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She’d hoped that they were both too engrossed in the conversation they were having, to notice her passing.
“Oh, there you are sister. Have you heard?” Adam sneered. She’d been tempted to continue walking but somehow, she managed to stop and turn.
“What do you want, Adam?” she asked.
“What do I want from you? Nothing at all.” He laughed.
“Then I will be on my way,” she announced as she made to exit the dining area.
“Oh, but before you do, why don’t you pull out a chair and read this?” He snickered, tossing a copy of a newspaper on the table.
She was not in the mood for games and would have walked away if she had not caught the look on her mother’s face in the nick of time. Something about the look aroused her curiosity.
She stepped cautiously toward the table and picked up the paper. The headline had her brain muddled in an instant.
Marquess of Walsrock arrested.
It took her a moment for her to make sense of just the headline.
“Oh my goodness!” she gasped.
Her gasp must have been the reaction her brother was waiting for as he immediately began laughing. Her mother, on the other hand, stayed silent.
“Isn’t that who you dared father for, saying you were going to marry him instead?” Adam continued laughing. “Now look at that.”
The mocking sound of her brother’s voice faded into the background as she struggled to read the words that were printed under the headline. The problem was that she was reading but not understanding.
The report in the newspaper suggested that Kenneth had been arrested and was being quizzed for his involvement with the protests on the streets. According to the report, Kenneth had instigated the masses to protest, following the defeat of his bill in parliament.
This can’t be right.
Yet the more she tried to make sense of the news, the more it sounded like jargon to her.
Does Father have a hand in this?
Did he do more than just vote against Kenneth’s bill?
Kenneth was his main political rival, after all, and her father was a seasoned politician. Had he used this opportunity to dispatch his opponent in one fell swoop?
Adam hadn’t stopped snickering but even his banter was inconsequential at this point. It took a moment for her to realize that her mother had also been observing her keenly.
She hoped she hadn’t given too much away with her reaction. Adam stood up then, kissed his mother on the cheek and walked away laughing. As his laughter faded into the distance, she pulled out a chair and sat down.
“You love him, don’t you?” her mother said, catching her by surprise.
“I beg your pardon?” she responded. “Where did that come from, Mother?”
There was no immediate response from her mother. Rose thought it was best to leave it that way. She stood up from the chair she’d only just sat on a few moments ago.
“I’ll be off now,” she announced to her mother, dropping the newspaper on the table.
“Everyone else has read it, Rose. You can take it with you,” her mother said.
There was a soft moment shared between them then. It was a reprieve from all the tension that had existed between them since this betrothal business began.
“Thank you,” she said simply, as she walked away.
She navigated through the house on the way to the study, with the paper in her hand. Not only was she going to challenge her father about the vote, she was also going to look into his eyes and ask him if he had anything to do with Kenneth’s arrest.
