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“And again. I can’t answer that. But I’ll tell you this. I love my son more than my own soul. My husband, Rupert, revealed information to me that would be very harmful to my son, and when I immediately ran to tell Corvus, Rupert laughed in my face and told me I couldn’t tell him so long as he was living.” Cecilia paused for the briefest of moments before her eyes turned hard as flint and she continued. “I killed him on the spot.”

It took Pearl a moment to process those words. She was sure she must have heard her incorrectly.

“Yes. You heard me. I’m confessing to mariticide to try to convince you of both the seriousness of my request and my love for my son. You are the only person who knows.”

Pearl tried to catch up, and questions tumbled out of her. “I thought he died of a heart attack? I thought you said you loved him?”

It looked like Cecilia was battling fiercely with herself to keep her emotions in check, and she soldiered on like she’d just been told by her commander to charge over the trenches into enemy fire. “He did die of a heart attack - that I caused. And I did love him. But not at the expense of our son. Corvus could never meet his unattainable expectations, and I wouldn’t be party to him taking his ridiculous vendetta too far. I’d prefer if you kept this all between us, but that’s your choice to make.”

“I…I don’t know what to say. I suppose you’ve given me a lot to think about. Thank you for the tea.” It felt ridiculous thanking a woman for giving her tea who just admitted to murdering her husband, but she didn’t know how else to end what had proved to be absolutely the strangest conversation she’d ever had.

Pearl walked towards the door - she’d had enough revelations for the day. She worried that if she stayed longer she’d learn Cecilia had been the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, but she couldn’t help herself from turning back with one final question. “But what’s to stop you from killing me? You’ve just given me incredibly damning information. Should I be watching my back?”

But Cecilia just gave her a sad smile. “Miss McCoy, I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head. You are the only hope I have left.”

When Frederick found him, Corvus had his face in his hands in the library and Frederick didn’t really want to know how long he’d been there. “Mate.” Corvus startled at the touch on his shoulder, but softened when he saw it was his friend. Frederick sprawled on one of the sofas near Corvus and let his long legs dangle off the end while Covus straightened and rolled his stiff neck.

“I’m here at the request of your mother. She sent me a letter saying, ‘If my son means anything to you, please rescue him from himself.’ I didn’t know she had it in her to be so dramatic. I suppose I’m meant to be saving you from Pearl.” When Corvus didn’t respond, Frederick tried again. “I don’t know why you don’t just tell her you love her.”

Falling back against his chair as though he didn’t have the strength to sit up, Corvus didn’t answer for a long time. His face was turned towards one of the cathedral style windows, but his eyes were far away. “I did. I did tell her, but she doesn’t believe me.” His voice broke on believe, and it was a moment before he spoke again. “She kissed me, I told her I love her, and she pushed me away because I broke her trust so badly I don’t know if it’s even possible to get it back.” Eyes cutting sharply to Frederick, his voice lost its wistful quality. “And why do you care? If I remember correctly, you told me girls like her were good fun but not worth taking home.”

Frederick leaned his head back on his crossed arms. “Yeah, and I was an idiot with an undeveloped frontal lobe and a repressed upbringing. Now I think you should marry her to piss off your parents.”

“If you’ll recall, my father is dead, Fred. I think the only one who’d be upset is my mother.”

“Yeah, like being dead would stop that old wanker from being disappointed in you.” Turning hopefully toward Corvus, his eyes lit up with an idea. “Hey! Her mental best friend is still as fit as she was in college! Maybe I could marry her and piss off my dad, too! It could be a double wedding!”

Corvus couldn’t help but bark out a humorless laugh before he dashed his friend’s dreams. “Prudence is married now, so I think that ship has sailed.”

“Ah, well. Guess I’ll have to keep disappointing my parents in other ways.” The smile slipped off Frederick’s face. “Mate, you’re the best of us. If you can’t throw off all the toxic nonsense our parents taught us and marry the woman you’re wild about, there’s no hope for any of us.”

“No pressure,” Corvus huffed.

But when Frederick stood, Corvus realized how serious he was. “I mean it. I…I’ve done so little with my life. Sometimes it feels easier to just not try. To not care. But you try so hard. Ever since…you know…" he paused as though weighing if he could say what came next considering Corvus' mental state before continuing, "you broke up with Pearl. Ever since you’ve been on this redemption campaign, and if she can’t see who you are now, it’s her loss, but you’re gonna have to let her go. You can’t beat yourself up for the rest of your life.”

Disagreeing immediately, Corvus stood to match him and responded fiercely. “Yes I can. I’ll live my life, and I’ll live it to the best of my ability, but I had her, Fred. She was mine, and I was hers. And then I threw her away. Like she meant nothing to me. Like she wasn’t the most precious gem. Like she was rubbish to throw in the bin. I broke Pearl’s heart to make my parents happy, and guess what? They still weren’t happy. I was trying to please people who could never be pleased because I believed what they had taught me. That I was better, superior, and so far above her. And I willingly gave up the best thing that ever happened to me. I will mourn that until my dying day, and I will never stop trying to make it right.”

“Morbid much, mate? You make it sound like you’re going to die next week.”

Corvus’ laugh had no humor. “Well, not next week anyway.”

Frederick turned unusually somber and looked out the window towards the grounds. “I’m serious. I don’t want you joking about dying - if you die I won’t have anyone sane left in my life.”

Corvus didn’t respond at first, and when Frederick turned to look back at him, Corvus’ eyes were serious. “Then I’m sorry to tell you it’s not a joke.”

At those words, Frederick grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “What does that mean? You explain it to me right now!”

“It means if I don’t get married by a certain age, the estate and all its holdings will pass to the next person in line under the age of 30. And the Winterbourne magic will kill me to make sure there are no challenges to succession.”

There hadn’t been many times Corvus had rendered Frederick speechless, but news of his impending demise was apparently enough to strike him dumb. Frederick’s grip grew tighter on Corvus’ shoulders, and Corvus watched as one emotion after another raced across his friend’s face before finally settling on anger. Frederick shook him as though he could shake some sense into him. “Then marry someone! It doesn’t matter who. I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d be willing.”

Corvus smiled sadly. “How romantic! While there might be women who are willing to marry me, I only want to marry one.”

“It’s not about romance, you absolute idiot. It’s about you living! Isn’t that worth anything to you??”

“Of course it is. I don’t want to die, but I also don’t want to resign myself to a life where I’m in a marriage of convenience with someone who just wants me for my title or my money or anything but me.”

“Is it an inheritance thing? Why does the curse exist? How long have you known about it?”