He turned to the next.
Ephesians, this time.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger be put away from you. And be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.
There was another note scribbled beneath that one:
I find God to be the final authority in matters such as this, do you not?
Scowling, Kendall dropped the book onto the table.
The Bible?!
This was hardly a religious matter.
No.
He could think of a much more relevant source for their current situation.
“Another book foryou, my lady,” Marshall announced as Isolde sat at a small desk in the morning room, seeing to her correspondence.
Marshall presented Isolde with a paper-wrapped parcel atop his silver platter. She looked from the package to the butler and back down again before picking it up.
“Thank ye, Marshall.” She nodded at him, grateful that her mother’s staff were too polite to ask questions. However, the butler’s eyebrows did raise slightly as he closed the door behind him.
Of a surety, her odd packages would be the subject of much conjecture in the servants’ dining hall this evening.
Matters with Alderton and her father had not improved. Isolde heard her parents talking in low, anxious tones late at night when they thought the house asleep. Lord Barnaby had not been to visit his beloved in over two weeks. Catriona arrived at breakfast each morning with red-rimmed eyes. Isolde was fairly certain her sister had lost nearly half a stone in weight since their father’s impeachment inquiry began.
All due to Kendall’s malicious vendetta.
Tentatively, Isolde unwrapped the twine and paper.
A copy of Machiavelli’sThe Princetumbled into her hand.
Of course, Kendall would find inspiration in an Italian Renaissance text devoted to instructing new princes on brutal ways to maintain dictatorial power.
Shaking her head, she opened the book, fanning through the pages. As with his previous reply, Kendall had not included a note.
However, at the beginning of chapter six, she found a message scrawled in confident black ink.
I prefer a rather different authority on governance.
Naturally, chapter six detailed the importance of a prince conquering a new land through his own skills and resources.
How typical of Kendall to be so cruel, so uncaring of the harm he inflicted on others.
Isolde stared at his words for far longer than was necessary.
In all their interactions, she had never once seen his handwriting.
Against her better judgment, she touched her finger to the ragged ink. His penmanship was bold to the point of arrogance . . . rather a microcosm of the man himself.
Now, how to respond?
8
The Duke of Kendall continues his rise to power. This week alone, His Grace will dine with both the Queen and the Prime Minister. His campaign to see justice served in the case of Mr. Stephen Jarvis and Lord Hadley has shown mettle, leading some to speculate that His Grace will soon be appointed to a position within Her Majesty’s government.
