Humiliation flowed through him. He’d spent a lifetime having his father harangue him in front of others, but never in front of Graham and Simon. He liked both boys—they had become fast friends, along with a group of others, since he began at Braxton Academy the previous year. He had thrived at the Academy, out from under his father’s shadow, out of his house where he felt so unwanted and unloved.
“No one else saw or heard him,” Graham assured him. “Simon and I simply followed. I was worried.”
“Worried about what?” James whispered.
“That he might strike you again,” Graham said, this time through clenched teeth.
Simon shot their friend a look before he said, “James, what did he mean when he said not all his sons were failures? You don’t have any brothers, do you?”
James took a long breath as they crested a low hill and reached the creek at the outer edge of the school property. As Graham dug behind a tree for the fishing poles hidden there, James pondered his response.
He had never felt safe to discuss his family dynamics. They were complicated and ugly. But with these two boys, he knew he could be more open. And at the moment he was too exhausted to be anything but.
He sat down on the creek’s edge and stared at the bubbling water as he said, “Ididhave an older brother, older by fifteen years. A half-brother, Leonard. I never met him, though. He died before I was born. That’s why my father married my mother at all, to produce another heir.”
Simon stared at him. “How did he die?”
“An accident,” James said with a shrug. “My father doesn’t speak of him, except to compare me to him. And I never win in the comparison. Apparently Leonard was perfect, you see.”
“So you’re the replacement?” Graham said as he handed over a pole, now ready with a worm on its hook.
James flinched and Simon reached out to slap Graham’s arm. “Bloody hell, Graham.”
Graham glared at him. “I don’t mean it to be cruel.”
“And he’s right, anyway,” James said as he tossed out his line into the waves. “I’m not the heir, Iamthe replacement. My father will never forgive me for that.”
“That’swhy he’s so cruel,” Simon said softly.
The boys were all silent for a long beat, and then James shrugged. “It’s not fair. He’s despised me from the moment I was born and wasn’t Leonard. Actually, he despises all of us, including Meg and Mother. We’re not the family he wanted and he’s made it clear from as early as I can recall. He hatesmeso much, he won’t even teach me what I need to know, then he screams at me for not knowing it.” He shook his head. “I have no idea how to be a duke.”
Simon sighed. “Ido. It’s all my father talks about with me, how to be the Duke of Crestwood one day.”
Graham nodded. “I, too, get the Duke of Northfield lectures on a regular basis. Mine even come in letter form.”
Simon and Graham exchanged a grin, and then Simon’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what if we helped you, James?”
James looked at him. “What do you mean, help me?”
“If he won’t teach you, why couldn’t we?” Graham said, sitting up straighter as he took to Simon’s plan. “We could form a little group, a club.”
“A Duke Club?” Simon said with a roll of his eyes. “Well, isn’t that a little trite?”
“There are quite a few boys in our class who are going to be dukes,” James said, setting his pole aside and rising to his feet. “There’s Baldwin…Lucas…”
“Hugh…not the future baron Hugh. The Duke of Brighthollow’s son Hugh,” Graham added. “And a bunch more in classes just below and just above our own.”
James rubbed his chin. All these boys, all with their knowledge, all helping each other as they prepared to take what was the highest title of the land without being royalty…just the idea gave him hope.
“We can’t call it a Duke Club,” James said. “Simon is right that it’s silly. But I like the idea of us banding together. Our fathers can be so useless…but together we could be stronger and better than they are.”
Simon grinned. “I certainly like that idea. But if not a Duke Club, what do we call it?”
James considered for a moment, then smiled. “The 1797 Club. For its founding year at this creek side.”
Graham tilted his head. “I like that.”
James let out a laugh, the sting of his father’s rejection fading for the first time thanks to the excitement of their plan. He paced the water’s edge, his mind racing.
