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Not to me, though. It was new and thrilling, chatting with the lower rungs of society. I saw these boys as a novelty . . . which I would soon learn was a horrible worldview to have.
I found myself smiling at them. Then I remembered myself and etched my bright smile into a frown, pulling my hood tighter. For a moment, I forgot my head ached and my belly hurt.
“Not to worry, Lady Emma,” I grumbled.
The boys hooted and hollered, elbowing each other.
“He called her Lady! Can you believe it, Jimmy? Our little Em, all grown—”
“Your destination isn’t far, right?” I added.
“You mean our destination, Master Rob?” she urged, bulging her eyes at me.
I knew exactly what she was trying to tell me, but I was being a brat and didn’t want to leave in that moment.
“Rob, is it?” Rosco asked, crossing his arms to stare down at me. He was a full head taller. “Little small and scrawny, aren’t you? Sure they’re feeding you enough up in that ivory tower of yours?”
“Rosco!” Emma scolded with a hiss. “Don’t talk to the young master of Wilford that way.”
“Not a worry, Lady Em,” I said, chuckling in my comically low voice.
“See?” Rosco said, smiling. “He’s a sporting fellow. Aren’t you, Sir Rob?”
“Sure am.”
“How’s your hand at dice?”
I raised a brow. Quickly flattened it. I had no idea how my “hand at dice” was. Still, not to put them off, I said, “Atrociously impeccable, my good man.”
He blinked. “Huh?”
“I’m fucking great at dice.”
The other two boys cheered again.
The shortest one, who went by Tick, said, “You’ll wanna show us then, right? Sure you can afford it, Rob.”
Emma started shaking her head, even as the boys were pulling me toward the alley. “No, no. Rob, don’t let these miscreants take all your money.”
I didn’t have much, so it didn’t really matter if they did. Only a few spare shillings. The boys were playing with pence, a few coins strewn about their makeshift gambling hovel.
We crouched, and I waved a hand at Emma over my shoulder. “I’ve got it covered, Lady Em. You go on ahead. I’ll be there expeditiously.”
The bucktoothed boy named Jimmy bumped me. “You talk queer, Rob. Anyone ever tell you that?”
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Such is the curse of nobility, good Jimmy.”
“Come on, come on, enough chatter. Show us what you can do,” Rosco said, grabbing the die from the ground. He handed them to me. His hand was blackened with soot and dirt.
I flared my nostrils, trying to hide my distaste. My heart was thrumming at such an exhilarating exchange—something I’d never known in my boring, mundane life at the manor.
When I turned around, Emma was gone. Surprisingly, she’d decided I was fine with these boys.
I pulled out a shilling and lifted it, drawing an “ahh” from the boys, and glittering eyes. “Can any of you handle this?”
“Fuckin’ hell, man,” Tick said, swiping his runny nose with a forearm. “You noble jackoffs aren’t so bad, are ya?”
Rosco slapped him in the arm. “Don’t be a cock to our new guest, Tick.”
