In the end, I didn’t get much sleep. Gritty-eyed, I got dressed in civilian clothes and slipped out of the barracks. In the street, gossip had started. “Marquess Flowers has been arrested! Their whole house overturned in a single night!”

I ignored the noise as much as I could, instead going to a food stall to get something for breakfast.

“Did you hear?” the stall owner asked, wanting to draw me into the chatter.

“Not interested,” I said, holding out the three shang for my sandwich.

The man snorted. “Not even when it concerns you?” He dropped my money into his front pocket to continue making my sandwich. “Everyone knows your face. They had your likeness drawn for the papers. Said you’re getting awarded a noble title!”

Overcome with fury, I slammed my fist on the stall bar. “That son of a-!”

Taken aback, the stall owner stared at me. “I’d be right pleased to get a title…”

“I didn’t want to be tied to the capital,” I retorted.

The man returned to making my sandwich, wrapping it in brown paper to hand it to me. “I suppose I get that,” he said. “You know the sword, not politics, right?”

“Exactly,” I said, now too mad to even consider eating. Resolved to buy a newspaper, I took my sandwich and found a boy nearby to exchange a shang for the item. As the stall owner said, I was the second headline story. The lead was how the Marquess had fallen, followed by my involvement in the investigation and my deeds during the war to earn distinction. The likeness of my face was disconcerting. Whoever had drawn it wasn’t familiar with me but had gone off a description from someone who was. The scarring was made to look poetic, and the rest just handsome. I supposed that was better than being depicted as beautiful. Infuriated further, I folded the paper and shoved it into my back pocket. I’d paid for it. I wasn’t throwing it out before I’d used it for at least one other thing. Shitting, perhaps. Opening the sandwich, I started eating as I walked aimlessly. This announcement ruined my plans for today.

The paper didn’t say what kind of title I was getting. Given Lyon’s stubbornness about it, I doubted it was Life Peer. I was going to get stuck with lands to manage. There was plenty of that up north.

“Vice-Captain!” Reid called, catching sight of me from across the street. He jogged over, leaving the fruit stall he’d been at. The pretty girl he’d been flirting with looked crestfallen. “Did you hear the news?”

“Yeah,” I said bitterly.

“I figured you’d be pissed,” Reid said with a sigh. “For your information, I was not asked to provide a description of you for that likeness.”

“I’ve half a mind to find out who did and give them extra duty,” I said bitterly. “But I resigned last night.”

Reid’s brows lifted. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked beside me. “I see… Lyon was probably pissed.”

“I did what he asked. Even though it was a gross waste of military effort, not to mention my time. He refused to accept my resignation at first. Now he’s doing this. What is his problem?”

The redhead knight frowned at the ground. “He’s lost his daughter and his sister.”

“He lost those a long time ago,” I said flatly. “Why’s he clinging to me now? I don’t belong to him.”

Heaving a gusty sigh, Reid said, “I’ve gotten to know him on a slightly more… personal level. So just… take this at face value. Duke Lyon does care about his subordinates. He cares if we get hurt. So he does care that you’re trying to leave without having any way to support yourself.”

I came to a stop and stared up at Reid. “He’s a moron,” I said boldly and gestured at the Guild office we just happened to be next to. “That was my plan. I’m perfectly capable of finding work. Now, I’m getting saddled with something tedious. I’m going to have to learn how to take care of a house and pay staff! Where am I supposed to get money for that?”

“You don’t have to have a big house,” Reid said, turning back to me after looking at the Guild sign. “Being nobility doesn’t mean you’ve got to keep up with appearances. I mean, look at my dad. It’s his greatest pleasure in life to offend High Society.”

I balled the paper from my sandwich. “Will Lyon let me just have an apartment in town with no servants?” I asked. “Will he let me avoid going to all the fancy dinners and tea parties I’ve got no manners for? He’s going to force me to find a wife.”

Reid sucked air between his teeth in a cringe. “Damn. You’re right. He would.”

It lay between us unsaid that if I had a wife, that wife would insist that I have a big house, garden, money, and all the other nice things she was used to as an aristocrat. It lay in the back of my mind that I wasn’t equipped to perform certain duties with a wife, and it would become clear that something was wrong with me. I’d managed to quell a few rumors in the last few years by wasting money on a camp lady just to have her give me a foot massage and gossip about my men for an hour. I still didn’t like that I’d had to kiss her to make it look believable. That wasn’t how I’d wanted my first kiss to be taken.

Once again, I was trapped by my father’s heavy-handed decisions. He moved people around like pieces on a board. I was just another pawn to him. Just like I’d been when he dropped me off at my aunt’s. He didn’t like when his pawns got up and moved on their own. I was going to have to do something unexpected.

I rubbed my eyes with one hand, crushing the wrapping paper in my other fist.

I was going to have to ruin his plans. 

I needed to know what his plans were first.

“Vice-” Reid stopped and leaned closer. “Whatever you’re planning, please be careful,” he said.

“My freedom is on the line. As far as I’m concerned, he’s declared war.”

Reid gripped my shoulder. He squeezed his fingers as he breathed in. “Then you’re going to need allies.”

Lifting my head, I looked into his green gaze, unexpectedly struck by how handsome he was. I’d never been this close to him while we weren’t both covered in blood. “You?” I blurted.

“You’re going against a duke,” he said as if reasoning it out logically. “I’m a duke’s son, and Dad would think this is funny as hell.”

Logic had nothing to do with the situation, I realized. Going up against someone trained in tactics with logic would result in a stalemate. I’d gotten the upper hand on him last night because he didn’t have all the information, and, as far as he was concerned, I hadn’t been acting logically. In all fairness, I hadn’t. That had been pure emotion. 

However, Reid had a point. I was going to need allies, especially if I started acting irrationally. This was going to tank my carefully created reputation. Logically, my reputation was already going to get destroyed if I let Lyon do what he wanted with me.

I took a breath and said, “I’m going to need a ballgown.”

Reid’s expression was priceless.