He straightened and turned to find all three brothers grinning at him, arms crossed over their chests, looking more alike than he had ever realised. ‘Fine. I do not wish for Grace to be distressed. This is a difficult situation for her to be in already. If she found these—’ he gestured to the feathers on the ground ‘—I think she would find it upsetting. I do not want that.’
Freddie’s smile faded. ‘Right you are.’
And without any further argument, his brothers began to pick up the fine feathers from the grass. He watched them for a moment, bewildered by the sudden change of pace. They had been teasing him one minute and helping him without question the next.
‘Am I really that bad at the violin?’ asked Christopher, after a few minutes’ silence.
‘You just need a little more practice.’ Christopher sounded so sweetly earnest that Tobias didn’t have the heart to tease him.
‘That is a very kind way of saying yes.’ Freddie did not have the same compunction.
‘I truly thought that would be my thing. Freddie is good at drawing, Edward is good at the piano, Tobias is good at being a duke. What is my thing?’
When neither Freddie nor Edward jumped in with a ready answer, Tobias realised it was his role to say something. ‘Firstly, you do notneed a thing. You are Christopher. That is good enough. If you want to play the violin, then ignore your more annoying brothers and just do it. You do not need to be good at it. Enjoy it or move on to something else.’
Silence greeted his statement. His brothers kept on working. At this rate, they would be done quickly. Perhaps he should have gone to them for help sooner.
‘What is secondly?’ asked Christopher after a while.
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘You said firstly, which implies a secondly should follow.’
‘That is true,’ said Freddie, straightening briefly to rub his lower back, before resuming his task.
‘Oh yes. I was going to say that being good at being a duke is not a thing, as you phrased it. It is not a talent like being musical or having the ability to draw. It is a title that I was handed by accident of birth. Any one of you would have been equally as good.’
If he’d have thought about his words before he uttered them, which, surprisingly, he hadn’t, then he would have expected his brothers to find something amusing to say in response. To find something to push or to poke at. The silence that followed his statement was unnerving.
‘Do you really believe that?’ asked Freddie.
Tobias flicked his gaze around the patch of ground. He couldn’t see any feathers left. Straightening, he found his three brothers watching him, various levels of frowns on their faces. It took him a moment to remember what they were talking about. ‘Yes. Any one of you would probably be much better than me. Freddie, you would be charming and…’
Freddie held up a closed fist. ‘I cannot read, Tobias. One hour of me in the role and the dukedom would be in complete ruination.’
‘That is not an exaggeration,’ said Edward, quickly dodging a punch from Freddie. ‘But he is right. None of us would have the patience to wade through the work that you face on an hourly basis.’
‘We would not have the gravitas to pull it off either,’ added Christopher.
Tobias should be pleased. In less than twenty-four hours, both Grace and his brothers had complimented him. On one level, it was good that they held him in high esteem. But the descriptions used were not of a man who was going to set the world alight: patient, hardworking, dignified, thoughtful and kind. He sounded dull.
Before he could voice his thoughts, he caught a flash of pale blue in the corner of his eye. ‘Grace is coming.’
All four of them snapped their hands behind their backs, looking uncommonly like naughty schoolboys who had stolen a sweet treat.
‘Good morning,’ said Grace, smiling at the four of them. In her right hand, she was holding a wooden box, and Tobias did not have the heart to tell her it wouldn’t be needed. If Tobias’ smile was anything like his brothers’, then it was unconvincing. A tight band was making itself felt around his middle. His palms were sweating, the little feathers sticking to the skin.
‘Is everything quite all right?’ she asked.
‘Excellent,’ said Tobias, when none of them said anything.
‘I came to check on the bird.’
All four of them nodded.
Grace bent at the waist, peering at the bush. ‘Oh look, he is still there.’
‘He is?’ said Tobias. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
