Chapter 6
Thomas did not look proud.
Good start.
He sat across from me and refused coffee.
Also wise.
“I thought you asked Spencer to coordinate.”
“How?”
“He said you were considering temporary delegation.”
“Did I ever say that to you?”
“No.”
“Then why believe him?”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Because it sounded possible.”
There.
Not forgery.
Not magic.
A believable lie built on what people already thought.
I had looked exhausted.
Canceled morning meetings.
Delegated more than usual.
Spencer stepped into the gap and supplied explanation.
Thomas continued.
Spencer told the six captains that my upcoming marriage would reorganize the family.
Meredith would manage household alliances.
Spencer would handle internal council matters.
I would focus on external strategy.
Again.
A structure where I did the dangerous work while someone else occupied the room around me.
“Did anyone ask why?”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“No.”
That hurt.
Loyal men still chose convenience over verification.
“What was the final goal?”
He did not know.
The six captains believed they were advising me indirectly.
Not replacing me.
Important.
Then Thomas mentioned one thing Spencer said repeatedly.
“Adrian wants continuity before Iris becomes old enough to complicate succession.”
I went still.
My daughter.
Again.
“What does Iris have to do with this?”
Thomas looked confused.
“I assumed you meant future inheritance.”
No.
I had never discussed Iris’s future inside Moretti.
She was four.
Spencer had.
I looked at him.
He stopped smiling.
There.
The real center.
“If I marry Meredith, what happens to Iris?”
No answer.
Meredith looked toward her brother.
“What did you tell them?”
Spencer’s jaw tightened.
Finally:
“That eventually you and Adrian would have another child.”
Silence.
I understood.
A child with Kline blood.
A possible son.
A branch Spencer could influence more easily than Iris, who was entirely Moretti through her late mother’s line and mine.
Meredith looked horrified.
“You said this was about Adrian resting.”
Spencer laughed bitterly.
“Everything is about succession eventually.”
Not in my house.
Not through my child.
I leaned closer.
“You drugged me to create a temporary vacancy.”
Then looked at Meredith.
“He planned to turn that vacancy into a future bloodline.”
She went pale.
May you like
The tea had never just been about meetings.
It was rehearsal for replacing influence around me before marriage made that replacement permanent.
