Chapter 8
“So, Rossi’s Pub?” Lila asked under her breath as the pair escaped into the empty hallway. The crowds had not dispersed, but the blackcoats had pushed them far away from the courtroom and the private meeting. Highborn stood on tiptoes at each end of the corridor, all trying to get a view of Lila’s exit. Whispers rose to a buzz. Blackcoats held up their arms, brushing everyone back.
“If only I didn’t need to fetch the files.” Shaw chuckled. “Once word spreads, I’ll never be allowed in another militia-only bar again, and Rossi’s makes the best cheeseburgers.”
“That they do,” Lila agreed, remembering too late that she couldn’t drink anyway. The pair padded toward the rotunda, the well-dressed crowds noting how she walked freely without handcuffs. “I owe you for speaking the truth, and I’m not the only one.”
“It was necessary. Bullstow needs to change, and we can’t do that unless the senate acknowledges the problem. After this mess is resolved, I’ll make sure we do.”
“Nothing changes quickly in government, and not without considerable inertia. I wish you luck.”
“I’ll need it.” Shaw stopped several meters from the senate rotunda and jerked his head toward a waiting intern. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, you father requests a conference.”
Lila turned, finding Shiloh in the crowd. He grinned at his big sister, an insufferable I-told-you-so smile locked from ear to ear.
The boy still had a lot of growing up to do.
“I look forward to learning of your new occupation,” she told Shaw. “You were right inside. You still have much to offer Bullstow.”
“I suspect they’ll only let me choose between filing papers and throwing out the trash.”
“It would be a waste of you, Mr. Shaw.”
His face darkened at the loss of his title, a feeling she knew all too well. “I could same the same to you, Ms. Randolph. I hope you will return to the Randolph security office.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible now. Besides, I had planned to take some time away from the family before all this happened. My plans have not changed.”
“I suspect your matron will have a few words to say about that.”
“She always does.”
“Good luck.” He shook her hand firmly. The former militia chief then shuffled off, leaving his prisoner behind.
Many mouths hung open in the rotunda. That one act had proved the rumors true.
Elizabeth Victoria Lemaire-Randolph had beaten her charges and walked away from the courtroom free and clear. Not only that, but Chief Shaw had given a highborn heir access to BullNet. Expressions switched instantly from curious and gloating to wary and suspicious.
Lila ignored them all. As she threaded through the crowd, everyone backed away as if she had the plague. It wouldn’t do for any heir or senator to be seen with her yet, for their matrons had not officially changed their standing orders. Could they converse with Elizabeth Randolph now that she’d been found not guilty, or would she be an outcast for a little while longer? It would take a few hours for spies to make their full reports, for matrons to confer with one another, for the highborn to jostle and shove and glare until they reached their decisions.
For the moment, they merely shunned her, and that was perfectly fine with Lila.
She followed behind Shiloh as he led her down the corridor, his chest puffed and hands locked behind his back in the elegant walking pose of Bullstow men. When they traveled past Dixon, Lila motioned for him to follow.
He did, though at a distance.
The group passed from the senate building into the center of the compound, stopping before Falcon Home, a mansion that could have housed hundreds. Instead, it had been split into suites, housing the governor, the Saxony state senate, and the prime minister while in the city.
Dixon sat on a park bench, pulled out his notepad and pencil, and began to doodle, giving her a wink as Shiloh tugged on her arm. The pair entered Falcon Home and followed a gray-haired servant toward the central staircase, the newel posts carved into rosebuds. They jogged up the creaking, cherry-stained staircase to the top floor, then slipped by a dozen doors. Priceless art hung upon the walls. Freshly cut roses sprawled in vases older than Saxony, settled on tables crafted in a forest of darkly stained woods.
The footman stopped at the end of the corridor. He clapped a gilded rose knocker fixed to the door.
Her father answered the knock, dressed in a white suit coat and trousers, a much more informal version of his prime minister’s garb now that the legislative session had ended.
“Lila girl.” He enveloped her in a fierce bear hug and twirled her off the ground in the vestibule. “Thank you, Mr. Rhodes,” he said to the servant as she spun, his voice muffled as he dug his face into her shoulder.
Shiloh chuckled and waved, a gesture she tried to return with each rotation.
The door closed, and Shiloh disappeared.
“He’s leaving?” Lila pouted as her father set her down once more.
“Yes. He’s throwing a party this evening, a party postponed. If I’m not mistaken, the theme is ‘I was right and my big sister is innocent.’ Several of his friends are scheduled to eat their hats. He’s had it on the books all month. He told me you’re invited, of course.”
“Well, how’s that for brotherly constancy?”
Her father clasped her hand and tugged her toward the parlor. “I should warn you. I have a guest.”
Lila’s pace slowed. She knew exactly who lurked inside.
Every part of her father’s parlor had been painted, draped, and upholstered in burgundy and gold, with rose embellishments on every table and chair leg. A painting of the ancient oracle Mildthylyth covered nearly an entire wall in the back. The fur-clad battle queen stabbed a Roman general through the heart while her people did the same to his men in the background, driving the Romans from the old country once and for all. Underneath the picture, a golden couch, several burgundy chairs, and a few small tables filled the room. Delicate porcelain vases and golden roses dotted every surface.
Beatrice Randolph sat in the center of the couch. She wore a red sheath dress and a loose, regal silvercoat that flowed about her thin frame. The fabric matched her hair, the ends curling under her chin. She crossed her legs. Her crimson boot twitched as her daughter entered the room.
Lila could not read her mother’s expression. Perhaps anger. Perhaps disgust. Perhaps she was just put out, like a small child whose toy had broken five minutes after being unwrapped.
“If I were a workborn, I would slap you.”
Anger, then.
“You heard?” Lila’s eyes flitted to her father.
“She heard the chief’s words before he ejected everyone from court. Your mother is cross that I did not allow her to listen in on private Bullstow business.”
“It can’t be that private if Elizabeth was part of it. Apparently my daughter has served Bullstow for the last few months, rather than her own family.”
“I consulted on Saxony’s behalf,” Lila said. “And don’t call me Elizabeth.”
“Don’t you dare take an attitude with me today. Your name is Elizabeth, a name I gave you. It’s in the BIRD, not that silly nickname your father came up with.”
Her father held up his hands. “Bea—”
“Don’t you start, either.”
The prime minister chewed on his lip. “As you wish. Let’s hear from Lila. What of your sentence?”
“They dropped all charges against me.”
“And Chief Shaw?”
“Dismissed from the militia for poor judgment. According to the disciplinary committee, he should have taken steps years ago to ensure someone like me wasn’t needed to…” Her eyes flitted toward her mother. “To cover the technical deficiencies within his own militia.”
“Quite right,” her mother muttered.
“So no sentence?”
Lila shook her head. “He will remain at Bullstow and be retrained.”
“At the very least, that man should be exiled,” her mother snapped. “Letting you play in Bullstow like it’s your own private candy store. Who else has he let—”
“No one.”
“No one that you know of, Elizabeth. Your decision to assist Bullstow has cast a long shadow over the family. You, more than anyone else, should know the importance of reputation and the consequences of losing it. The Randolphs are known for being moral, upright, and free from much of the scandal that plagues the other families. Only one Randolph was caught up in this mess with Bullstow, and that one person was you. Even though the charges have been dropped, you’ve still damaged our reputation. Our profits will be down. Litigation against us will go up.”
Her mother straightened her silvercoat. “Nevertheless, you may return home, now that this foolishness is over. I set up a meeting with our PR department this afternoon to strategize how we’ll handle the press. Likely, they’ll suggest that you stay out of the public eye until this blows over. Then you will assume the prime role after an appropriate time has passed, just as we agreed last month.”
Lila opened and closed her mouth, not sure where to start. “Have you forgotten that you returned my mark? You aren’t my matron any longer. You can’t issue broad proclamations and expect me to follow them. I’ll decide when I return to the compound.”
“Mark or not, I will always be your matron. Do you honestly believe that I’ll let you waltz back onto the estate after a nice, long vacation and become chief again? That you’ll pick and choose how you’ll serve the family?”
“No. There are—”
“I’ve tried to be patient, Elizabeth. I’ve tried to endure your incessant faffing about, but your antics have harmed the family now. You will return to the compound at once.”
“Have you forgotten—”
“Have I forgotten about your threat to tell the world about Jewel?”
Her father shuffled to the window and turned his back on both of them, once again choosing to stay out of Randolph business.
Lila wished she had the same luxury.
“Go ahead, Elizabeth. Do it. I’m tired of the threats. Senator Dubois will never be elected to the senate again if you do, and he’ll have to answer a host of uncomfortable questions about why he has not been forthright with his brothers about his sterility. He put his name down for election two weeks ago. Most senators would view that as a crime.”
“It’s not a crime.”
“It’s a misrepresentation. I might not know as much as you about Bullstow, but I know it’s more than just frowned upon. All it will take is a rumor in the right ear.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised you’d stoop to that.”
“I also have it within my power to ensure that Pax never becomes the surgeon he longs to be. I’m done playing games.”
“You’ll never be done playing games, Mother,” Lila said. “Threatening to destroy Pax’s happiness? Stealing every credit in my accounts? I hadn’t even been gone a week.”
“I didn’t steal anything. I protected you. If you’d been given a sentence, then Bullstow would have cleared your accounts—”
“To pay for my mark.”
“Yes, and the families would have found out how much money you had to cover it. I took your credits so that they would not drive up your sell price. I was in the process of investing the money and setting up a trust for you.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I spoke to the Massons. I ensured Senator Masson treated you fairly during the trial. I made sure someone favorable would buy you at auction. I shouldn’t have gotten involved at all, but I stuck my neck out to provide for your future, and this is the thanks I get?”
“I provided for my own. We’ll talk about how I might serve the family another day. In the meantime, I expect you to return my money.”
“Or what? You’ll yell at me some more?” the chairwoman muttered, uncrossing her legs. “I can’t believe that you have the audacity to make such demands.”
“You have until the end of the week.”
“I should have stopped trying with you a long time ago. I should have given you up as a lost cause. I’m done chasing you, Elizabeth. If you want to go so badly, if you want to run away from the family and shirk your duty, then fine. Go. But you won’t leave the family in a state of uncertainty. If you go, you can’t have me, my money, or the family any more. If you go now, you’ll go on your own and you’ll face the consequences of that decision. No more playing militia chief. No more playing the favored heir. No more chats with Pax or anyone else in the family. No more nights spent inside the great house. No more dinners with Chef. No more Randolph money. You’ll be on your own. Creditless. Exiled.”
There it was. The ultimatum Lila had known would come from her mother’s lips someday if she didn’t accept the prime role.
The ultimatum she’d been given once before.
Regardless of how anxious she’d been about her future in the cottage by the lake, regardless of how sad she’d been about Tristan, regardless of how bored and lonely and hungry she’d been, it was the first time in her life that she’d felt truly free. No one had made any demands upon her for an entire month. No one had spoken to her at all.
Yes, she’d been lonely. But as practice runs went, it hadn’t been all that bad.
She’d never become one of those heirs who hanged themselves after being exiled.
No, she’d live.
She’d thrive.
Lila leaned over her mother and grasped the back of the couch, boxing in the chairwoman between her arms. Her voice was calm now, quiet, smooth. She wasn’t even angry anymore. She was just tired, like the morning after a long crying jag. “If I don’t leave now, Mother, you’ll just pull my strings again. And you’ll keep doing it every time you don’t get your way. You’ve never wanted a daughter. You only ever wanted a successor.”
“Lila—”
“I’m back to Lila now? You don’t seem to understand. I said goodbye to my militia career a month ago. I believed that I’d never set foot on any Randolph estate again. So, be careful what you wish for the next time you make an ultimatum like this, or you will end up dying alone.”
Her mother swallowed in the quiet. “Pax will—”
“Pax will leave too if you try to keep him from becoming a surgeon. Agreeable or not, he wants it too damn much. He made a promise, a promise he will keep. He will figure out a way to make it happen with or without you. Never try to stop him. You’ll only get hurt.”
Lila straightened and tugged her gray coat around herself more tightly. “As for my dividends? Shove them up your ass for all I care, but you’ll return my hospital and militia salaries. I earned every credit. Don’t make me get the courts involved. They’re getting a fair bit tetchy lately with highborn who hire hackers.”
Lila said goodbye to her father, then padded across the parlor to the door. The floorboards creaked as she withdrew.
The clock in the parlor ticked on quietly in her wake.