Everything is going to be fine. As long as my father dies before Laurie turns eighteen. It’s a race of time. It is like a giant clicking clock. One I’ve started to hear at all times, even in my sleep.
“Baron Havenport!” booms a voice right by my ear.
It is hard to hide my flinch, but I think I succeeded. I have no wish to give the person accosting me the pleasure of seeing that they startled me. It is bad enough being addressed by my formal courtesy title. That name does not feel like mine. I doubt Duke Eastminster is ever going to feel right either.
“Good to see you, Lord Coxley,” I say with my very best false smile.
“Haven’t seen you in an age!”
Lord Coxley’s eyes are beady, and his skin is sweaty and sallow. But that’s not why I don’t like him.
“My studies keep me busy,” I say.
Goodness. It is so very hard to put this persona back on. Bored, privileged, arrogant duke-in-waiting who hasn’t got time for society because they are too obsessed with their own brilliance.
I cannot allow anyone to know that the true reason I stay away is because I hate everything about high society and everything it stands for.
“I’m assuming Lawrence is going to a Covenant man?” whispers Lord Coxley.
An icy tingle races down my spine. “Presumably. I’m allowing my mother to deal with all of that.”
I grab a glass of champagne from the silver tray of a passing server and take a big sip while gazing out at the dancefloor. I’m an arrogant asshole who doesn’t care about his brother and whofinds the whole marriage business tiresome. Everyone has to believe this.
Coxley gives me a sharp look. Hopefully, he will decide to suck up to my mother instead. Though he has to be deluded if he thinks he has a chance of being given Laurie. In any universe. There is no way in hell my mother would settle for a mere lord.
Coxley takes a sip of his drink. “Good news about the fey getting closer.”
“Indeed,” I reply dryly.
If I have to suffer a conversation, one about crazy plans to invite the fey back to our world is more tolerable than discussing my brother as if he is livestock.
“It is a shame The Covenant didn’t start a breeding program. It seems with the fey now whispering to their descendents, that’s the trick that’s going to work.”
I make a noncommittal noise. If Coxley doesn’t know I’m out of the loop, I’m not going to tell him. I would hazard a guess that my mother is still active in the cult and everyone is assuming that means I’m also a participating member.
“Do you think it’s true that a fey descendent can open one of the old portals from this end?” asks Coxley.
I shrug. “I guess we will soon find out.”
Heavens. I hope this is all rumour and hearsay. The fey communicating with their descendants doesn’t sound good at all.
Oh hells.
Jade.
Pink said Jade has been acting strangely lately. But that has to just be a coincidence, surely? The fey aren’t talking to him. That can’t be right.
I’m sure it is nothing, but nevertheless, unease is twisting my guts into knots.
How on earth do I check without exposing all my secrets? Pink only knows me as Monty and I only ever want him to think of me that way. He can’t know who I really am and all the mess I’m tangled up in. He doesn’t need to know I’m unwillingly tied to a Revivalist cult.
Pink and the campervan are my little bubble of heaven. It will burst soon enough. But not yet. I’m clinging on to each and every precious day.
When I leave, it will be to become Duke Eastminster and to save Laurie. I’ll tell Pink something else. Leaving him is going to be bad enough. I have no wish to also leave a bitter taste in his mouth. I can’t bear the thought of him hating me.
Which he would if he knew the truth. He has good reason to dislike Revivalists. His sweet little friend Lello was abducted as part of a plot to open a fey portal. And if this business with Jade is linked, then my fate is sealed. Pink would be bound to see me as the enemy. A threat and a traitor.
I can’t imagine anything worse.
