Hunters

V. Diplomacies

V. Diplomacies

"The Queen shall recognize our union," Vaughan stated matter-of-factly. He absently ran his fingers across the silks and suits in the tailor's shop.

"She has no reason not to," Ezekiel said. The young marquis eyed himself in the mirror, admiring the fit of his new suit. His grandmother had insisted that he purchase new garments for the wedding.

"I know," the duke sighed. "I suppose that I've just become suspicious of how simple all of this has been."

"How do you mean?" Ezekiel asked while adjusting his bowtie.

Vaughan made eye contact through the mirror. "I ask and everyone obliges. I expected some degree of resoluteness, instead, not a soul has told me 'no'."

"That's hard to believe." Ezekiel turned to face his cousin. "Lecia could not have given in to you that easily."

"But she did." Vaughan assessed Ezekiel's suit and nodded with approval before continuing, "she hardly batted an eye."

"I'm not yet convinced," the marquis raised his brow. "Never have a met a more steadfast and cunning woman. She was so clearly willing to do anything to maintain her own will. That she would simply resign herself to marriage with the proudest man in all of England seems unlikely to me."

"But she has resigned herself. I can sense that she's not planning to cross me, either."

Stepping away from the mirror, Ezekiel turned to his cousin. "A lifetime of being indulged by the masses and one girl's compliance has you concerned?"

"Appropriately placed apprehension, my friend."

"You are the Duke," Ezekiel laughed in defeat.

"So I've been told," Vaughan said. "Now get your suit wrapped, we have tea waiting at the club."

"I'm not quite sure why you're doing all of this now, Vaughan, but I surely don't miss having tea with my grandmother every day," Ezekiel said. He stirred some sugar into his tea before taking a sip.

"She's not so bad," the duke smirked.

"Not so bad. Not so bad," he laughed. "I've endured over twenty years of horticulture, feminism, and cross stitching. If I could stride into White's without you, I would."

"You are a member, Zeke; you don't need me to escort you in."

"Have you seen the other men in here?" Zeke asked. "I don't want you as an escort, I need you to make sure I still have my hair."

"Mmm," the duke nodded. "More like you need me to make sure you don't drown yourself in brandy and prune a moustache."

The club was, in fact, full of liquored older men with fashionable moustaches. Some of them were bald; all of them were peers or abundantly wealthy men. The duke and his cousin were the youngest men in the club that afternoon. Considering the season, it was likely that any younger gentlemen were resting for a party or escorting young ladies around town. It was equally possible, in regard to second and subsequent sons, that some gentlemen were abroad serving Queen and Country.

"You do realize that I already have a moustache," Zeke said.

Vaughan looked at his cousin as if the marquis was a jester. "How could I have missed your whimsical caterpillar?" Ezekiel looked on sternly as the duke continued. "It looks as though he has been trying to fly away."

"Caterpillars don't fly," said the marquis.

"No, they most certainly do not, but it appears that your caterpillar is as delusional about his ability to fly as you are about your ability to maintain a moustache."