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Not to mention she was a bastard.

Lord Devin would never tell. Yet the truth changed something deep inside her. Never again would she walk into a ballroom, feeling free to smile at whomever she met. Feeling like an equal to a woman such as Lady Regina, even if the lady considered her position as a duke’s daughter to be far above a captain’s daughter.

What could she do? Where could she go?

An image of Joshua seared through her heart, but it wasn’t longing she felt this time. It was relief. Thank goodness he threw her to the side. What if they had married, and the truth had emerged at a later date? He would have been ruined, his career in shambles.

His honor would be more than tarnished; it would be abolished.

There could be no second Season, no time in which he would calm down and return to her. Because Joshua would calm down. She knew it deep in her heart. He had reacted from fury, but he wouldn’t remain angry.

Lord Devin stepped out of the threshold of Beaumont Tower and wrapped one arm around her shoulder, turning her as he drew her against his chest. “You are still the same person you were an hour ago.”

Livie leaned against him. He was warm and smelled comfortingly like starched linen.

“I’ll bring you home to Daisy,” he added, one wide hand making circles on her back.

After they reached the house, Livie had told her cousin everything.

“Impossible!” Daisy cried, throwing her arms in the air. “The man’s insane! Well, of course he’s insane.” She paced to the end of the library and then wheeled about. “He’s the traitor, isn’t he? The captain claims Cassio’s innocence, but obviously the crime is his. He’s a devil, lying to distract everyone from the truth!”

Livie rested her head against the back of her chair and tried not to listen as Lord Devin and Daisy went in circles. A cuckold was not a traitor. Meanness of spirit was not indicative of treachery.

“My aunt would never have an affaire with another man!” Daisy cried. “She barely rises from her couch!”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Livie said wearily. “I believe that my mother’s illness is a pretext, Daisy. I have long suspected, but I thought she—well, I thought she disliked my father so much that she couldn’t bring herself to spend time with me.”

Daisy rushed across the room, dropped to her knees, and caught Livie’s hand. “No, love, that’s not it. She’s ill.”

“I don’t think so,” Livie said. “In fact, it may be that I am lucky not to have siblings.”

Daisy’s frown deepened, but Livie shook her head. “I still remember when your mother came to the nursery and took me away to live with you. In light of my father’s revelations, I believe that Lady Wharton decided not to allow me to grow up in proximity to my mother, even though she and I weren’t blood relatives.”

“What?”

“Your mother’s moral values are as strict as my father’s,” Livie said. She leaned forward and put her arms around Daisy’s shoulders. “Though Lady Wharton is far kinder and a much better person. She didn’t hesitate to raise me herself, even given my ignominious birth.”

“Of course, she didn’t!” Daisy said indignantly. “She loves you!”

“May I assist you to rise, Miss Wharton?” Lord Devin appeared at Daisy’s side and held out a hand, which she took and then seemingly forgot to let go once she was on her feet.

“If you’ll forgive me, Miss Tyron,” he said to Livie, “the circumstances of your birth are known only to the three of us and are irrelevant to the current moment. Your father has vehemently denied Cassio’s involvement. He seems to have little sense of the peril in which this disavowal places him.”

“He thinks of Cassio as his son,” Livie explained. “Like any parent, he will sacrifice himself for his child.” Her eyes felt hot, but she refused to cry. The fact that her parents didn’t fall into that camp was irrelevant.

“I’ll have Cassio arrested this evening,” Lord Devin said grimly. “The captain may wish to sacrifice himself, but I won’t stand for his sacrificial idiocy affecting his family.”

Livie opened her mouth to point out that she was no relation to Captain Sir Tyron, but then she caught something in Lord Devin’s eyes as Daisy dropped his hand and seated herself beside Livie, putting an arm around her waist.

“Let the captain sacrifice himself,” Daisy said confidently. “We can prove Cassio’s guilt without him. For one thing, we know about Bernadette!” She turned to Lord Devin. “She was our chambermaid and transcribed the coded letters.”

“What do we know about her, other than that she’s French?” Livie asked.

“I know where she is!” Daisy cried.

“You do?”

“We all agreed that she had a rare gift for curling hair,” Daisy reminded her. “Who always wants the best, all the time? And whose house often welcomes powerful men—and therefore might house secrets that could be stolen by an energetic spy?”