Chapter Text
“You do know I’m dying.” His mother extends a weak hand towards him. Out of practiced instinct, he grasps it.
Zee, 4th generation Duke of the Panich family, kept his manner impassive while he searched his mind for an appropriate response. Finding none that would please either party, he replied a plain “No.”
His mother’s finely plucked brow raised critically as he continued. “No doubt we will have this same conversation again, when you have long recovered and deem fit to catch another malady.”
“Only you would try and cheer me up like this on my deathbed.” She remarks lightly but with a voice heavily laced with sarcasm.
And only you would stage death with such finesse.
He chose to stay silent, struggling to stay calm but losing his temper bit by bit in the carefully arranged scene before him. The, no doubt, carefully selected dark velvet bed hangings and dim lighting accent her already pale skin to the point of death. The cloying scent of the white lilies on the dresser lends the air a funeral heaviness.
“No, my firstborn, we will not have the same conversation again. I shall say what I need to say to you today. I would not have the strength to repeat myself and I will be long gone before the time to remind you again come around.”
She gestured for water, and he brought it to her dutifully.
No strength? Zee struggled hard enough not to snort at his mother who had used this same farce 5 times before. But still…..he observed how her hair is still golden silken threads but under her usual flawless porcelain complexion is a layer of grey.
“Why don’t you rest then, mother? We can talk later.”
“Later? So I may be even weaker to speak and you will not need to listen?” She grunts. “Good attempt, but I expected better from my firstborn.”
“And I expect better from you too, Mother. I thought I made it quite clear, upon your last deathbed-‘ the word dripping with derision he could no longer hide ‘-that I was tired of playing the fool in these little dramas you insist on playing. If you want something from me, you could have just wrote me.”
“So that you can avoid coming home?”
“Home? This is your home, not mine!” Zee bites back hotly.
Her laugh was mirthless and ended in a rasping cough. He was about to reach out to her but he caught himself in the nick of time and let his hands fall back to his side. She stopped coughing abruptly, as if his lack of sympathy made her rethink her strategy.
“This is your house, my Lord, whether you choose to live in it or not.”
Zee frowned, so her next plan is to guilt him over his negligence of his estate?
She gestured for the intricate wooden box sitting on the dresser and he brought it to her. Watching her struggle briefly with the catch, then she opens it and pulls out a sheaf of letters. “I do not have much time to atone for all the mistakes I made in the past. The ones I can do, I will.”
Zee clenched his jaw tightly anticipating what was to come.
“Recently, I have a letter from a friend of my youth, a school companion who was treated badly.”
By you, no doubt. He added silently.
“There were money problems. Her father died and she was left penniless. She had to leave home and find her own way in the world. She has been a nanny to a young boy for the last 12 years.”
“No.” Zee hears his voice resonate within the room.
“I have not asked you of anything yet.” His mother said pointedly.
“You already said enough. The young boy will turn out to be of marriageable age and of good family background. This conversation will be inevitably end with the question of succession.”
“I hope to see you settled before I die.”
“I’m sure you will. We have plenty of time.” Zee replied coolly.
She continued as if there was no interruption. “I let you have your way, thinking that you will find your way in good time. But I no longer have time to let you continue your wayward ways. Definitely no time to let you wallow in grief for what had happened 10 years ago.”
Zee swallows his retort. She’s right, unfortunately.
“You’re right. The boy is of marriageable age, but he has nothing else to offer. He’s an orphan, the family land is mortgaged and gone. He has little or no hope of getting a good match and Lady Fae fears that the boy will be destined to a life of lowly service. She certainly does not wish to see her own fate befalling upon the young child. That’s why she approached me for help.”
“And I am your sacrificial lamb?” Zee questions furiously.
“And why not? I have a son who is 35, still single yet showing no sign of changing the situation he is in, even though he had been widowed for 10 years now. He wastes his time and money on whores when he should be overseeing his estate and providing for extension of the family line. Tell me again, why not? Or do you wish your brother to succeed you?”
Zee smirks nastily. “And why would you concern yourself so, mother? If Park inherited the title, I am sure it will please you greatly. You’ve certainly not bother to hide the fact that he is your favourite son.”
She smiled back at him coldly. “I will not lie and call you my favourite. But neither will I delude myself that Park has the talent to secure our family fortune. Your choice to neglect is easily remedied; can you imagine what will happen one year from now if Park succeeds the title?”
Zee closed his eyes momentarily to gather his thoughts. He cannot imagine his brother as duke as much as he cannot imagine himself shackled to this big dreary house with a wife and family he would not love.
His mother shuddered weakly and coughed to get his attention back on her.
“Much as you love to play the victim, I did not offer you as a sacrifice. I merely suggest that they visit. That is all. I expect a promise from you, not total surrender, a promise that you meet with the young earl. It will not be a love match because it must occur to you by now that love has no hand in a long or happy union. If he is not deformed or ill-tempered, or incredibly stupid or unbearable company, I expect you to consider him. Wit and beauty will fade, but if he has common sense and good health, he is sufficient to make a good life companion.
“Unless…..you have married some floosie in the city?”
Zee glared at his mother but was obligated to shake his head.
“Or develop some romantic sympathy for the wife of a friend?”
“Good god, Mother!” Zee protests looking absolutely scandalized.
“How about courting a young lady in secret? That would be too much to expect of you. So that leaves you very eligible, save for a broken heart and bitter disposition, which you can go back to nurturing once a heir is born and succession secured.”
“You seriously think I should marry a stranger you managed to drum up through casual acquaintance?”
She struggles upright, eyes burning as she speaks. “If I had the luxury of time, I would have forced you on your rounds in the city and take your pick from the finest. But I have no time so I’ll make do. If he has wide hips and good-natured, overcome your unwillingness, marry him and get him pregnant.”
Then she coughed again, and the intensity scared him so much he offered his hand willingly to her. The maid rushed in to support his mother’s back as she hacked violently into a bucket the maid held before her. When she is finally done and laid back against the pillows all spent, the maid hurried away with the bucket but not before Zee saw the bloody liquid in it.
His hand shook as he wiped at the blood staining her lip. “Mother, I…” he begins unsteadily.
“Please, before it is too late. Meet the child. Let me die in peace.”
For the first time he noticed the hint of decay masked by the scent of the lilies.
It’s true then, this time she really is dying.
Zee sighed in resignation. What harm could it do to promise her now, when she would be long gone before he needed to keep it? So he replied stiffly, “I will consider it.”
@
The door is old oak, and when he dropped the heavy brass knocker against it, NuNew Perdpiriyawong was surprised that the sound was barely louder than the hammering of rain behind him. It would be a wonder if anyone heard him knock above the sound of the raging storm.
When the door finally did open, the barely disguised disdain on the butler’s face was almost enough to drive NuNew back into the rain. He was almost afraid to imagine what the butler must be seeing. His hair is pressed flat against his skull, water streaming down from the ends. His thin shirt thoroughly soaked and sticking fast to his skin, his gray pants molded to his lower body and his mud-splattered boots squelched with every tiny movement. His cheeks are pale and his lips blue with cold.
After an eternity, the butler finally opens his mouth, probably to send him away or direct to the rear entrance. NuNew braced himself and heard Fae repeating words in his mind.
“It doesn’t matter who you appear to be, it is who you really are. Despite the circumstances you find yourself in now, you are an Earl. You are born an Earl. If you remember this then people will treat you accordingly.”
NuNew held himself ramrod straight and stare down at the butler. “Earl NuNew of Perdpiriyawong. I believe I am expected.” He announced frigidly.
The butler stepped aside in an instant, mumbled something about a library and scurried off. After a brief moment of disbelief, NuNew heaved his luggage through the door and stepped through it himself. Indignation well within him and he decides that his bags can very well shed water onto the marble flooring for all he care, it certainly isn’t his job to carry the burden any further, at least the nasty blisters forming beneath the calluses on his palms has convinced him that he had carried it far enough. Abandoning it, he hurried after the butler.
He led him into a large room filled with books and muttered again. Despite leaning closer, NuNew still could not make out anything. Then the butler wandered away, and NuNew caught a whiff of gin as he passed. The young earl could only hope the butler is on his way to locate the mistress of the house.
While the butler is gone, NuNew examines his surroundings curiously. Ignoring the water that is still dripping from his clothes and onto the fine rug under his feet as he explored. The house is grand, no doubt about it. The ceilings high, the park infront enormous, he had learnt that last fact begrudgingly as he trudged across it in the pouring rain. The hall leading to this room had been long, wide and fully marbled with doors on each side hinting at the monstrosity of the large rooms they hid.
But…
He sighed. Let’s face it, all this positivity can’t all be true. There must be some accompanying problem, some unspeakable fault or they would never accept someone like him. He stepped closer to read the book spines. The condition of the books tells him that they are neither well-read nor current; unworn, dusty with the occasional cobweb trailing one corner or the other.
Looks like the duke isn’t quite into learning.
NuNew’s face brightens. If being learned isn’t a strong requirement in this household, the duke may not have the wits to throw him back out into the rain.
He stepped closer to the roaring fireplace and examined the hearth. Now this is an area he understood well, having scrubbed many in his short lifetime. The soot on the bricks is overdue for a scrub. He looked up and caught sight of smudges on the walls, signs of overdue neglect. Rustling the heavy velvet draperies over the window made him sneezed from the heavy coat of dust and he found himself slapping at the flutter of moths he disturbed.
So the duke is not a man of learning, and the old duchess isn’t much of a housekeeper either. The butler is drunk and the maids did not even bother to waste time cleaning. His hands itched to straighten cushions, beat dust out of velvet and to find a brush to scrub the hearth. It angered him to see how these people are being so careless with their good fortune! Don’t they realise how lucky they are?
If he were the master of this house….
Catching himself in time, he boldly corrected himself. When he is master of this house. That was how Fae would want him to think. When, not if. His father had taught him that failure is not an option. He cannot disappoint them.
Very well then, NuNew gather himself up taller. When he is master of this house, things will be different. He could not offer the duke riches, the splendor of the house despite the state of neglect told him it would not be necessary anyway. He isn’t much to look at but who would see him here, so far from the city? He lacked the refinements and charms of an experienced socialite, but he doesn’t see signs that the duke enjoys entertaining either. He hasn’t acquired much knowledge but then the state of the duke’s library shows this isn’t his first concern.
NuNew is getting more confident as time passes. He has qualities the duke obviously needed. Household management. A strong back and willingness to work hard. He could make life more comfortable for him.
And he could provide him with an heir.
He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. That would be part of his wifely duties, of course, and Fae had explained the process as well as she could to him. And from what he knows of the duke, a widower for 10 years so maybe he is not too demanding; his needs would of course be great after long periods of abstinence but surely he would have already found ways to relieve them by now. So if he isn’t too demanding then there is no real reason to fear him.
NuNew had on his long coach ride from the city imagined the duke waiting for his arrival. He would be older, and thinner, maybe even frail with a stoop. Greying hair. NuNew adds spectacles, and a kind smile. Maybe a little sad since he must had been mourning his wife’s death for so long.
Then it occurred to the young man that the duke did not seek a new companion, Fae did, with the old duchess’ blessings. So the duke must be shy too. He must be a retiring country gentleman, not some terrifying prodigal or playboy Fae warned him of constantly. He will be polite; the duke will be receptive. They will settle down well together.
And when eventually NuNew finds himself in the position to divulge his secrets, the duke would have grown so fond of him to accept them without a doubt.
The door behind him opened with a bang and he spun around to face it. In an instant he knew to throw away everything he had conjured up till this point. The man that entered is not a quiet country squire but rather a beam of summer sunshine.
Not old, so he married young then. And his face held no grief for his passing wife. He smiled and NuNew found himself relaxing and smiling back. It would be difficult not to. His eyes the bluest of blue, his hair like spun silken threads.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” His voice is low and pleasant and warm with a hint of playfulness. As NuNew steps forward, he smells the smell of expensive soap. NuNew has already made up his mind that the duke’s breath would smell no fouler. He shudders slightly at the realisation that he might soon find out.
The duke continues to look at him in puzzlement while he bowed lightly. “You have to pardon me for I know not that we are expecting guests.”
NuNew frowned. “My guardian wrote to your mother. It was supposed to be all arranged. Of course, I was rather surprised when there was no one to meet me. But..”
The duke is frowning now but with a look of dawning comprehension. “I see. If my mother arranged it, then we should expect you of course. Did you know my mother well?”
“No, not me. My guardian is a school friend of hers. They corresponded.” NuNew dug into his wet pocket and came up with a damp letter of introduction to offer him.
The duke took the letter and muttered softly as he read it. “Then you didn’t know of my mother’s illness?” He looked up at the blank face of the boy standing before him. “You are six weeks too late.”
NuNew gasped when he finally understood what he was being told. His knees weakened and he collapsed into the nearest chair, not caring that he was ruining the upholstery with his sodden clothes.
“I thought you didn’t know my mother? I certainly wasn’t expecting you to be so affected by her death. Let me get you something warm to drink.” Striding across the room, he threw open the door and yelled. “ A’Of! Bring some hot tea quickly! A’Of! Where are you?”
NuNew’s stomach churned, and he felt that he might become sick. To arrive dripping wet, unescorted and unexpected, into a house of mourning, with only a letter of introduction, expecting to work his way into the heart of a duke, securing his affections before he could be suspected and sent home. NuNew couldn’t decide if he should laugh or cry at the hilarity of the situation.
“What the hell is going on?” The duke found someone, but not the butler for sure. “Park, have you no shame causing a ruckus in the house like a common drunk?”
The admonishing voice grew louder as the bearer approached the doorway.
“And who is this you dragged in? Is this your idea of a tasteless joke? I shall throw you out into the rain, along with your little boyfriend!”
NuNew looked up weakly at the stranger framed in the doorway. He was everything the other man isn’t. Dark haired, with a slim face ceased with bitterness, an unsmiling mouth and pupils cold and glittering like black onyx. Strength and power radiated from him like heat from the fire.
The other man ducked under his arm and strode back into the room with a smirk. “For a change, my dear brother, you can't blame me for this. Little boy here is your problem, not mine, courtesy of our dear departed mother.” Waving a playful salute with the letter in his hand, he hands it to his brother. “May I present, Earl NuNew, come to see his Lord, Duke Zee of Panich.” The annoying grin persists.
“You’re the duke?” NuNew stares at the man in the doorway and wondered how he could have been so wrong. When this man enters the room, everything had faded into insignificance. NuNew tried to stand but his knees wobbled and he fell back onto the sofa, his boots squelched embarrassingly.
He glared back. “Of course I am the duke. This is my home. Who were you expecting to find? The Queen?”
The other man grinned. “I think he’s under the wrong impression that I was the duke. I came in to find a book and he was waiting right here.”
“For how long?” The rightful duke snapped testily.
“Moments, I swear. Although I would enjoy more time alone with him. Earl NuNew is quite the conversationalist.”
“And during your no doubt charming conversation, it did not occur to you to properly introduce yourself?” He turned from his brother to the anxious boy on his side.
The duke’s intense gaze brought heat to NuNew’s cheeks and he looked away quickly. “I was expected…I had no idea your mother…..I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am.” The duke snapped. “She made me promise on her deathbed and I did hoping her soon to be demise will make any further action on my part unnecessary.”
‘You only promised to marry me with the hope that your mother would die?” NuNew turned back sharply, gasping in horror.
“I promised to meet you. That is all. If she had died that night, who is to know of my promise to her? But she lingered long enough to post an invitation to you. And now you are here, with a valet?”
“Ahhh….no.” NuNew struggled with an answer. It was as he’d feared. The duke must think him mad, a mere child travelling so far unchaperoned to visit strangers. “He’s taken ill, and unable to accompany me.” With the lie on his lip, he raised his gaze steadily to meet the duke.
“And your guardian…”
“She’s too frail to travel.” NuNew mutters absently. Fae is strong as an ox and had sworn that it would take a whole team of bulls to drag her back into the presence of her old school friend.
“So you travelled alone? From the city?”
“On the mail coach. I rode with the driver. It was unorthodox but not improper.” And inexpensive.
“And when you arrived?”
“I was surprised that there was no one to meet me. I asked for directions, and I walked.”
“Four miles?! Cross country and in the pouring rain?” The duke’s face twists with disbelief.
“I enjoyed the fresh air.” NuNew replied, neglecting to mention the money he did not have to hire a carriage.
“And I am pretty sure you had plenty of that riding for hours on the roof of the mail coach.” The duke gave him a look that told him how lame his story is.
“I happen to like storms.” NuNew lied outright. His love for storms had faded when the icy water invaded his clothes and ran in rivers down to his boots.
“Are you often prone to such fits of recklessness?” Zee asks unkindly.
NuNew lowered his head again in defeat. It is a mistake to come here. His behavior had been outlandish even though he hadn’t tried to make a fool of himself. Walking into the duke’s manor, he had risked it all and now if he gets turned out, there will be no way to repair the damage done to his reputation.
The duke gestured around the room. “You’re miles from the protection of humanity in the company of a pair of notorious society hoodlums.”
“Notorious?” NuNew compared them. The duke looks dangerous enough, but his brother seems hardly a threat.
“In these parts, yes.” The duke replied smugly. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
“I asked a respectable pair for directions.”
“The man is so tall?” The duke sketched a measurement with his hand. “Plump? Grey haired? The wife, tall, lean with a mouth that makes her look-“ he pulls a face. “- a little too respectable?”
NuNew shrugged non-committedly. “I suppose that could be them. If he wore spectacles and she has a slight squint.”
“And when you spoke with them, you gave them your full name?”
“Do I have something to hide?” NuNew glared back challengingly.
The duke sank into a chair with a painful groan while his brother let out a whoop of laughter.
The duke glared at the laughing man. “This is nothing to laugh about, you idiot. How I see it is one of us is in deep trouble.”
“How I see it is the only one in deep trouble is you.” Came the sharp retort accompanied by more roaring laughter.
Zee shot his chortling brother a death glare before turning to NuNew, running fingers through his dark hair. “Erm, Master whatever-your-name-is…” Then it occurred to him to re-read the letter in his hand then began again. “Earl NuNew, your arrival here was somewhat usual. In the city it may go unnoticed, but not here where the community is small and tight. The arrival of a young stranger alone is reason enough for gossip. Added to that, you spoke with the Reverend and his wife, notorious for their love of rumors, especially ours. They have seen you unchaperoned, the rumors are set in place.
“I don’t understand.” NuNew utters in confusion.
Park smirked mischievously. “No doubt the gossip will be about how the duke and his brother had put their differences aside to hail a young boy from the faraway city to warm their beds and comfort their injured souls after the demise of their beloved mother.”
NuNew’s face fell as he realised that he would not be able to return to the city where his father still resides, and anywhere else in the opposite directions are terribly limited too if he harbors hopes of a match.
Park continues to be amused. “The Reverend’s wife has a cousin in the city. We might as well have put an ad in the papers there.”
The duke studied the storm through the window. “I’m not sure the conditions of the road are safe for a carriage.” He remarked calmly and NuNew wondered if he expected his unwanted visitor to leave on foot again. He tried to focus on the goal of this trip, a goal that no longer seems real.
“We have to keep him here, P’Zee. And the only question on everyone in town would be which one of us had him first.”
NuNew gasped and glared at the implied insult. But what scares him is the look on the duke’s face, it seems the older man has no qualms of throwing him back out into the rain rather than continue suffering the presence of the ridiculous visitor.
Park chortled aloud again. “Luckily, my Lord has the perfect solution, doesn’t he? Abide to our mother’s dying wish, won’t you?”
Zee cursed repeatedly under his breath and his brother chose to thump his back good-naturedly. The duke shook off the offending hand and cursed at his brother too.
“I’m sure you know what choices you have, dear brother. Unfortunately, the name of Panich will not allow it.”
“I don’t need you to fan the fire, Park.” Zee growled, his jaw tight, his eyes burning.
“Sure you don’t, my Lord. You never do. So stop stalling, say the words you need to say and get it over with.”
Zee turned back to NuNew, jaw clenched and expression stiff. NuNew stared uncomprehending although he could feel the ground under his feet tremble.
“Earl NuNew would you do me the honour of accepting my hand in marriage?” Zee asks after a long pause. The statement leaving his lips like hot lava.
NuNew gasped loudly.