Elmwood #2
“Yes. His lawyer dug up an old law called Sheltering the Blood. Apparently, there was some sort of coup and the king’s brothers were banishing each other and it was a terrible mess. So they made it unlawful to banish any member of the royal family.”
“Oh dear,” said Elmwood, beginning to catch on. “So your Lady Isobel is…”
“The queen’s second cousin, and she’s your Lady Isobel, Elmwood. Soon to be Lady Elmwood. Felicitations, old friend!” He was practically chortling. “All you need do is marry her, and then you will be the queen’s second-cousin-in-law, and quite immune to banishment. It’s deliciously simple, really.”
Simple but preposterous.
“Win, there is a problem here. You see, despite what Lady Isobel says, we most certainly are not betrothed. She must have misunderstood whatever passed between us.”
“Ladies don’t go running around Neck loudly declaring their engagements to disgraced earls on a whim.
I discovered her because she’d been petitioning the courts to let her visit you.
No one bothered to tell her you’d gone on the run, and she was quite desperate, thinking they had sent you off to languish in some hole in Hargate Prison.
Now all of Neck is gossiping about the engagement. ”
Elmwood leaned forward to let his spinning head hang above his knees. Had he truly fucked a nice young lady at his father’s funeral, proposed, and then forgotten about the entire ordeal?
“I don’t understand, Win. Even if all of that is as you say, it still makes no sense. If she knows about my troubles with the law, then what possible incentive could she have to marry me?”
“Because, you hopeless scoundrel, she is completely in love with you.”
“That isn’t possible! I’m some drunken lout who tupped her at a funeral and forgot her. It makes no sense at all.”
Winthrop shook his head. “All I can say is that she talks about you as though the two of you are star-crossed lovers from an opera. When she found out I was your lawyer, she fell to her knees and begged me to let her see you. I explained your circumstances in grisly detail, for unlike some people, I am not in the habit of bamboozling dewy-eyed young ladies, and she cared not one whit. She agreed to come here with me without hesitation, with no attendants other than her aunt. She is ready to throw away her reputation to save you.”
Elmwood buried his face in his hands. This was absurd. He’d thought that he had reached the true depths of his misfortune, but somehow things kept getting worse.
“I can’t marry her, Win.”
“She’s really a very nice girl. Can’t you find some way to pry a bit of love out of that rusty heart of yours?”
Unbidden, Lady Croft slid into Elmwood’s mind.
“No, old friend, I don’t think I can.”
Winthrop narrowed his eyes. “Does this have anything to do with a certain Lady Croft?” When Elmwood didn’t reply, Winthrop shook his head again.
“I knew it. I knew it as soon as I saw you. This is my fault. I should have foreseen that if I left you here unsupervised, you’d fall in love with the first pretty face that said something kind to you. ”
“It’s not like that. She’s generally rather critical of me, if you must know.”
“Even worse! But Elmwood, it doesn’t matter. You can’t be in love with her. You need to be in love with Lady Isobel. She is your only viable alternative to banishment!”
“Maybe I’d prefer banishment.”
“I don’t think you would. In case you haven’t heard, they’re still burning Charmers at the stake in Relance, and that’s the nearest border to dump you over.
You’d be arrested on sight, and I’d have no power to advocate for you there.
I hear their broadsides have turned you into some sort of mythic horror after what happened. They will execute you immediately.”
Elmwood looked at his friend. “Win, I’ve only ever gone along with all of this out of love for you.
I don’t care what happens to me. I don’t really care about much of anything anymore.
” As he said it, he thought for a second of Lady Croft and her demanding fingers and realized he was lying again, just a little.
But it didn’t matter. She didn’t care about him beyond the utility of his Charm and had no use for whatever foolish attachment he was forming for her. There was no point to him anymore.
Winthrop was shaking his head.
“Well, if your love for me isn’t enough to make you care, then I implore you to think of Lady Isobel.
You won’t only be throwing your own life away if you refuse to honor the engagement.
The fact is, if you don’t marry her now, her reputation will be ruined.
She’ll have no hope of finding another husband. ”
Ruined. He’d never cared about his own reputation, and indeed had reveled in compromising it, but for a young woman like Lady Isobel, reputation was everything.
His reckless actions had made him responsible for her.
He had made so many mistakes, and they were all coming home to roost. They were so numerous they were a veritable flock, capable of filling Lady Croft’s crumbling dovecote to bursting.
Lady Croft. All she thought about was responsibility, and what she owed to others. What would she think of a man who seduced a young woman and then discarded her to ruin? She would truly despise him then, if she didn’t already.
“Well?” said Winthrop. “Will you do it?”
“You have made it abundantly clear that I have no choice.”
Even as he said it, he was filled with a cold certainty that rather than being his salvation as Winthrop intended, Lady Isobel would only further his ruination.