Page 3 of Pawns of Fate

NICHOLAS

N icholas knew Rose was simply acquiescing to Ava’s ridiculous request. He’d been eavesdropping on their conversation for a while.

He couldn’t help himself because he was surprised to find a noble lady treating Ava kindly.

She always got into trouble at social events by forgetting or ignoring basic etiquette rules.

Like the time she forgot to address Duke Talbot by the correct title.

Or the time she’d eaten an entire bowl of chilled soup instead of using it as a palate cleanser.

Or the time she’d fallen while wearing a heavy, expensive dress.

Three servants had to help the poor girl up.

Nicholas blamed himself for that one. He should have thought about the training and practice that went into wearing a full ball gown before throwing one on Ava and expecting her to meet dozens of new people at a party.

His mother would have foreseen and prevented these disasters had she still been alive. But without her, Ava’s etiquette training fell to him, York, and their father.

York was never any help. In fact, his brother often caused more of a scene than Ava herself.

His strengths were on the battlefield, not navigating noble society.

So, whenever there were events where it was inappropriate to bring an etiquette tutor along, Nicholas felt obligated to educate and guide Ava on her journey to becoming a proper, noble lady.

When Jo?o told him about the situation with Tory Walton, Nicholas wished, not for the first or last time, that his mother was still alive. She would have loved Ava and been a much better guide for her than Nicholas.

He resolved to find Ava and calm her down before York could overreact.

He had just spotted Ava when he noticed she was sitting with another noblewoman, and that woman was actually comforting her instead of making the situation worse.

He was even more surprised to realize the woman was Rose Robson, Hector Robson’s adopted niece.

Rose handled Ava’s quirks with tact and poise, Nicholas had thought as he listened. Initially, he hadn’t planned to eavesdrop, but he’d just been so… impressed.

Then Ava rudely asked to see Rose’s aural magic, and Nicholas groaned internally. He jumped up to scold Ava but found himself surprised again to see the two women surrounded by a charming pink aura.

“I’m sorry, Lord Sharp. I didn’t mean any harm,” Rose politely murmured as she curtseyed toward him.

With her elegance and poise, she was the very picture of a lady.

Her blue dress was simple, yet delicate, and her pink hair fell in wispy ringlets around her face.

She used a well-manicured hand to tuck the hairs behind her ear in yet another elegant gesture, then looked up at him with soft eyes that matched both her hair and lips, which now curved into a gentle smile.

Rose is a well-suited name, Nicholas thought. This woman is the very picture of an alluring, gentle bloom.

Ava, on the other hand, slapped Nicholas on the shoulder and brayed, “You’re the rude one, Nick.”

He hated it when she called him that. Not only did it ignore all the decorum he and a thousand tutors had spent ages teaching her, but he just didn’t care for the nickname.

He glanced over to Rose, who was trying to hide her bewilderment with limited success.

“I apologize, Lady Robson. I did not mean to accuse our hosts of anything untoward,” Nicholas said, bowing in response to her curtsey. “Especially since I have not even properly introduced myself. I am Nicholas Sharp, son of Marquess Matthew Sharp and Ava’s brother-in-law.”

“Pleased to meet you, Lord Nicholas. I’m Rose Robson, niece to Viscount Hector Robson and cousin to Luanna Robson, the birthday girl.” Rose offered her hand. Nicholas took it and kissed the back of it, completing their formal introductions .

“That was so romantic!” Ava giggled.

Nicholas huffed, and his gaze drifted over to Rose, whose cheeks were now flushing with what he could only imagine was embarrassment.

Turning toward his sister-in-law, Nicholas began to scold her, but was interrupted by the arrival of his bodyguard.

“Sir,” Jo?o said with a flat voice. “Marquess Sharp is requesting your presence immediately.”

“Thank you, Jo?o. Lead me to him.”

Nicholas had been surprised that his father had attended this party at all. Curiosity played at the back of Nicholas’s mind. What could his father possibly want?

Nicholas politely excused himself, leaving Ava linked arm in arm with her newfound friend and feeling that, for once, there was a little hope for his sister-in-law to have a good time at a social event.

Jo?o led Nicholas through the castle to what he assumed, from the book-lined walls, large desk and chairs, and smell of wet ink and paper, to be the viscount’s office.

His father and another middle-aged nobleman sat in the overstuffed chairs.

Neither stood when Nicholas entered the room to join them.

His father hastily introduced Nicholas to Viscount Hector Robson, who looked more like he could be Rose’s father than her uncle.

They shared the same pink hair and reddish eyes, though Rose’s face and hair were delicate and smooth, whereas Hector’s hair was graying, and his face was pinched and wrinkled.

Nicholas had never thought much about the Robson family before today’s celebration.

Their territories shared a small border, but relations between the two families had always been amicable enough that there was no cause for engagement.

The Sharps stayed out of Robson business, and the Robsons stayed out of Sharp business.

Citizens of both territories were free to trade and travel.

But the serious look on his father’s face made Nicholas wonder if that was about to change.

He rummaged around in the corners of his mind, trying to remember what he knew about the Robsons. There had been some oddities surrounding Rose’s adoption, if he recalled correctly. It had been the center of high society gossip for a time.

Rose’s father was actually the elder of the two Robson brothers.

He’d gone against everyone’s wishes and married a woman from an enemy family.

The story went that he’d hidden Rose and her mother away, even going so far as to hide the fact that he had a child from his own family.

He’d been preparing to run away with his wife and child when bandits attacked them.

Rose’s father died defending them, and her mother died of a broken heart shortly after.

Rose was only six months old at the time.

The story worked out conveniently for Hector, who inherited the title of viscount upon the death of his supposedly childless brother.

Nicholas’s father had always thought it was a little too convenient.

It was one reason the Sharps stayed out of Robson business and kept their neighbors at arm’s length.

Nearly fifteen years after her parents passed, the priestesses at Rose’s orphanage had discovered her aural magic.

That, along with her pink hair, which was rare even among Albionish nobility, served as undeniable proof of her true heritage.

And it had really thrown a wrench into Hector’s life as the Viscount Robson.

For a while, everyone in high society had speculated that Hector was Rose’s father, and she was an abandoned love child.

It had taken the eyewitness accounts of several old servants to prove that Rose was Hector’s niece.

Nicholas remembered thinking the story was odd at the time. He still thought there were parts that didn’t add up, but as he recalled his knowledge of the Robson family, he remembered that hadn’t been the worst part of things for Rose.

Hector had started using her as political collateral shortly after she turned eighteen.

He’d lost a skirmish against the Greatstrider Clan, and they’d wanted a guarantee that Hector and what remained of his mercenary forces wouldn’t try anything underhanded.

Hector sent them Rose, his ‘precious’ niece, to hold as a captive until tensions subsided.

It was an uncommon practice in Albion, but not unheard of. Families tried to use it as a last resort when there was no other way to end a war or gain trust, and usually, captives were exchanged. Rose stayed with the Greatstrider Clan for an entire year before returning to the Robsons.

And then Hector had sent her out again. And again. And again.

Frankly, the more Nicholas reflected on it, the more he was surprised that Rose had been at the Robson castle for today’s celebration. For years, Hector had made it a point to send her away from the family to serve as collateral whenever possible.

Nicholas wondered how long Hector would be able to keep up the pretense that Rose was his ‘precious’ niece and if he would marry her off as a second wife to some terrible, old nobleman for a hefty bride price when Rose was no longer valuable as collateral.

He found that thought surprisingly bothersome.

So, why was his father introducing him to an annoying man like Hector Robson?

“Nicholas, sit down,” his father said, motioning for Nicholas to join them. “Hector and I have been discussing the star crystal mines his men recently found.”

Business was the reason, then. Star crystal mines were always lucrative, and rumors suggested that the ones recently found on Robson’s land were enormous enough to provide the family with stratospheric levels of wealth.

Nicholas could see why his father wanted to involve himself with the Robsons after years of leaving well enough alone.

Nicholas resigned himself to the headache that was certain to follow this meeting.

They’d done business with weasels like Hector before.

As long as they were careful, Nicholas and his father always found a way for the Sharps to come out ahead in these matters.