“I can imagine,” Allen said, visibly impressed with her knowledge.
She grinned.
“So, what would you like to do?” Lady Ramsdale asked her son.
“I have a plan,” Allen began slowly.
Eleven
Marcus had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’d spent the morning with his father’s steward and the afternoon riding with the foreman in the fields, taking a look at the land. He’d met with his tenants and made a list of the things they needed. One needed another roof. And still another had a drainage problem, with standing water in his fields. He’d met their wives, and he’d given treats to their children. He was tired, yet now he had to dress for dinner with his family. At least he’d stayed busy. He hadn’t had more than a moment to worry about Cecelia or the fact that she’d returned home without him.
Marcus dressed for dinner and then stepped down the main staircase, but when he got to the bottom, he stopped, because milling about the front entryway was his entire family.
His mother supervised the stacking of trunks, and his sisters each held at least one of their offspring in their arms, or two in Claire’s case. At least the infants weren’t screaming at the moment.
Ainsley riffled through a trunk of her own and then tugged on her gloves.
The Duke of Robinsworth looked bored as his servants brought his trunks in through the front door, and Lord Phineas looked content as he kissed his wife on the forehead.
“Are you going somewhere?” Marcus asked.
His mother looked up. “Oh, yes, darling. We’ve planned an impromptu trip. We hope you don’t mind. Cook will serve dinner to you in your chambers, if you’ve need of it.”
Need of dinner? He hadn’t eaten all day. Of course he had need of dinner. “Where are you going?”
His mother smiled. “We’re going to the land of the fae for a bit. It’s of no importance. We won’t be gone long. You’ll barely miss us.”
“What’s the occasion?” Marcus asked.
“We just remembered it’s your grandmother’s birthday. And the only thing she wanted this year was to eat her birthday dinner at her own table.” His mother laughed. “Such a simple request, really. We couldn’t tell her no.”
He made a sweeping motion across the room. “You’re all going?”
His mother beamed. “I mentioned to your father that we should go, just the two of us, and then we sent word to Sophia and Claire about our proposed absences, and they sent word that they would like to go too. And we can’t leave the children behind.” She bent and placed a kiss to Lucius’s head.
“Will you take him?” Claire asked.
“Absolutely not,” Marcus said. With all the women in the room, certainly one of them could relieve Claire of some of her burden. The lad’s father took him instead, laying him upon his shoulder.
Lady Ramsdale bustled forward and kissed Marcus’s cheek quickly. “We’ll miss you, darling. But we’ll be back soon. You’ll be fine without us, won’t you?”
“Of course,” he said quietly. “But how do you plan to go to the land of the fae today? By way of the fish?”
“It was actually Claire’s idea.” His mother beamed. “We’d originally planned to go by way of the fish, since that’s how we went last time.”
“We’re going through one of my paintings,” Claire chirped. “Then we can return whenever we like.”
“Won’t the Trusted Few be angry?” Marcus asked. They liked nothing more than order. And this certainly wasn’t orderly.
“They’ll have no idea how we secured passage. We’ll just be there one day.”
Allen chimed in, “And I’ve never been, so I’m looking forward to it.”
What? “Allen’s going?”
“Yes,” his mother said with a smile.
“But he’s not fae.”