by Raelyn Drake
Beth nodded her approval, but Tori was still busy wrapping Beth’s ankle and didn’t respond.
Noah kneeled down next to the two girls and picked up the roll of tape. When Tori needed more tape for the bandaging, he tore some off and handed it to her. He and Tori silently worked together wrapping Beth’s ankle until Tori was satisfied with the job.
“There, how does that feel?” Tori asked Beth.
Beth gave Tori a weak but genuine smile. “It already feels much better. Thank you, Tori.” Then thoughtfully she added, “You know, you two make a great team.”
Noah blushed and looked away as he heard Tori mumble a thank you. After a short awkward pause Beth started up a new conversation. The three of them joked and chatted while they watched the peach-and-purple sunset blaze over the river valley.
Soon the car arrived on the road below the bluff. The butler brought up a pair of crutches for Beth and helped her stand up.
Tori packed up the first aid kit. But when Noah went to grab his backpack, Beth turned to him suddenly.
“I think I dropped my phone when I fell,” she said. “Could you two stay behind and look for it?”
Noah opened his mouth to argue that he had just seen her stick her phone in her jeans pocket less than five minutes ago. But then Beth gave him an exaggerated wink, with a meaningful glance at Tori.
He felt his face flush with a mix of embarrassment and gratitude as he realized that Beth was trying to give him a chance to be alone with Tori. It must be obvious to Beth that he and Tori had a connection. But they never had any privacy at Rotherham Hall, with his grandmother hovering over them and making pointed remarks.
“Ah yeah, sure, no problem,” he said, playing along and giving Beth a grateful smile.
“No rush,” Beth called back as the butler guided her to the trail. “It will take me forever to hobble down to the car.”
Noah and Tori looked at each other. This was the first time they had been alone and Noah wasn’t quite sure what to do. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing so he just stood there silently.
“Well, I guess we should get to it, then.” Tori said after a minute.
“Get to what?” Noah asked.
“Umm, looking for Beth’s phone,” Tori answered, giving him a curious look.
“Oh yeah, that.” Noah had been so distracted he had completely forgotten about the phone. Get it together, Noah. Calm down, Noah told himself. He followed Tori carefully down the stone steps where Beth had fallen and started scanning the ground alongside her, knowing that they wouldn’t find anything.
“You know, this place reminds me of a book my dad used to read to me as a kid,” Tori said absentmindedly. “It was about a kid that went on adventures hunting treasure. When I was really young, that’s sort of what I thought my parents were doing on archaeological digs—going on adventures for treasure.” She picked up a twig off the ground and looked up at him cautiously. “That probably sounds really stupid.”
Noah smiled at Tori. “I don’t think it sounds stupid at all. I’ve never been to a dig before, but that all makes sense. They are going on adventures and looking for buried treasure. It just might not be a shiny crown or gold.”
Tori grinned back at him and continued with more confidence this time. “Yeah! It’s actually super cool to be on a dig site. If we have time, maybe we could go see my parents at their current site . . .”
“I would absolutely love that!” Noah said.
The two locked eyes, both beaming. “Me too.” said Tori.
7
The date of the museum’s grand opening drew closer. The days settled into a comfortable routine as Noah found himself getting more used to the way things were done at Rotherham Hall. He would never have imagined he would spend his summer dressing up for every meal, but he was finally starting to get the hang of which fork went with which course.
Noah’s mom and dad spent most of their time traveling to and from Alaborn and other parts of Evonia, but when they were at Rotherham Hall, Noah enjoyed spending time with them. His mom was teaching Noah how to ride a horse, and he and his dad watched movies together. Sometimes Noah and his parents spent hours just sitting on the patio, relaxing and talking. It was almost like a normal summer back home—until the butler appeared and addressed his mom as “Your Grace.”
When his parents weren’t around, Noah, Tori, and Beth spent most mornings getting the museum ready. Then in the afternoons they would go exploring. Sometimes they went down to the river to wash off the dust of the museum with a quick swim. Other times they rode horses now that Noah had gotten a few lessons and Tori was reluctantly getting better at it. Beth’s sprained ankle had healed quickly, but the doctor had warned her to take it easy for another week or two.
Noah even found himself considering spending the rest of the summer in Evonia instead of heading home early. Beth and Tori simply assumed he was staying. Beth had already made a list of all the shops and restaurants they would have to try when they had time to visit Alaborn. And Tori was planning a road trip to the south of the country so that they could visit her parents on an archaeological dig. Noah had to admit, he was far more excited for Tori’s plans than Beth’s. Still, he hadn’t told his grandmother or his parents that he planned on extending his stay, partly because he didn’t want them to question why he’d changed his mind. He wasn’t quite ready to admit the main reason he was tempted to stay: he wanted to spend more time with Tori.
8
The evening before the grand opening of the museum, Noah, Tori, and Beth sat around a table in the library of Rotherham Hall filling out place cards. Noah’s grandmother sat nearby working on the seating chart. She had given them each a third of the guest list and instructed them to copy the names out in their best cursive. It wouldn’t have been so terrible, except that she made them redo any place cards that were not up to her standards. Noah suspected that his grandmother could have easily had a professional calligrapher complete the cards in half the time, but that she had wanted an excuse to keep an eye on the three of them.
He glanced at the place cards the girls had filled out and felt a twinge of jealousy. His handwriting was standard, neat cursive. It wasn’t bad, but Tori and Beth both wrote in an elegant, curling script, complete with artistic flourishes.
Noah’s grandmother looked up from her seating chart and watched them without speaking. It made Noah so nervous that he fumbled with his pen, and a blob of ink splatted on the place card. Noah sighed and grabbed a blank place card to start over.
“Why, Annabeth, darling,” Noah’s grandmother exclaimed, “what lovely handwriting you have! I’ve always said that good penmanship is a sign of a proper upbringing. What an accomplished young lady you are.”
Beth managed an awkward smile. “Thank you, my lady,” she mumbled.
Noah’s grandmother turned to him. “Well?”
Noah froze. “Well, what?”
“Don’t you agree that Annabeth has the most graceful handwriting you’ve ever seen?”
Beth looked as though she wanted to crawl under the table and hide. “Oh no, it’s fine, Noah,” she said awkwardly.
Noah cleared his throat to buy himself time before answering.
“Mother,” Noah’s mom said with a warning tone as she entered the room. “Are you harassing the kids again?”
Noah’s grandmother gave her daughter a withering stare, but Noah’s mother ignored it. “You sent the butler to tell me that you needed my input on the seating chart,” his mom added. “How can I be of service?”
Noah thought his mom looked tired and irritable. He wondered if the transition to being a duchess was more stressful than she let on. And Grandmother Octavia can’t be making it any easier for her, Noah thought.
“I don’t see why we even need a seating chart,” his mom continued. “It’s a garden party. Most of the time, people will be milling about, eating hors d’oeuvres, and touring the museum.”
“Clearly,” Noah’s grandmother said, “yo
u don’t remember the fiasco that happened at Sir Walter’s wedding because they didn’t have a seating chart. I refuse to have that sort of commotion at this event. I will not tarnish my dear late husband’s good name with vulgar drama.”
Noah’s mom rubbed her temples. “Are you seriously using Father to justify a seating chart? He would have been the one least likely to care about who sat next to whom.”
“Do you really want to have this conversation right now, Cassandra?” Noah’s grandmother asked stiffly.
Noah’s mom shot a glance at Noah, as though she had only just realized that he and his friends were in the room. Noah tried to pretend that he couldn’t overhear every word of the argument taking place ten feet away. But it secretly made him glad to find out that his grandfather might have shared his opinions when it came to etiquette.
Noah’s mom sighed. “Fine, Mother, I will help you with your seating chart. Bring the guest list and come with me to the parlor.” She turned and left, the clacking of her high heels echoing loudly on the marble floors of the hallway.
Noah’s grandmother pursed her lips and stared after her daughter for a moment as though she was trying to think of a reason not to follow her. Then she grabbed a copy of the guest list and left the room in a huff.
Tori heaved a sigh of relief once she was gone. Beth relaxed her perfect posture and rested her head on her arms.
“I thought she’d never leave,” Tori whispered to the others.
Beth raised her head, her brows knitted together anxiously. “I am so, so sorry about the handwriting thing. I was so embarrassed!”
Noah sighed. “It’s not your fault, that’s just how my grandmother is.”
“But why does she keep singling me out?” Beth continued. “She won’t stop trying to throw me at Noah. I didn’t complain at first, but now it’s just getting awkward . . . I really wish she’d never come up with this stupid matchmaking scheme.”
“What do you mean?” Noah asked. He had noticed, of course, that his grandmother had seemed oddly intent on pairing him up with Beth. But he had never figured out why it mattered so much to her.
Beth shook her head in exasperation. “Lady Octavia thought you might not be fully committed to your family’s title and Evonia in general. So she invited me to come and spend the summer here, since I was an ‘eligible young lady of noble parentage,’” Beth said, making ironic air quotes. “I think she hoped that you would fall madly in love with an Evonian girl and decide to stay here forever.” She rolled her eyes.
Noah stared at her in disbelief but didn’t say anything. “So when you say ‘matchmaking scheme,’ you’re talking about—like—my grandmother hoping I’d marry you?”
Beth flushed. “Not right away, obviously. We’re still teenagers! But I do think in her ideal world, we would become a couple and stay together and eventually get married.”
Noah struggled to process this. “But if she only wanted me to fall for an Evonian girl, why did she have a problem with me liking Tori?” The question slipped out before he realized what he was saying. He’d just admitted to having a crush on Tori, in front of Tori. But this conversation was already embarrassing for everyone anyway—he’d just taken it up one more notch.
“Well . . .” Beth hesitated, then plunged ahead. “Tori’s not from a noble family. My, uh, bloodline is a lot more distinguished.”
Caring about bloodlines is still a thing? Noah thought. Then he felt ridiculous for being caught by surprise. This was Evonia, after all. Everything was old-school here.
The silence seemed to make Beth uncomfortable, and she continued talking. “And, well, sure, I thought you were cute—I mean, obviously, look at you—and I’ve enjoyed hanging out with you, Noah. But I had to draw the line when your grandmother went from trying to push us together to asking me to keep you away from Tori. She even wanted me to be rude to Tori to try to get her to leave Rotherham Hall. Or at the very least to discourage her from hanging out with us.” Beth turned to Tori. “But I would never do that to my friends.”
Noah could feel his blood pumping. “She really did that? Asked you to try to get Tori out of the picture? She had to invent drama, and—and—manipulate everything?”
Beth bit her lip in concern. “I agree, the way she treated Tori is not okay. But I’ve already told her I don’t want to be a part of it anymore, so it’s no big deal—”
“But it is a big deal,” Noah protested. “I never knew I was part of a royal legacy until this year, and now all of a sudden my grandmother expects to set up an arranged marriage for me to—what—maintain the well-bred line of the family? She doesn’t get a say in who I do or do not have feelings for! I should have spent the summer doing normal teen things, and instead I’m halfway across the world, sitting in a mansion, wearing an expensive suit, and filling out place cards for her stupid high-society garden party.”
Noah paused, and realized how alarmed Beth and Tori looked. He knew he shouldn’t have let himself get so worked up. But this new bit of information had just confirmed all of the worst suspicions that had been flitting around in the back of his mind all summer.
He took a deep breath. “I’m going to go take a walk so I can think this through.” Noah stood up. “My grandmother can’t get away with treating people like this.”
9
Noah stormed into the parlor where his grandmother was sitting, with the flustered butler trailing in his wake.
“His Lordship Noah Valmont to see you, Your Grace,” the butler announced.
“No,” Noah corrected, “it’s just me, Noah Fuller—your grandson.”
His grandmother looked up from the guest list. “Your mother went off to her room.”
“That’s fine,” Noah said. “I’m here to talk to you.”
“What about?” his grandmother asked him impatiently.
“Did you really invite Beth and Tori here just to try to set me up with one of them?”
His grandmother pursed her lips. “No—”
“No more lies, Grandmother, please,” Noah said. “I know you had some sort of plan—”
“I did, however,” his grandmother continued, “invite Annabeth here with the intention of setting you up with her.”
Noah opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Wait, what? That doesn’t make any sense. If that’s the case then what is Tori doing here?”
“Her presence at Rotherham Hall is an unfortunate coincidence, that’s all,” his grandmother said with a wave of her hand. “She needed a place to stay while her parents were off on their archaeological dig. I couldn’t very well refuse when they had been such good friends of Claude’s.”
Remembering what Beth had said about bloodlines, Noah said, “Well, you haven’t exactly been a welcoming host to Tori. Do you think she’s not good enough for me or something?”
“Victoria is a fine and well-mannered young woman from a perfectly respectable Evonian family, but the fact of the matter is that you can do better. You are the heir to the Rotherham title—a member of the royal Valmont family. Lady Annabeth is a much better match.”
“Beth is a friend, but I don’t like her in the same way that I like Tori. And stop saying ‘match.’ It’s not like I’m going to get married anytime soon. I haven’t even graduated from high school yet.”
His grandmother sniffed. “We would of course wait until you had come of age, but there’s no reason why a formal engagement can’t take place sooner . . .”
Noah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You know what? I’m done.”
“Done with what?” his grandmother asked.
“Done with all of this. With your scheming, with the Valmont royal family, with the whole country of Evonia. I’m leaving and going back to America. I don’t even want to spend the rest of the summer here, let alone commit to spending the rest of my life here as the heir to the Rotherham title. I’m catching the first plane out of here.”
10
Booking international travel was more expensive than
Noah had realized. But after he told his parents a short version of what had happened with Lady Octavia, they signed off on Noah’s travel plans. The earliest flight to the states was the following evening. As soon as Noah got the booking confirmation, he started packing.
The next morning Noah stayed mostly in his room hoping to avoid any more awkwardness with the girls or tension with his grandmother. He was on his bed, scrolling through his news feed on his phone when he heard a knock on the door.
“Come in,” he said, hoping it wasn’t his grandmother. He had no interest in continuing their argument from the previous day. He breathed a sigh of relief as his mom entered his room and gently shut the door behind her.
“Hey,” she said softly. She was already dressed for the party.
“Hey,” Noah replied.
“So, I wanted to talk about what happened between you and your grandmother. Noah, I’m sorry.”
Noah looked up at her in surprise. “Sorry for what?”
“For not stepping in sooner.” She walked over to where he was sitting on his bed and perched next to him. “I was trying to cut your grandmother some slack. Your grandfather’s death hit her so hard. But I didn’t realize the lengths she would go to, to keep you here. I never dreamed that she would be so manipulative to her own grandson.”
Noah looked up at his mom. “Thanks,” he mumbled awkwardly.
“But,” his mom took a deep breath as though she was forcing herself to say something she knew he wasn’t going to like, “I think you should stay for the party.”
Noah gaped at her.
“—Not for your grandmother’s sake,” she added quickly, “but for yours. You’ve spent so much time working on that museum this summer. I think you deserve to see all that hard work pay off.” She offered him a weak smile.
“Fine.” Noah sighed. “But I’m still leaving right after. I already asked the butler to have a car drive me to the airport this afternoon . . .”