicious havoc to be wreaked as a lauded heiress on the marriage mart. If Fabrizio’s promised retribution didn’t destroy her reputation, Allie would still have ample possibility to see the task done. And with her reputation in tatters, Kendall would cast her off as useless. She wouldn’t receive her salt mine, but she would be a free woman.
Her mind whirred with plans.
“Gentlemen have petitioned to pay me court?” she asked, her voice all curious innocence. “That means I will have to attend more social events in order to meet them properly, will I not?”
“Knowing your general recalcitrance, Lady Allegra, I have calibrated my plans accordingly,” Kendall said, tone far too casual for Allie’s liking. “This will perhaps overset you, but—”
Allie scoffed in contempt.
“—just yesterday I finalized negotiations with your future husband. There will be no busy social calendar or opportunities for mischief. This entire affair will require nothing more than your presence before a vicar. I hope to have the marriage contracts signed in the next few weeks.”
At the age of twelve, Allie had stumbled while disembarking from atraghettoafter crossing the Grand Canal in Venice. She had pitched forward, the bow of the gondola cracking into her sternum and knocking the breath from her lungs as sure and true as her sire’s fist.
Kendall’s words landed a similar blow.
Allie’s lungs refused air for several seconds.
