Author’s note: My schedule is quite tedious lately but I will try my best to upload more frequently. Love you guys!
***
Draven’s expression remained impassive.
"You have far too much free time on your hands if you have begun giving credence to such frivolous tales." Draven sniffed. "You have never been the brightest and it shows, now more than ever."
His involvement in politics meant he was constantly surrounded by annoying twats like Beaumont and he had learned how to handle them effectively.
Beaumont’s face was flushed red with outrage but before he could launch into a tirade of epic proportions, he was stopped by the stern voice of the lord chancellor.
"There will be none of that here. I don’t believe the gentlemen in this room came all this way just to watch the two of you volley insults at each other."
By the time the lord chancellor brought the session to an end, the council remained undecided on the bill and a future date was chosen for further deliberation.
As the councillors filed from the chamber, quiet conversations resumed almost immediately. Some continued debating the succession bill. Others discussed, in quieter voices, Lady Cassandra Ashford and the Duke of Norham, not caring that the subjects of their conversation were still earshot.
Unlike at previous council meetings, Draven refrained from lingering behind to speak with Cassandra, intent on keeping her out of the harshest glare of public scrutiny.
He had anticipated fierce opposition to the bill. Men like William Ravenshire opposed him openly, arguing from the stands of tradition and principle, and he could respect that even while disagreeing.
Instead, he found himself contending with something far less principled. What he had not expected was for others to abandon the substance of the debate altogether.
For the first time since the rumor had begun, he understood it was no longer the annoying but inconsequential thorn in his side.
It had become a political weapon against him. They had entered every facet of his life, hence why he had resulted in avoiding his mother’s request to come home.
The Dowager Duchess had cultivated countless acquaintances throughout the capital who served as her informants, keeping her apprised of the latest happenings.
She had undoubtedly already heard of the scandal he had blundered into, which explained why she had been relentlessly summoning him home.
Draven knew the moment he crossed the threshold of his ancestral home, his mother would undoubtedly assault him with questions about his affairs and the pesky rumor that clung to him, as though he were a criminal standing trial. He had neither the patience nor the inclination to endure her relentless interrogation.
The woman possessed a gaze sharp enough to strip the flesh from a man’s bones, and sooner or later, she always got what she wanted.
He was striding toward his carriage when he heard his name called from a short distance away.
And God, he knew that aggravating voice.
The man must have been truly daft if he was willing to approach me in a time like this, Draven thought bitterly, hoping that the man in question will receive sense from above and change his course.
But alas, it was not meant to be.
A few seconds later, Draven glanced to his side after sensing the approaching presence and saw the current subject of his frustrations fall into step with him, easily keeping up with his long strides.
"You people and your fanciful reformists ideas." Lord Beaumont said with an almost derisive lilt. "Of all the ridiculous bills you have ever supported, this one has to be the most outlandish. Stop this nonsense. A woman inheriting an entire estate, can you imagine? Goodness, your Grace, what has gotten into you?"
Beaumont was around Draven’s age but he was just as obstinate and unreasonable as the aging William Ravenshire.
When Draven refused to pause or dignify the man’s words with a response, not wanting to further indulge the man, Beaumont simply continued his incessant chatter.
"I wish I could peer into your head and see just how your mind works. Hopefully you have more thoughts than words seeing how little you tend to speak in general." Beaumont said. "I can’t help but wonder if your interest in this bill has something to do with your sister. I have met her, you know. She is quite a lovely woman. Hopefully she isn’t plagued by the same madness that you are. Could you not find a suitable match for her? Is that it? No one will have her for a wife, hence you wish to make her your heir—"
The man’s words were cut off abruptly when Draven turned suddenly and pinned him with a glare so vicious, there was no doubt he inherited it from his mother.
Draven wanted to wring the man’s neck for daring to speak of his family so disparagingly but such paltry acts of violence were beneath him. The man was beneath him.
But he wouldn’t let such a slight go unpunished.
"It is easy to understand why you oppose the bill. Should it pass, how else would men as wretched as you ever hope to lay their grubby hands on a noble title?" Draven said, his contempt barely concealed.
Only forty years earlier, Cedric Beaumont’s father had been quite lucky. The late Marquess Winthrop had died suddenly without an heir, and as his closest surviving male relative, Cedric’s father had inherited both the title and the estate.
Unfortunately for him, the late marquess had left behind mountains of debt.
Draven’s lips thinned. "I daresay you are more liberal than I could ever hope to be, given the rather inventive means by which your family managed to stay afloat." After becoming a peer, the greatest stroke of Cedric’s father’s good fortune was that he had been widely regarded as a remarkably handsome man.
"Quite right. Your father found prostitution considerably more profitable than honest work. Your father whored himself out to wealthy women to settle his debts. Wealthy widows, and wives if memory serves. It paid the creditors for a time, until one of his patrons’ husband discovered his wife’s affair and put a bullet through your father’s chest."
His gaze drifted leisurely over Cedric, as though assessing a disappointing sight.
"I see you’ve inherited the family trade, though with rather less success. I had intended to overlook your vulgarity today, but you have insisted on making yourself memorable." Draven straightened his cuff. "So allow me one piece of advice. Refrain from commenting on my personal affairs. Otherwise, I shall ensure the entirety of Arden learns about your family’s lucrative ’business venture’. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe you’ve wasted enough of my time."