“What are you doing protecting her?” the duke asked him. “Are the whispers true? Do you share affection for this woman? Step away from her.”
“What’s the meaning of this?” Gray demanded, not moving a hair away from her.
“She is accused of stealing my best wine from the cellars last night,” his father let him know.
“Ridiculous,” Gray told him. “She was with me last night.”
“Then it is true,” his father accused, “you were with her when she stole my wine. Did you drink it with her too?”
Ah, so this was about him, then. Now Gray understood. Cavendish was her accuser. He must have heard Gray and Aria in Gray’s solar and hatched his plan.
Had Gray made it so obvious that Cavendish went after her? He knew that if anyone was familiar with him at all, they’d know by his uncharacteristic behavior toward her that he cared for Aria Darling.
“Where was Cavendish last night, Father? I’m quite certain I heard him in the cellar while Miss Darling and I were in my solar.”
After all that had happened, and all the time the Duke of Devon hadn’t been there when his only son had needed him, Gray thought he would have learned that this man he called Father was nothing befitting his title. But the duke surprised him yet again.
“Grayson, step away from her or I’ll have you stand before the council with her.”
Gray didn’t move. Finally, Aria gave him a shove with the side of her body and pushed him away.Use your head, not your heart, her look seemed to say. He nodded slightly and moved aside. “But I’m going with her,” he told his father. “You’ll have to kill me to stop me.”
Resigned to not lettingthathappen at least, the duke nodded to the guards and turned to descend the stairs.
Gray looked for Cavendish while they were led to his father’s sitting room, but his accuser was nowhere to be seen. That is, until they stepped into the chambers, and he saw him rise from Gray’s chair.
Gray wanted to warn him not to step foot out of the castle, but if disaster struck, the animals would be blamed. He ground his jaw instead. “Did you tell the duke that Miss Darling stole his wine?”
“I saw her take it with my very own eyes, Brother.”
“Then you admit to being in the cellar,” Gray said with a deadly smirk. “I know why Miss Darling was there, but why were you there,Brother?”
“My mother needed something for her headache and dispatched me to see to it.”
Gray chuckled without a sound of amusement leaving him. “Why would she use you as her dog to fetch her things, when she has a perfectly good husband she has trained even better than you?”
Cavendish smirked, then snorted. “Are you calling your father a dog?”
Gray stared at him. “I think I was perfectly clear.”
His father bristled but didn’t say anything.
“Are you going to answer my question? Why would your mother send you and not one of her many servants?”
“Are you accusing me of deceit?” Cavendish asked, feigning disbelief.
“Yes,” Gray told him without hesitation. “But we will save that for when I throw you and your mother out on your arses.” Without waiting for a response, Gray turned on his father again. “Are you truly going to listen to this worm? I suggest you have his chambers searched for your wine.”
Tabby—
I sent fifty of my best mice to search Mr. Cavendish’s chamber, Grayson, the head mouse answered before he finished asking.
Thank you, Tabby.
He would have smiled at the thought of having such good friends, but his father was glaring at Aria.
Gray moved to stand in front of her, blocking his father’s view. When his father glared at him instead of Aria, Gray shook his head in disgust at him. “Why would you be so careless about making an enemy of me?” From the corner of his eye he saw Harper in the doorway. He thought for certain the sound he was hearing was Aria’s heartbeat. He had danced to it. He remembered its rhythm. She was afraid. He wanted to turn to her and tell her not to be afraid of him.
But right now, he wanted to make the others around him tremble. “You already abandoned me as my father. Do you provoke me now as my enemy’s father?”