Page 25

Chapter 25

Julius

J ulius’s conversation with Zane and Daphne was shattered by an angry shout—an incongruous sound for the setting. It only took him a second to find the source of the disturbance, and his eyes widened, shock holding him momentarily immobilized. Lord Emerson had Lord Strathmore by the front of his shirt and was shouting in his face.

“Release my Marigold at once!” he bellowed.

Julius’s eyes shot toward Zane, but the man at his side looked equally frozen with shock at the abrupt and absurd attack on his father—and by a man who was usually the epitome of careful control. Julius had never seen Lord Emerson lose control of anything but his daughter. He’d certainly never lost control of himself.

“She’s been abducted,” he ranted, “and I know it was you. Who else has motive to take her without even a ransom? Give her back!”

“What is this?” Julius asked Zane, his mind struggling to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing. “Why would Lord Emerson make such an accusation? This is taking rivalry too far!”

Zane shook his head slowly, but in the wake of the initial shock, he looked less surprised than Julius.

“It’s that worthless son of yours,” Lord Emerson shouted. “You never could control him, and now he’s gone and taken my daughter. I won’t have it! I won’t have it, do you hear me? I told you as much when you dared to come to my home—groveling on behalf of your offspring. As if I would ever stoop to ally myself with your conniving family!”

Julius turned slowly to stare at Zane, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. Zane had flinched at the word groveling but otherwise seemed to have recovered his countenance.

“Zane?” he asked, his tone a mixture of query, astonishment, and warning.

Zane threw him a sardonic look, his eyes half-lidded. “I’m sure Lord Emerson has called me many names over the years, but worthless isn’t one of them.”

Julius’s world tilted on its axis.

“Cade?” he breathed. “Cade and Marigold?! Cade is in love with Marigold ? Wants to marry her?” His voice rose at the end, as he struggled to assimilate the information. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“He certainly fancied himself in love,” Zane said sourly. “I have no idea what he thinks now. I can only hope he’s come to his senses given I haven’t seen the girl in months. As to why he kept it a secret, that should be obvious.” He looked toward the two lords, still locked together, both of their faces red.

“But…”

Cade attempted to join the altercation in defense of his father, but Kasper leaped in to block him, preventing Cade from prizing Lord Emerson’s hands from Lord Strathmore’s jacket. Julius knew his parents weren’t in the room, and that it was up to him to intervene before the situation grew any larger. But his legs were frozen in place.

“Your father approved of the match?” he asked, wondering why that was the most surprising aspect of the affair.

“Hardly.” Zane’s lip curled. “We didn’t know anything about it at first. Apparently Cade has just enough sense to know he was disgracing his family by running around with Lord Emerson’s daughter.”

Julius raised an eyebrow. It seemed a hypocritical perspective, given Zane and Cade both sparred with Lord Emerson’s son every morning and talked with him at social events. But Julius remained silent, wanting to hear anything Zane would tell him—anything to make sense of such a nonsensical situation.

“But when Cade heard there were talks of choosing Marigold for your betrothed…” Zane shook his head. “He grew desperate. Our mother has always coddled him, and if my father has one flaw, it’s his soft spot for her. No matter how ridiculous her requests…” His lips tightened. “She begged him to intercede on Cade’s behalf, and so Father went to see Marigold’s parents. Lord Strathmore himself—one of the most influential and respected nobles at court—lowered himself to plead with his greatest rival. And he was laughed out of their house.”

Despite the rancor of his words, Zane’s tone and face teetered on the edge of boredom—as if the events from the summer were so distant as to no longer greatly interest him.

Julius stared across the room at Cade who was still trying to shake off Kasper in order to go to the defense of his father. From the look on Kasper’s face, he had no idea what was going on but had leaped in blindly in support of his own father. The whole thing was a mess.

Zane sighed. “It looks like it’s up to me to stop this farce. As usual.” He began to move toward his father and brother, progressing at his usual languid stroll.

“That is an interesting man,” Daphne said, reminding Julius of her presence for the first time. He turned to find her watching Zane walk away. “A most interesting man.”

Despite his overwhelming shock—or perhaps because of the numbness it had caused—Julius felt a small spurt of amusement at the thought of two such languid persons forming an attachment. Despite his current irritation with Zane, he recognized that he would be a good match for Daphne.

But he shouldn’t be thinking of such things. He needed to take control of the situation. He needed to join Zane and stop?—

“That is enough!”

His head snapped up at the crisp voice. Its calm authority cut through the chaos of the room, bringing quiet in its wake.

Olivia. She faced the two struggling noblemen—both decades older than her—radiating offended dignity.

“Cade and Kasper, step back at once.”

The younger men reacted instinctively to the command in her voice, releasing each other and stepping away with shamefaced expressions. She turned to their fathers next.

“Lord Emerson! You shame the crown with this public attack.”

She had chosen the right words. Lord Emerson—who had seemed oblivious to the involvement of Cade and Kasper—stiffened at her mention of the crown. When she said public, he crumbled completely. Releasing Lord Strathmore, he stepped back. His eyes remained wild, however, and he hardly seemed aware of his surroundings.

Lord Strathmore immediately swelled, and Julius braced himself for the man’s outrage. But Olivia spoke before he could get a word out.

“You will both join me through here. At once.” The command in her tone left no room for disagreement as she swept them toward a door that Julius knew led into a small waiting room. “Their Majesties are on their way and will adjudicate this matter.” When both Lords looked like they were about to speak, she added firmly, “In private.”

They both subsided and fierce pride filled Julius. Had he ever thought Olivia out of place in the palace? In that moment, she was every inch the royal.

Finally finding his legs, he hurried to her side. He reached her as she swept the two lords the last of the way into the waiting room. Once they were through, she hesitated in the doorway.

Julius put a light hand on her back and felt the tremble he hadn’t been able to see across the room. She threw him a look of relief.

“Are my parents really coming?” he asked.

Her mouth twisted slightly. “I hope so. I sent a footman running for them the moment Lord Emerson started shouting.”

“You’re incredible,” Julius murmured, still awestruck by her.

She laughed self-consciously. “Hardly. But I have been watching you for months.”

“Me?”

She nodded. “I told myself that I just needed to copy you—that if I acted with enough confidence, people would respond to my words without thinking. It was all a show, though. My legs were shaking so hard I could barely walk.”

“But you did walk.” Her confession had done nothing to diminish his admiration. “I was too shocked to do anything but stand and stare along with everyone else.”

“Yes, well.” Her mouth twisted further. “Since it was my fault for setting him off, I knew I had to do something.”

“You told him Lord Strathmore abducted Marigold?”

“No, of course not! I barely said anything before he stormed off and—” She sighed. “I knew they were rivals, of course, but I had no idea Cade’s father had gone to Lord Emerson before the ball and pleaded on Cade’s behalf.”

She threw a pained but sympathetic look in Cade’s direction, and he met her gaze with an apologetic grimace. Another explosion went off inside Julius’s brain.

Olivia had known. She had known about the information that was still robbing him of coherent thought.

Cade loved the missing noble girl, and Olivia knew it. Which meant there had never been thoughts of love between Cade and Olivia. Their connection had always been because of Marigold.

The lightness of extreme relief made it hard for Julius to think clearly. Knowing he wasn’t in danger of losing the woman he loved to his best friend changed everything. And seeing Olivia step fully into her royal role only confirmed it. She was clearly more than capable of taking on the crown at his side. Even his parents couldn’t doubt her now.

A door on the other side of the waiting room opened, revealing the king and queen. Olivia let out a small sigh of relief, and he could have echoed it. He had no desire to be responsible for sorting out the conflict between the two powerful lords.

His father dismissed them with a small gesture, and Julius closed the door with alacrity, shutting them off from his parents and the two lords.

“I know you have every right to be in there,” he said to Olivia, “but I get the impression you’re just as glad as I am not to be.”

“More than glad,” she assured him. “I’m sure Their Majesties will have better luck navigating that delicate situation without us.”

“I had no idea life at court was so exciting,” Daphne said wryly from behind them.

Olivia gave a shaky laugh. “It isn’t usually.”

“No.” Julius grimaced and glanced around the room. “This reception will be talked about for years, I warrant.”

Olivia bit her lip. “Should we send everyone away?”

Julius considered. “There’s no stopping them talking,” he finally concluded. “It’s probably best to let them get some of it out of their systems now.”

The three of them were silent for a moment before he burst into speech again. “But I still can’t believe it. Cade, of all people, in love with Marigold !”

“Why not?” Olivia sounded defensive. “Marigold is stunning and kind, and I’ve never met anyone so full of life.”

“She really does sound exhausting,” Daphne muttered.

Olivia threw her an amused look. “You have no idea.”

“All right,” Julius conceded. “Maybe someone might love Marigold—there are all kinds of tastes. But why did Cade never say anything?”

“Marigold didn’t want me to,” Cade said simply from behind him.

Julius turned a hurt expression on his friend, but Cade only shrugged.

“As Sovar’s prince and future king, you have the loyalty of my sword,” he said. “As a friend, you have the loyalty of my time and care. But when it comes to my heart, my loyalty lies with only one, and it isn’t you, old friend.”

The two young men stared at each other silently for a moment before Julius relaxed and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.”

Cade looked relieved at Julius’s acceptance, and Olivia even more so. He felt like a fool for worrying about the two of them. And even more of one for never guessing what Olivia had apparently worked out with ease.

“But what happened?” Cade asked, clearly still bewildered. “What made Lord Emerson think I’d taken Marigold?”

Olivia briefly related her conversation with Lord Emerson, repeating exactly what she’d said.

“I never dreamed it would set him off in such a way. He was clearly much closer to the edge than I realized.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Julius said quickly, and Cade nodded agreement. “You barely said anything. He was the one who decided Cade’s father must have abducted Marigold on Cade’s behalf.”

Cade frowned, anger dancing in his eyes. “He’s a fool to react that way if he believes that’s true. Shouldn’t he be relieved to think his daughter was taken by someone who would cherish and care for her—someone of her own choosing? At least it would mean she was safe. His rigidity and his foolish pride are exactly what drove his daughter away in the first place.”

“I even got excited for a minute,” Olivia said despondently. “I thought he was going to throw his resources into the search. But all he did was jump to another ridiculous assumption. We can’t possibly risk telling him about the Larkins.” She dropped her voice for the final two words, and Julius looked questioningly at Daphne.

“Don’t worry,” Olivia said. “I’ve told her everything.”

Julius wasn’t sure that confession alleviated his worry, but he had to trust Olivia knew her cousin well enough and that he could trust Daphne too.

Daphne must have caught him looking at her because when Cade and Olivia began to speculate about when they might hear from the Larkins, Daphne shifted in his direction.

“Don’t worry,” she murmured to him. “You don’t need to worry about me doing anything to hurt Olivia. It’s far more likely Olivia will try to do something to help and get herself into trouble.”

Julius’s chest tightened at hearing someone speak his own fear aloud. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who cared about Olivia, although the relationship between the two girls confused him.

“I know you and Olivia are cousins,” he said, “but haven’t you been living in Glandore since you were seven? How do you know Olivia so well?”

“My cousin writes long letters.”

Julius chuckled, but his amusement quickly died. “What can I do to make sure that when we hear from the Larkins, she doesn’t put herself at risk? Between us there has to be something we can do.”

“Do something?” Daphne eyed him in surprise before sighing languidly. “I suppose such delusions come from being a prince. Convincing a determined person not to follow their course is a hopeless endeavor. So I, for one, don’t bother trying anymore. Believe me, I have a lot of experience in this area.”

“But we can’t do nothing!”

“Can’t we?” Daphne sounded mildly surprised. “I think you’ll find we can indeed do just that. We do nothing until the time comes to do something. And then we do the right something.”

Julius blinked at her as she stepped away to rejoin Olivia and Cade’s conversation. He had expected Olivia’s cousin to be a little unusual thanks to the Oakden Legacy, but he was increasingly unsure whether she was oblivious or brilliant.

She spoke so confidently, but for himself he just hoped that when the moment she spoke of came, he knew the right course of action. Because that night had only sealed his determination to win Olivia’s heart properly. He might not have realized it at their first meeting—or second, or third—but she was the perfect person to help him guide and protect Sovar.