He felt rather than heard his mother’s pain and nearly went back to her. But in this, she was just as culpable as his Grace, so there was no pity in him for her.
He went to his room, tearing open the letter and permitting the identification magic to run over his hands. It was oddly halting. As though it weren’t certain who he was.
Nick unfolded the letter, watched the words straighten themselves as the identification spell completed and bent to reading. Just as he’d suspected, it was a summons to the King, and Nick wanted to knock his head through the wall.
He had no interest in the King, but the summons was irrefutable, and since he’d opened it, he now had to appear. The king was not above sending someone to retrieve him, and while the embarrassment to his Grace might have almost been worth it, he didn’t want to do that to his mother.
The summons was for the following day, so he shrugged out of his clothing and went to bed.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. The king was likely to order him to do two things. Wed and attend the Season. The first was completely out; he wouldn’t wed someone who would have to follow him when he returned home. He wouldn’t take a woman from her home, and to wed would tie him here.
But attending the Season might not be awful. He had friends he hadn’t seen since he’d left school, and perhaps this might be an excellent opportunity to connect with them again.
* * *
The next morning, he was dining with his mother, prepared in his finest to go and see the king when there was a knock at the door. He nearly rose to answer it, but his mother gave him an odd look, and that was when he remembered he’d be taking the butler’s job.
And that was when a familiar face walked in.
“Alex!” Nick was up from the table in a moment, immediately finding himself wrapped in a firm hug. “Alex, how have you been?”
“Well, my friend, very well.” Alex grinned at him. “Rumor said you were back in town.”
“Very temporarily,” Nick shook his head. “It was time I visited Mother.”
Alex looked nonplussed, but nodded. “I know you are to see the king, but come and have supper with us tonight.”
“Gladly,” he hugged Alex again and escorted his friend to the door where two carriages were waiting. Nick’s father’s carriage was larger,, polished black with the gilded sigil on the door, but the light brown of Alex’s looked much more inviting.
Ad there was something wrong with the carriage as Nick got closer. It seemed threadbare for some reason, the upholstery faded, and the paint on the carriage itself was cracking once he got close enough to see it.
It was a repeating pattern, scanting, things not as his Grace had always decreed that they ought to be. Even his mother’s wardrobe was simpler. Something was terribly wrong, and his Grace looked more tired now than when Nick had first arrived.
Nick sighed, waved at Alex and rattled away in the ducal carriage.
The palace looked as it always had, at least it was the same as it had been when Nick had been here for his firstSeason. And now he was older, wiser, and was going to make it a point to be on the very first sailing home that he could manage.
Because whatever was going on here was going to eat him alive if he let it.
Nick refused to allow it.
This was not his home; it hadn’t been for years, but there was a small part of him that worried for his family.
What had his brother done, and what would be required to fix it?
Nick was escorted through the hallways of the palace to the small audience hall, where the king was waiting for him.
“Majesty,” Nick bowed to the king. “I have come as I was summoned.”
“Good,” the king rose and walked down the steps towards him. “Let’s have done with this, Lord Nicholas. Your family is in trouble, your brother is in prison, and it falls on you to repair the damages that he wrought.”
Nick’s head was spinning. “My brother wed and was disowned, Majesty.”
“Oh, he was disowned for certain.” The king huffed a humorless laugh. “But he did not wed; that is a story that your father put out to protect his reputation. Ask him what truly happened.”
“I shall.” Nick bowed again, turning to leave. “I will—”
“You will take the reins of the duchy.” The king narrowed his eyes at Nick. “You are Duke Graves now. I have relieved your father of his offices pending our investigation.”
