—Griffin, Lord Abernathy, journal entry, 04 July 1810
“What is it you want?” Jarrod asked as soon as the Duke of Sussex joined them at the table.
Sussex cocked an eyebrow. “What do I want?” He leaned forward. “You invited me to join you, Shepherdston, not the other way around.”
“You’ve been nosing around us for weeks,” Colin said. “What are you up to?”
“The question is, what are you up to?” the duke replied.
“We’re trying to discover why you are still interested in courting Abernathy’s bride.” Jarrod got to the point. “Heard about that, did you?” Sussex smiled.
“Of course we heard about it,” Colin shouted. “You haven’t exactly kept it a secret.”
“That’s because I wanted to get your attention,” Sussex told them. “And I knew that continuing my pursuit of Lady Alyssa would do it.”
“Our attention?” Jarrod frowned. “Why?”
Sussex leaned closer and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. “You are the leader of a group known as the Free Fellows, are you not?”
“Where did you hear that?” Jarrod asked warily.
“I’ve heard it for years,” Sussex said. “Almost since you formed it.”
“Impossible,” Jarrod said. “There’s no such organization.”
“Is that so?” Sussex queried. “Because I heard you and Abernathy and Grantham formed a secret society while you were at Knightsguild. I’ve known about it since Knightsguild.”
“Might I remind Your Grace that you did not attend Knightsguild?” Colin offered.
“No, I did not,” Sussex replied. “But Manners did. He told me about it.” The duke watched as Shepherdston and Grantham exchanged looks. “I see,” he mused, “that your secret society wasn’t as secret as you supposed.”
Jarrod shrugged. “Manners had the cot next to mine. Naturally, he wanted to be a part of our group of friends and was always whining and threatening to follow us or report us to Norworthy.”
“Didna’ have the guts to actually do it.” Colin’s Scottish burr was thick with disgust. “But I see he lived up to his reputation as a tattle.”
The duke inclined his head. “He’s a distant cousin who, before he inherited, often prevailed upon me to augment his allowance.”
“You bribed him,” Jarrod corrected flatly. “For information about us? When we were boys?”
Sussex nodded. “I, too, wanted to be a part of your group of friends. And now that I know that your secret group is working to defeat the French, I want more than ever to become a part of it.”
“So, you’ve been pursuing Abernathy’s bride?” Colin asked.
“She wasn’t Abernathy’s bride when I began pursuing her. She was the girl my mother selected for me. But she caught Abernathy’s attention.”
“If there was a secret organization,” Jarrod began, glancing at Colin to make certain he followed, “any new member would naturally have to meet each old member’s approval.”
Colin picked up Jarrod’s thread of conversation. “And would naturally have to meet and pass a series of, shall we say, challenges in order to prove himself trustworthy?”
“Naturally,” Sussex agreed. “What would you have me do?”
Jarrod clenched his jaw to keep from grinning. “Before we have you do anything, Your Grace, we have to know two things. Why? And what are your feelings for Alyssa Abernathy?”
“Why?” Sussex repeated. “Because I grew up in similar circumstances to yours, Shepherdston. A lonely boy surrounded by sycophants and hired companions. I begged to be allowed to attend Knightsguild because you and Abernathy and Grantham were there, and I wanted to be like you. I still do.”
He looked away, unable to face Jarrod and Colin after baring his soul, afraid of having them turn him down. And while Daniel, Duke of Sussex, knew that Shepherdston and Grantham might not believe him, every word of what he had told them was true. He had bribed Manners into relating all of the Free Fellows of Knightsguild’s adventures, every escapade, every punishment, every triumph Manners knew, so that he could feel as if he were one of them instead of one of the many miserable buggers at Eton. Manners pretended to be one of the fellows, too. But, he was whiny and irritatingly timid—too timid to actually be a Free Fellow, so he had claimed the role of historian and secretary. Sussex grimaced. Manners was the closest thing to a friend he had ever had, and the only thing they had had in common was Shepherdston, Abernathy, and Grantham—the Free Fellows League.
“What about Lady Abernathy?” Colin demanded.