“Also true.”Apollo gave another hand flick.
“No.”Diana rose and went to stand before the king.“It began when my grandfather died.I was there.”
“You should not have been,” the king drawled.His words were dangerously slow and hard.
“I was nursing him.I called for Apollo.But Apollo must have come too late.I hid it from my cousin.He did not know for some time.Temple did not know when he married me.I had thought to use him to keep me safe.”
“Don’t say it like that, Diana.”Something stricken in Temple’s voice.“I wanted to protect you.”
“But you were supposed to get something from me in return.I”—she swallowed hard—“failed to accomplish my part of our exchange.”She had known, really, she’d never be able to give him what he needed.“What was he to do, Your Majesty?When he discovered his wife’s secret?He is a good man.He protected me.”She couldn’t look at Temple, didn’t want to see his face, to know through the expressions settling there if he realized how he’d been cheated in their marriage.
The king scratched his jaw, stared at the ceiling.After some moments of silence, he looked to Apollo.“Do you have anything to add?”
“Not a bit, Your Majesty.”He didn’t even raise his head.
“And you, Knightly?”the king asked.
“None of this is Diana’s fault.”Temple’s voice sounded raw and ragged.“It is wrong to punish someone for something they cannot control.”
“You think to lecture me on morality?”the king asked, each word like the hit of a hammer against an anvil.
Temple didn’t answer, and Diana still could not look at him.She’d done this to him.He’d been rising like the sun and bringing his family with him, braving the sharks of the ton to improve society and his family’s lives.
She’d brought him crashing down.Not a sun any longer.A rock falling from the highest cliff, hurtling toward oblivion.
“Please, Your Majesty,” she said, “Temple has done nothing but help a woman in need.Whatever you do to me, do not punish him.”
Apollo snorted.“He would have killed a peer this night.”With more work than should be necessary, he lifted his head, opened his eyes.They were cold and glittering.
“A peer.Hmm.”The king walked toward the window, scratching his jaw.What did Temple see when he looked at the man?Diana knew his majesty wore a glamour, knew the truth was beyond her reach.When he turned around, he winced, hid a tremor a man as strong looking as he seemed would never have.“Areyou a peer, Fordham?”
“I—” Apollo’s mouth hung slack.“I am.The damn talent doesn’t matter!”He surged to his feet.“I am the heir.The eldest male?—"
“Was your father the eldest son?”the king asked.
“N-no, Your Majesty.”Apollo cast Diana an unreadable look.“My cousin’s father was.By a few minutes.They were twins.He died before my father.”
“What are you going to do?”Temple moved like water loosed from a damn, standing and striding to her side in one fluid movement.
“I’ll move at my own pace, Lord Knightly.Remember who you talk to.”
Temple clasped his hands behind his back and ducked his head, but the muscles of his neck strained, and the line of his jaw ticked.
“There’s only one thing I can do,” he said.“Laws are clear.”
“You’re the king,” Temple growled.
“And you’ll keep your mouth shut.”The king’s command echoed across the room.“The laws of primogeniture call for the eldest son of an eldest son to inherit title, land, and talent, all things entailed to the marquessate.Any heir who fails to receive talent must forfeit his title and lands.And women… well, women do not inherit at all, do they?”He tilted his head, regarding Diana.
She lifted her chin.“They used to.Morgan le Fay.”
“Might as well be a myth.”
“Queen Elizabeth.A queen with talent.”
“One of the last women of her kind.”
“Until now.”Somehow Diana pushed her chin even higher.“You are the Sailor King, the king of the people.You want to know how this happened.You know it’s not unheard of.There’s even talk that you have considered your niece, Victoria?—”
