Page 79 of Legacy of Glass
Zane shook his head slowly, but in the wake of the initial shock, he looked less surprised than Julius.
“It’s that worthless son of yours,” Lord Emerson shouted. “You never could control him, and now he’s gone and taken my daughter. I won’t have it! I won’t have it, do you hear me? I told you as much when you dared to come to my home—groveling on behalf of your offspring. As if I would ever stoop to ally myself with your conniving family!”
Julius turned slowly to stare at Zane, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. Zane had flinched at the word groveling but otherwise seemed to have recovered his countenance.
“Zane?” he asked, his tone a mixture of query, astonishment, and warning.
Zane threw him a sardonic look, his eyes half-lidded. “I’m sure Lord Emerson has called me many names over the years, butworthlessisn’t one of them.”
Julius’s world tilted on its axis.
“Cade?” he breathed. “Cade and Marigold?! Cade is in love withMarigold? Wants to marry her?” His voice rose at the end, as he struggled to assimilate the information. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“He certainly fancied himself in love,” Zane said sourly. “I have no idea what he thinks now. I can only hope he’s come to his senses given I haven’t seen the girl in months. As to why he kept it a secret, that should be obvious.” He looked toward the two lords, still locked together, both of their faces red.
“But…”
Cade attempted to join the altercation in defense of his father, but Kasper leaped in to block him, preventing Cade from prizing Lord Emerson’s hands from Lord Strathmore’s jacket. Julius knew his parents weren’t in the room, and that it was up to him to intervene before the situation grew any larger. But his legs were frozen in place.
“Your father approved of the match?” he asked, wondering why that was the most surprising aspect of the affair.
“Hardly.” Zane’s lip curled. “We didn’t know anything about it at first. Apparently Cade has just enough sense to know he was disgracing his family by running around with Lord Emerson’s daughter.”
Julius raised an eyebrow. It seemed a hypocritical perspective, given Zane and Cade both sparred with Lord Emerson’s son every morning and talked with him at social events. But Julius remained silent, wanting to hear anything Zane would tell him—anything to make sense of such a nonsensical situation.
“But when Cade heard there were talks of choosing Marigold for your betrothed…” Zane shook his head. “He grew desperate. Our mother has always coddled him, and if my father has one flaw, it’s his soft spot for her. No matter how ridiculous her requests…” His lips tightened. “She begged him to intercede on Cade’s behalf, and so Father went to see Marigold’s parents. Lord Strathmore himself—one of the most influential and respected nobles at court—lowered himself to plead with his greatest rival. And he was laughed out of their house.”
Despite the rancor of his words, Zane’s tone and face teetered on the edge of boredom—as if the events from the summer were so distant as to no longer greatly interest him.
Julius stared across the room at Cade who was still trying to shake off Kasper in order to go to the defense of his father. From the look on Kasper’s face, he had no idea what was going on but had leaped in blindly in support of his own father. The whole thing was a mess.
Zane sighed. “It looks like it’s up to me to stop this farce. As usual.” He began to move toward his father and brother, progressing at his usual languid stroll.
“That is an interesting man,” Daphne said, reminding Julius of her presence for the first time. He turned to find her watching Zane walk away. “A most interesting man.”
Despite his overwhelming shock—or perhaps because of the numbness it had caused—Julius felt a small spurt of amusement at the thought of two such languid persons forming an attachment. Despite his current irritation with Zane, he recognized that he would be a good match for Daphne.
But he shouldn’t be thinking of such things. He needed to take control of the situation. He needed to join Zane and stop?—
“That is enough!”
His head snapped up at the crisp voice. Its calm authority cut through the chaos of the room, bringing quiet in its wake.
Olivia. She faced the two struggling noblemen—both decades older than her—radiating offended dignity.
“Cade and Kasper, step back at once.”
The younger men reacted instinctively to the command in her voice, releasing each other and stepping away with shamefaced expressions. She turned to their fathers next.
“Lord Emerson! You shame the crown with this public attack.”
She had chosen the right words. Lord Emerson—who had seemed oblivious to the involvement of Cade and Kasper—stiffened at her mention of the crown. When she said public, he crumbled completely. Releasing Lord Strathmore, he stepped back. His eyes remained wild, however, and he hardly seemed aware of his surroundings.
Lord Strathmore immediately swelled, and Julius braced himself for the man’s outrage. But Olivia spoke before he could get a word out.
“You will both join me through here. At once.” The command in her tone left no room for disagreement as she swept them toward a door that Julius knew led into a small waiting room. “Their Majesties are on their way and will adjudicate this matter.” When both Lords looked like they were about to speak, she added firmly, “In private.”
They both subsided and fierce pride filled Julius. Had he ever thought Olivia out of place in the palace? In that moment, she was every inch the royal.
