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“One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.”

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

T he gentlemen who had leapt in to render aid were a bit rumpled from fending off the rioters, but hale. There were no injuries, save minor bumps and bruises. For the most part, the rioters had been loud, not violent.

But the ton clung to the walls, weeping and untouched, acting as though they had been dealt a fatal blow. Cavendish fluttered from one place to another, trying to restore order to this madness by rattling off orders to his servants.

Peregrine turned slowly in a circle, thinking. The remaining rioters huddled in a corner, penned in by footmen. All but the drunken ones had fallen quiet. Confidence was easy in the anonymity of a mob, but voicing their beliefs when outnumbered and being held was harder.

For a week, he had been seeking signs of his mother’s plans. Now his gut was telling him that there was no coincidence in what had happened here tonight.

“Perry,” a voice hissed in a low voice behind him, and he turned again, seeing the Marchioness of Normanby behind him.

“I would like to leave, but I seem to have been left without an escort,” she said in a formal tone of voice for the benefit of any listeners.

“Might I impose upon you to see me home?”

Selina’s face was as serious as he had ever seen it, which was the only reason he didn’t refuse her out of hand.

Feeling pulled two ways, he glanced back in the direction the royal family had left.

Unfortunately, they had also taken Ravenscroft with them, removing the only other person from the party with whom Peregrine would leave a message.

“ Please ,” the marchioness added, and finally Perry gave her a sharp nod, trying to keep from gritting his teeth and he offered her his arm as they wound their way to the front door.

Selina didn’t have a carriage nearby, but the night was fine, and there would be hacks only a block away. She tugged his arm to get him to walk towards the gates, and kept her reserve until they had gotten into a carriage.

“You look grim,” Peregrine finally observed bitingly, “which makes me wonder if you summoned me to this party to witness some new scheme of your little group. Would that be, by any chance, because you and the Order did not succeed in baiting your line with Charity correctly while I lay ill? Or are you planning to accuse me of this to force my will because you no longer have the leverage of Prince William to use against me?”

“None of those things.” Selina gave him an irritated look, pressing her full lips together.

“I really must say, Perry, I have never thought to meet a man who could be so ungrateful about having his life saved. No wonder Duchess Atholl has been tragically wandering about, looking as though she was publicly barred from Almacks. ”

He narrowed his eyes. “Do not pretend that you are unaware of my general opinion about being used or manipulated .”

“The circumstances merited expedience.” She inhaled deeply, as if bracing herself.

“I don’t doubt your ability or your motivations to form your own cabal and protect yourself, but simply put, you do not have an eternity to be so precious about it, you fool!

If you don’t have the resources to protect yourself, your mother will end your life.

And that would be a dreadful waste of time—for all of us who have spent our efforts in an attempt to keep you breathing. ”

Cameron would have likely forced him to seek the assistance of either the Crown or the Order anyway.

It had been a singularly unpleasant deduction for him to come to, this week.

Still, he would have preferred to strike a bargain of his own volition instead of being forced to it by one of his supposed allies.

Working his jaw, Peregrine finally nodded curtly.

“Fine. I shall set aside suspicions about your future plans for me. But we are not finished discussing it, Marchioness. You brought me here tonight for a reason. Was it to observe the Order’s riot?

Because I do not think the Whigs are lacking in all sense. ”

“I don’t think so.”

He barked a laugh. “You don’t think so? As in, you had another reason to invite me to witness the Order staging a riot? Or you do not know if it was them?”

“The latter. Never mind that for the moment. Your earlier statement—Perry, when she went to the Queen to negotiate, did your duchess succeed in securing you a pardon for William?”

Peregrine stared open-mouthed at the hard planes of Selina’s normally beautiful face. Typically, she played her cards very close to the vest, but she made no effort to conceal her expression from him now. She looked more vexed than he had ever seen her.

“She did,” he finally said, grudgingly, not bothering to argue the part about Charity being his duchess. “Did you ask her to seek a pardon for me?”

Selina rubbed her arms. “I did not dare ask her to do anything so directly. But this is… good to hear. Our little lamb is learning to wield her wits. Hopefully she is learning it quickly enough.”

As she closed her eyes in relief, Peregrine found himself teetering betwixt bewilderment, suspicion, and towering anger.

“How, exactly, do you know such details of Duchess Atholl’s discussion with the Crown?

And what does any of this have to do with the Order?

” he continued, his voice becoming threatening.

“You have five seconds to explain before I stop this carriage and leave.”

“It will take considerably longer than that to explain,” the marchioness retorted sharply.

“So you had best settle yourself comfortably. First, I must begin with a confession that I hope will set a few things to rights. Given how wroth you are with me, I imagine the duchess informed you I threatened to expose you to the Crown for the conspiracy to poison Prince William myself if you did not join the Order.”

Peregrine’s brows drew down as he began to connect the events that had precipitated Charity’s betrayal. “Yes, I am aware you played a part in forcing the duchess to choose between seeking help from yourself or Charlotte.”

“Do not misunderstand me,” the marchioness said with an edge of exasperation.

“It was not my most subtle work, granted, given that I had only moments to decide upon a course of action.

But I used my full and considerable influence to try to make sure the Duchess Atholl sought the Queen instead of me.

Us . I did not want to encourage her to come to the Order or to me to seek aid.

“Whether she realised it or not, there was no choice. We would be the devil with whom there could be no deal. And at the same time, I had to ensure I was driving the duchess—whom I believe, incidentally, has come to care about you to a degree that may be a hazard to her health—into the Queen’s hands with all possible speed. ”

Nostrils flaring in pique, Peregrine considered this quickly, coming to an unpleasant conclusion. “The only reason you would care about my having a pardon…”

“Is because the Order may attempt to use William’s poisoning against you. Yes. Not that they had plans to accuse you, so far as I know. But I took the weapon from their hands.”

Gritting his teeth, he asked, “Why would I need to worry about the Order attempting to use this against me?”

She ignored him. “To be honest, I knew the Queen would likely salt the bargain, but once the duchess told me about Cameron, it became clear how dangerous the situation had grown for you. You were acutely vulnerable. You still are.”

Selina gave him a cutting look. “You are reeling, Perry. And granted, you have taken several heavy blows, any one of which would have toppled most other people. But this is not like you, to be swayed by pride and emotion instead of strategy. You were forced to make the alliance you should have done from the outset. So what? It is temporary. All matters change when they have outlived their usefulness. The important thing to heed is that no one person in this world can stand without allies—even when most of us do not have to worry about watching over their shoulders for Marian Fitzroy to stick a knife in their back.”

Peregrine looked out the window briefly, stuffing his emotions away.

It would be a fatal mistake to let the sharp-eyed marchioness sit in attendance as he re-examined his feelings, especially given how the last two days with Ravenscroft had proven how disturbed his own equilibrium had been. It was likely to get him killed.

Putting a stop to this unproductive line of thought, he reviewed what else she had said.

He pressed his fingers to his lips, giving her a look.

“You should have been leaping with joy at the thought of an opportunity to bind me to you when Charity sought your help. I cannot imagine why else you would push me into the Queen’s hands, nor use the duchess to do it when you could so easily do it yourself.

Not unless…” his gaze narrowed as he studied her expression, “you had some concern that your allies might no longer be your friends.”

This time, it was her gaze that slid away, and she made an expressive moue. “There you are. Finally .”

Inhaling through his nose, Peregrine considered this new information.

“No wonder you have been so quiet lately. And here I was, believing you were only showing some consideration for my recovery before you dragged me in front of the others to swear an oath, or whatever it is you do. When did you start to feel as though someone was trying to stick a knife into your back?” he said, crossing his legs with a nonchalance that he did not feel.