Yes.
Will you come with me?
Yes.
Will you marry me?
Yes.
Lassit’s jaw clenched and he ran his gaze over Arden in a way that made Arden’s skin prickle. “We can annul it,” he said abruptly.
“What? No! Why would I want to…? No. I don’t want to annul my marriage! I like being married to Jack.”
Lassit ignored him. “I will petition the Council. There will be a scandal, but it’s nothing we can’t weather. It won’t even affect you, anyway. You’ll be safely tucked away at Dalbryn.”
“I don’t…I don’t want to be tucked anywhere. Lassit, I want to be married to Jack.”
“You’ll come home where you belong, and that’s an end to it.”
“No.”
“Yes, Arden.”
“No.”
“I’ll drag you there if I have to.” Lassit’s lips curled in a nasty smile. “You can’t stop me from doing whatever I want.”
“I can stop you,” Arden said gently. “You have no authority over me.”
He didn’t like that at all. “You belong?—”
“—to Jack.” And Beckett.
He belonged to Jack and Beckett.
“I didn’t approve the marriage. You were under my guardianship. I will seek reparation through the Council, and you will be returned to Dalbryn, so watch your tongue.”
“Lassit.” Arden shuffled to the very edge of his seat and leaned forwards. “I didn’tneedyour approval to marry.”
Lassit’s cheeks darkened and his eyes glittered. “You are part of Dalbryn. I own you as much as as I own every last stone the house is built of, and every last blade of grass that grows on our lands.”
“You are my brother,” Arden said as firmly as he could, which wasn’t particularly firm. “That is all. Not my guardian. I wasnever under your authority. Papa was the one who betrothed me to Jack.”
He waved this away. “Jack took advantage of his illness and decline.”
“They arranged it three years ago. Well before Papa even knew he was ill.” Jack had told him, and Arden had gaped at him indignantly. He hoped that none of that indignation came through now.
Lassit stilled. “That fucking bastard.”
Arden didn’t know whether he was talking about their father or about Jack. “Why does it even matter, Lassit? What possible use would I be back home? I would serve no purpose there. I wouldhaveno purpose.”
Lassit’s gaze was burning now.
“That is no life,” Arden went on. “I want…I want more. I want to matter.”
He thought of Beckett on his knees in the kitchen garden. Chasing him over the beach. Juggling him about.
He thought of Jack, sitting where Lassit was right now, scooping him onto his lap, holding him and stroking him by the firelight.
