She would let him know what she thought about the particulars of his method once she had another moment alone with him.
After navigating a maze of elegant hallways, Padma led Constance and Ellie through an unobtrusive door.Constance squinted at the change in light as she found herself standing outside the looming palace wall.Looking back, she could barely see the opening they had utilized, its lines disguised by the texture of the stonework.
“Is this a secret exit?”she demanded.“How long has it been here?Who else knows about it?Does Uncle Vijay use it?”
Padma ignored her questions, striding purposefully up the alley, her pink and blue sari flowing elegantly around her ankles.Mr.Mahjoud fell into step behind them as Constance hurried after her.
“Your announcement this morning was very interesting, Kondi,” Padma commented smoothly.“I must admit, I was a little surprised that after all the suitors you rejected, you would pick Dr.Fairfax to marry.Not that he isn’t a very nice young man, but he isn’t nearly as well-established as the others that you have turned down.He is not particularly wealthy.He has no title.One cannot even say that he is a rising political star, which might at least gain you a future as a cabinet minister’s wife.”
Constance felt a mingled dart of panic and outrage.“Julian Forster-Mowbray was wealthy.I suppose I ought to have picked him instead, and never mind the minor complication that both he and his father were part of a secret society of merciless magical artifact thieves.”
Padma faced Constance with an uncharacteristically frank expression.“I was not aware of Lord Aldbury’s involvement with the Order of Albion until the recent events in Egypt.He was a mistake, as was his son.”
Constance thought back to her tea with Lord Aldbury.To be perfectly honest, she hadn’t been paying him a very great deal of attention.Knowing that a person was only speaking to her in order to size her up as breeding fodder was a guaranteed way to make her lose interest in a conversation.
She recalled a tall man, attractive for his age.His hair was dark, shot through with streaks of silver, and his easy, charming manner was touched by the natural arrogance one expected from a man of his station.
None of it was out of the ordinary, and yet she remembered him now with a whispering sense of unease.It seemed to her that there was something uncomfortably familiar about his eyes—not in the color, which matched that of his son, Julian, but in the measuring glint as he had watched her from across the table.
She wondered where she had seen that look before.
Padma’s dangerously musing tone cut into Constance’s thoughts.“Of course, the princes your Auntie Parvati would introduce you to have been known to the family for many years.They are responsible, charming, influential,andwealthy.Perhaps you have made your decision a little hastily.I do find myself wondering what exactly Dr.Fairfax has to offer you to compare with all of that—with no offense intended toward your brother, Jhia,” she added with a nod to Ellie.
Ellie kept her mouth firmly closed as though she was afraid of what might spill out if she opened it.
Constance fought a quick burst of nervousness.Had her Aai seen through the ruse?
No.The argument was exactly the sort of objection she ought to have anticipated her grandmother would make.Oddly, what she felt in response was less fear and more a quick, unexpected burst of anger.What right did Aai have to criticize Neil like that?Even if everything she said was technically true, it was both rude and inaccurate to reduce Neil’s value to how much money he had or how important his family was.Neil was a great deal more than either of those things, and anyone with eyes in their head ought to be able to see it.
Constance burned with the urge to set her grandmother straight, and for once, she had no interest in doing it by way of a creative falsehood.She didn’t need to pretend that Neil was the secret heir of a marquis in order to justify her desire to marry him—however fictional their engagement might happen to be.
“No, Neil isn’t a noble,” Constance retorted.“Or rich, or influential.But he’s brave—and not because he chases after lions for fun.Because doing dangerous things deeply intimidates him, and yet he does them anyway, if he knows it’s the right thing to do.He’s fearfully intelligent, but instead of being full of himself, he actually listens when you’re talking to him.He’s patient, thoughtful, and terribly sweet.Most astonishingly of all, he actually admits when he’s been wrong—and then he tries to change, even if it’s hard.I’d have trouble naming any other man I’ve met who’s willing to do that.”
Padma was watching her with a close, unreadable expression, but the words were coming readily now.Constance let them spill out of her boldly.
“Maybe Neil isn’t rich, but I don’t need a rich husband.I have plenty of money.I need a husband who isn’t going to try to turn me into something I’m not.And Neil wouldneverdo that.”
She raised her chin, fixing her grandmother with a challenging glare.“If I have all of that, then I have everything I could possibly need.Neil and I will sort out the rest.It’s not like the man can’t find another job.He’s a brilliant scholar with a Cambridge doctorate, for goodness’ sake.”
Padma’s eyes glinted cannily behind her serene expression.“My apologies, Kondi.This changes everything.I did not realize that you were in love with him.”
Constance reeled from the quick shock of her grandmother’s assertion—but forced herself to recover.“Of course, I’m in love with him,” she replied breezily.“Why else would we be getting married?”
“Why else, indeed?”Padma returned blithely.
Constance let out a low breath of relief as Padma turned to lead them down the busy street.
She had done it—convinced her grandmother that her affections for Neil were genuine.And all she’d had to do was rattle off a load of things that she actually thought about him.
They were all very nice things, Constance allowed.It was true that Neil didn’t have money, or a title, or a powerful family—but he was decent, kind, and principled.He had made mistakes, certainly, but he wasn’t afraid to own up to them and try to do better.
Constance hadn’t been lying when she’d said she had never found that trait before in a man who’d vied for her hand.
She had absolutely no doubt that Dr.Neil Fairfax would distinguish himself in life, given a little time.The trouble in Egypt had admittedly set back his career, but only temporarily.Neil really was exceptionally clever.Recalling the way he could rattle off translations of hieroglyphs without even thinking about it made Constance feel oddly tingly.
Any woman ought to be proud to have him as her husband, no matter his background—and surely someone would, Constance realized with a jolt.Neil was hardly going to remain a bachelor forever.One day, someone was going to realize what a diamond in the rough he was.
Not that the man was all that ‘in the rough.’He was easy enough to look at.
