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Brexley took a few moments to answer. “The odds are certainly in your favor this year, my Lord. But I would suggest that you make a foothold for yourself. I have a list of names you would want to meet.”
“Are any of them without peerage?” Charles asked. It was the wrong thing to say because Brexley’s smirked at him.
“People who will help you win the seat are all members of the peerage. Others have simply found their way in by luck or mistake or both,” he said.
“What my cousin means to say, is that it is prudent to take advice from people on either side of the wall if we ever hope to tear it down,” Edward said. He would have agreed with Lord Brexley just a month before but now he knew the truth.
“Why on Earth do we want to do that? Our country is thriving; our colonies are rich. We have the education and the resources to fix whatever is wrong. What more do we need?” Lord Selkirk said. Spoken like a true Conservative. The irony was that Edward was one himself. In fact, the number of Liberal party members in the House of Lords was a little less than thirty percent, which was an overwhelming minority.
Edward cringed internally. Just a few weeks ago, he would have been saying the same thing and now it made him shudder. He had seen how the other side lived, the horrors they had to face. The rich had no right to make the decisions for them. “We have power because we have been allowed to it. We might as well remember it,” Edward said. His friends stared at him in awe and even Charles looked surprised.
“I agree with you but the discussion needs to be more nuanced than that,” Lord Brexley said. “This isn’t about securing our bloodlines, Lord Arlington. We need to keep the general public appeased but we shouldn’t do that by making the choices on their behalf. I think that’s the point Lord Bromswell is trying to make here?” Brexley turned to Edward for confirmation.
Before Edward could reply, Lord Selkirk spoke up, shooting Edward a look. It seemed like the man had a vendetta against him which didn’t surprise him in the least. Many men thought of Edward as an entitled brat. “Lord Brexley, you already do so much for the poor. You’re the most qualified person here to speak on this matter as one of the leading philanthropists in the city. Your donations toward a number of charities are the talk of the ton.”
“I do as much as I can,” Lord Brexley murmured. “In fact, I’m holding a charity ball two weeks from now. I expect all of your presence, even you too, Lord Whitely.”
“I will definitely try and make it,” Edward said politely.
“I’m pleased to hear that. Maybe then, or sometime before we can get together and discuss Earl Rowe’s future in politics?” Lord Brexley said with a slight arch of his brows.
Edward exchanged a look with his cousin who looked positively gleeful. “We shall be looking forward to it,” he said.
There was a short tap on Edward’s back and he turned around to see that it was his mother. “Son, can I please talk to you about a pressing matter?”
“Certainly, Mother,” he said. He gave his arm to her and they walked away from the men. “What is it?”
“It’s your engagement ball,” the Duchess said pointedly. “You should be spending time with your betrothed. Look at her, you’ve left the poor girl alone.”
Edward turned to where his mother was pointing. Jane was with her friends, laughing with them. “She doesn’t look alone to me,” he said drily.
“What is going on with you?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Edward asked, feigning annoyance.
“I gave birth to you. The least you can do is not lie. You have been different since you came back,” his mother replied, an undercurrent of something in her voice. “Is it the woman?”
Edward looked up sharply. “What woman?”
“The one that you’ve been talking about since you came back, the one who saved you,” she said. She watched his face carefully lest he gave away signs of the truth.
“No, Mother,” Edward lied.
His mother looked at him for a few moments before nodding. “You should spend more time with Jane.” And at that moment, Edward realized why she was pushing for his engagement and subsequent marriage. She had fathomed, somehow, that the woman haunting his dreams at night was not Jane but the woman who had saved his life. And that’s when he knew. He had to find Ariadne.
