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“I… don’t do the aristocracy,” I said slowly.
“You don’t do it? You are the aristocracy. Your dad is an earl, and you have a title. How can you notdoit?”
I shuffled back on the sofa and pulled one leg up, hugging it to my chest. “Remember when I told you about my parents? How my dad cheated and remarried after he knocked up his mistress?”
His eyes widened. “Shit. Your brother—I know him. He’s… Fuck. Victor, right?”
“Vincent. He’s about to turn eighteen.”
“Ah, balls. Of course. I didn’t even know they were coming. Isn’t your dad?”
I shook my head. “He’s waiting to see if Fred needs him.”
William pinched the bridge of his nose. “Loxford. Of course. Our dads were close.”
“Just a little,” I replied. “He sent Carmen and Vincent with his apologies, as I found out this afternoon.”
“Wait. Were you not included on the invitation?”
“I don’t know. If I was, he probably didn’t tell me because he knew I’d say no. When I say I don’t do the aristocracy, I mean it. I avoid it at all costs. It’s not so crazy to ignore a largely patriarchal class when you were tossed aside for your younger sibling just because he had the good sense to be born with a penis.”
“Well, when you put it like that…”
I gave him a half-smile. “I have some issues.”
“More or less than Vogue?”
“Do you even know what Vogue is?”
“I’m not that dense, Grace.” He chuckled, getting up and sitting on the sofa. “So… you avoid the upper class because you’re butthurt over being ignored for your brother.”
“Don’t make me beat you with a pillow again.”
He threw his arm over the back of the sofa so it was resting behind me and sighed. “I’m messing, you know that. It… makes a lot of sense. I can see how and why you’d distance yourself from it, especially after losing your mum.”
“Yep. I had to move in with my dad and Carmen, and after I rejected her attempts to replace my mum, she had no issues reminding grieving, heartbroken, fifteen-year-old me that her son would be the one to inherit everything while I’d get nothing. She hasn’t gotten over that little phase yet.”
“I never liked her,” he mused, gently tapping his finger against my shoulder. “Does she really say that to you? What does your dad say?”
I shrugged. “She never does it around him. We had to go to therapy to make him realise how, well, traumatising it was for me to live with her. He pays for my schooling, and he bought my house just so I didn’t have to move back in with them, but she complains about that, too. Something about cutting into her son’s inheritance.”
“That’s ridiculous. Grandpa put up money for Freya and James’ house, even though he didn’t need to. It’s not exactly uncommon to ensure all the children are taken care of, whether that be in life or through trust funds. Do you not have anything else set up? I know Freya does, including provisions for her children.”
I bobbed my head. “I have a trust fund, and I also know what Dad’s will looks like. Carmen will pitch a merry fit when she realises there’s a very expensive necklace my mum loved that’s leaving the main line when she dies.”
William’s body trembled with quiet laughter. “Does she not know about it?”
“After Mum died, he put the Loxford Diamond Drop into storage. She loved that necklace, and it’s willed to me. I don’t think Carmen even knows of its existence, to be honest. She’s never gotten over the fact that she couldn’t wear the Loxford tiara at their wedding, either.”
“Why not?”
“Because she was his mistress and a week away from giving birth when they got married. I’m not sure an heirloom tiara would have been the right look for her at the local registry office.” I paused. “Not that there’s anything wrong with getting married there. This weekend makes me think it’s the best idea, to be honest.”
He chuckled. “The circumstances surrounding their marriage don’t exactly lend themselves to expensive jewellery, you mean.”
“Exactly. That’s a lot more eloquent than I could put it.” I snorted, then clapped my hand over my mouth. “Sorry. Anyway, I panicked when I realised who you were, and I should have told you, but I decided then that I’d never ever speak to you again, so I hoped I could just get in and out without any drama.”
William leant into me. “You misjudged it terribly.”
