Now to convince Iris.
The clock had just struck one in the morning when my twin returned to the house on Weymouth Street. Being rather the worse for drink made her susceptible to my plans. For when she was foxed, she loved to urge me along on my madder schemes—and this certainly was the maddest.
“Iris, when do you intend to return to Oxford?” I asked tugging off her form fitting coat.
“Oh, by Tuesday surely,” she weaved a bit on her feet.
“Do not travel on Tuesday,” I reminded her of our old nurse Samantha’s distrust of Tuesdays, saying her granddaughter Trudie preached that the world would end on a Tuesday. We Hartwells took this apocalyptic warning to heart. Always reminding each other to put off decisions and actions rather than risk Tuesday’s curse. After all, our father had died on a Tuesday.
“Then I’ll return on Wednesday. What does this have to do with anything?”
“Let me borrow those clothes which no longer fit or which you plan on discarding as they are no longer in fashion? I’m bored to death here and won’t be presented until the Spring. Then I will be invited to balls. I was thinking that dressed in the scent of an alpha I could at least slip into a few lectures at the academy. Perhaps even the gallery to watch Parliament? Watch the debate?”
“Do you promise that is all you intend to do, Vi?” she asked as she struggled out of her shirt, which had caught on her hair.
“Of course not. But isn’t it better that you know as little as possible? You know Mama would rather I do it dressed as an alpha instead of getting caught as an omega. I drink Queen Anne’s Tea every morning to suppress my scent. Remember the scandal when Beatrice was caught submitting her paintings to the Summer Exhibition? She attempted that only wearing men’s clothes without the protection of an alpha’s scent. And that is how they caught her… Her heat… But never mind that for mine isn’t until June.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call it a scandal. You know that she and Hippolyta do it purposefully. Just to create the—Fine. The scandal.”
“I do not intend to create a scandal. The opposite in fact.”
She grabbed my chin and turned my face to the light of the single candle in the room.
“Vi, you are my twin. I shall back you in any plan you might have, but you are an omega nearly twenty. That changes things. Your choosing to dress in a man’s clothes is one thing. But doing so and stealing an alpha’s scent? That is dangerous. Possibly illegal, if you are caught in the wrong place. Until we can change the laws of the land, you are still at risk without a spouse or mate bond. I want everything for you. Not just for you and our sisters to have all the same rights as an alpha, but also to find a good and loving mate as our parents had. There could be nothing more beautiful than that. Mates working towards the same goal. Doing this? You might jeopardise that beyond saving.”
“I hate it,” I whispered and wiped an errant tear away. Anger drew forth tears more often than sorrow. “How can the world be so unfair?”
“Don’t tell me you regret being an omega?” she asked softly. Our father’s death had hurt us all, but there were times when I thought Iris missed him the most.
“Never! It is an honour to carry on our father’s legacy! I just wish I could do more.”
“You were born in the wrong time, sister. Very well, take my clothes. I’ll send you more and leave what things I can to let you hide your scent. But let our uncle know. I’ve a fear you plan on entering one of the clubs? Have a friend in the clubs and you might be saved. But, Vi, don’t tell me more. I’d rather not know. I’m still an alpha. The impulse to protect you is deep and strong. So it will be with a mate. Be warned. You will not be able to manipulate another alpha so easily.”
“Iris!” I threw my arms around her. “Thank you. I promise you will be proud. You won’t have to worry!”
She rolled her eyes, she knew better than to take me at my word.
* * *
I waited until the evening after Iris had returned to Oxford to approach our uncle. It was a rare occasion to find him in his study, for he avoided omegas like we were the plague. I entered on his command and was struck by how different he looked here than when I saw him with my aunt. In command and relaxed. While my aunt presented a picture of omega beauty, my uncle’s height wasn’t balanced with any of the usual bulk you found on most alphas. When they stood next to each other, he appeared lacking. But sitting in his sanctuary, he looked like a king on his throne. His hair was thinning, and brushed back in an attempt to give it more coverage, but his clothes were well cared for. He might not have the fortune to support his wife in the style she had been born into but he clearly went to one of the better tailors in town.
“Viola, I should warn you that I’ve already spoken with Iris,” he began before I’d the chance to speak.
“Yes, sir.”
“Sit please.”
I sat in one of the stiff-backed chairs in front of his desk. As he leant forward I couldn’t help crushing my skirts in my hands. I so rarely felt like an omega in all our physical limitations but I did now. I knew he could arrange it that I could not leave this house. I believed he would not, but alphas had that power. Thatlegalpower.
“Straighten your back. If you plan on pulling off this mad scheme of yours, then you’d better stop cowering like an omega when an alpha projects any anger.”
“I hate it,” I hissed. My anger all towards myself. In stiff increments, I sat up and met his eyes head on.
“I cannot imagine what it feels like,” he leant back into his chair, all aggression vanished. In its place, there was a teasing, but not unkind, smile fluttering about his lips. “But I suspect that if you have even a quarter of your father’s spark and intelligence, you’ll set His Grace on the back foot.”
“You’ll help me? How’d you know about the duke?”
“Yes, but only if you follow my instructions,” he said. “And your mother wrote that you’d asked about the duke’s politics. The connection was easy to make.”