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“They are Greek terms. The myth is Roman in nature, I believe.”
“It is the foundation story of you wolves, is it not? Would you not have heard it growing up? Should your titles not be Italian, then?”
“I would not know, madam,” O’Mara replied. “As a female, my education was not what it ought to be.”
“Tutor!” Felicity stopped and wrote for a length of time. “Would you like one?” She looked up at O’Mara, who shrugged. “I want one. And one for the servants who wish to better themselves. And any of the humans here who wish it. Can we all learn together? Is there aversipellianlaw against that? And how will I discern who is who?”
“You will know us soon enough, on sight,” the chamberlain said. “But you must not inquire as to individual species. It is seen as the height of rudeness, and that courtesy is among one of our greatest laws. Another such a one is thecognominatio, the sacred ceremony in which Alpha named you as his mate and you were accepted by all.”
Felicity heart swelled. “And no one thought it too hasty?”
“Oh, no. Many thought he tarried too long. And he himself is eager to secure your hand, and the wolf his bite.” Felicity grimaced as they came upon the entrance to the Close. O’Mara grinned. “Sure you’ll be grand, it’s only a wee nip.” She sobered. “It is vital that you accept all of him as he is, ma’am. He sought you, only you, for years and years. It was the very thought of you, if I may not mince words, that caused the terrible but necessary upheaval in the Lowell Pack.”
“He does not speak of this upheaval. I presume it has to do with his family,” Felicity said.
“Ask him of them, and you will learn all you need to trust him with your life and your heart.”
They soon reached Alfred, who stood waiting with Mr. Bates and Mr. Gambon. O’Mara remained behind, and the quartet moved on. Felicity looked back and saw the chamberlain watching them walk away, and her heart ached for the lonely picture she made, standing there as though she were the last woman on earth. Would she as duchess be able to lighten the Omega’s load?
“Well, gentlemen,” Felicity said, “I feel we must make proper introductions.”
Bates began. “I am the Beta of the pack, the Alpha’s right-hand man, no different from a human steward. I am also a wolf,” he said, his eyes glinting with a smile, “although not as dark in appearance as His Grace.”
“It was you I saw in the park.” Felicity considered his hair, as golden a yellow as the wolf she’d seen. She hadn’t even thought to ask about distinguishing characteristics between animal and human selves. She stopped to make another note.
“It was the best way to keep an eye on things,” he said, “and not a complete contravention of our laws.”
“And we were only getting that desperate, madam,” said Mr. Gambon. “The few glimpses you caught of us in animal form were done in the hopes it would make the knowledge that much easier to bear.”
She quite liked this blunt, genial man and wondered if he was in fact a bear.
“And how did you acquire your roles? Is there a, a registry office forversipelles?”
“As wolves, we thrive on community,” Alfred explained. “Whilst the dukedom makes us the highest in our order, in Bates’s case, the earldom of Rendall was near enough the top to be a suitable place for me to foster.”
“It soon became apparent that I was His Grace’s match as Second,” said Bates, “and so I was raised to be such.”
“And his brother was not happy, not the tiniest bit.” Gambon’s eyes glinted with mischief.
“My brother, who is my twin, will someday hold the family title of earl.” Bates refused to rise to the bait. “Being placed at the Hall allowed me to move up in the world, in the hopes that my sisters would benefit from my elevated state. They have but are living in suspension as we are, as regards the young.”
“Because of your connection to Alfr—to the Alpha?”
Bates nodded and then hesitated. “I have not been an advocate of mixing the races,” he admitted. “We keep our secrets close, but often not close enough, and Shapeshifters have suffered from pogroms and annihilation. And yet, if we are to survive, we must amalgamate the benefits of our makeup with the camouflage of the human race.”
“Camouflage?”
Gambon took up the explanation. “When we mix with humans, we look less like our animals and blend to a greater degree. We have not been at it long, only a century or two.”
Felicity made yet another note, but the notion she would forget any of this was remote. She took a deep breath and looked around her. How many communities across England, across the world, harbored such souls as these? How many had she met and not known? Did her natural affinity for animals make this all easier to comprehend and accept?
“O’Mara could not tell me why the titles of your roles are Greek when your stories are Roman.”
Bates grumbled low in his throat. “Those bloody—pardon me, ma’am. Those stories! Credulous tales for children, and I wouldn’t put any store in them.”
“Despite every indication to the contrary that thevera amorismyth is true,” Alfred mumbled.
“If it is true, then it is not, by its very nature, a myth.” Bates looked irritated beyond measure. “The hierarchical terms are common across all species of Shapeshifter and do not derive from our Roman roots, roots which may be as mythological as the timeworn tales that nevertheless continue to thrive.”
