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“I did what I could when it could be overlooked.” Ben was every inch a stubborn Humphries. “I know I had no right in law to be here, but the usurper did nothing more than destroy what offended him before he disappeared.”
“Hallbjorn never gathered a sleuth, Arthur,” Charlotte said. “Nor did he mate, nor did he produce young. His time is past. He remained on the fringes here for years, and now none know where he abides. Were he to die without issue, we would be free to do as we wish. If you were to make a challenge—”
“There will be no challenge.” Arthur cut off her tirade. “The prince regent has decreed.”
“Oh, Georgie,” Charlotte scoffed. “Well, if he upholds his decree, then all to the good. Nothing stands in your way. We shall be a sleuth—”
“There will be no sleuth.”
“Won’t there?” Charlotte mused, and Ben rocked on his heels. “And what thinks your wife? I know she is Castleton’s widow, but what does she truly know about us?”
“She knows what we are, in essence, but not in species, and I forbid you to tell her.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Charlotte said, notably minus the usual obeisance, and then sighed. “Only think to whom she was wed previously. For the love of Freya, she can have no good opinion of our kind.”
“I must ask…” Ben chewed on his lip. “Is it usual forhomo pleniito lack a scent signature?”
“We have not mingled amongst them very much since the children have grown,” Charlotte said.
“Is it a product of her humanity?” Ben wondered and then shook his head. “I am sure I recall humans in Court having at least one top note.”
“Pardon me.” Beatrice stood in the hall, Ursella at her side. “The child was climbing the stairs, and they are not so safe that she can be left unsupervised.” She cleared her throat. “We have the ducal suite prepared. Your Grace, if you and your brother would lend Mr. Todd a hand with the beds, then we can carry on tomorrow outfitting it more fully.”
“Am I to be demoted to footman?” Arthur could not stop goading her.
“Should it be so beneath your lofty dignity to ensure your family feel at home, they may sleep on the floor,” Madam riposted. “Or pile in with me in the stillroom, as I inhabit it alone.” She gently extricated her hand from the child’s grip and left the room.
Salty little cake with claws—and fangs. Arthur would not be drawn, not by his brother’s dismay nor by Charlotte’s glare. He would be discreet. His spat with Madam was none of their concern. They need not know—
“We are engaged in a white marriage.”
“Are you, now.” Charlotte’s brow did not arch as elegantly as Madam’s, but the effect was the same.
“Why would you presume otherwise? We met a mere sennight ago and married under duress due to Georgie’s threats.”
“What threats?” Ben let his claws down.
“None of your concern. None of this is your concern.” Arthur waved his arms about, encompassing the house and the land and the wife. “Whether or not Hallbjorn failed in his quest to hold this area, it is no longer ours. We are here on our regent’s sufferance and no more.”
“Nevertheless,” Charlotte insisted. Odin’s ravens, she was relentless. “There is no call to leave it looking abandoned and derelict.”
“She intends to fix this place,” Arthur allowed. “She said she’ll be about getting in some of Lowell’s footmen.”
“‘She’ is Her Grace, you lout,” Charlotte admonished, and Arthur leaned down for another smack of her little paw.
“We are wed, not bonded.”
“Your wife is not ‘she’ to anyone, ever. Where are your manners?” Charlotte demanded. “And as to that, are you considering her humanity? You may not be administering the bite or even a scent-marking, but I do hope,” and this was delivered in a tone that said she severely doubted such an eventuality, “you are at the very least offering your wife the respect due her in front of others not in the family.”
A warm little flame lit under his heart. “You have not changed since the day you were born.”
Charlotte blushed. “I am sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“Fears none,” Ben said, proud as punch.
“And is Bernadette or Ursella like you?” Arthur asked.
“Tarben is like me, thank you very much,” Charlotte said, “and Bernadette is her own creature entirely. Very high in the instep for one so young.”
