Selena pulled a face. “Good luck to him.”
“My sentiment as well. Have you combed through all the wagers to find anything useful about your brother and watchdog?”
“I tried but didn’t get far.”
“A difficult read?”
“Do not jest. Some wagers are as clear as fresh water while others seem to be written in code. Also, the names are abbreviated. I gave up after my fourth attempt.” As delightful as it would be to blackmail those two scoundrels, the process of deciphering the wagers had proved more painstaking than learning French. Whatever blackmail material she could unearth was not worth the harm being done to her brain cells, which seemed to wither whenever she laid eyes on the bold scrawls across the pages.
“What a pity.”
Yes.
Ever since she learned, according to the list in the book, that both her most praiseworthy attribute and her most regrettable flaw was her brother, a burning anger tightened her heart in a grip that refused to let go. Did she not have an identity of her own? Was her brother truly the sum of her?
Herbrother?
He’d cared for her from the time she was still young, ever since their mother had remarried and moved to Scotland with her new husband. Saville had done his best with the hand he was dealt—they both were dealt—she knew this well. But was she even recognized as a person at all?
Finding the women of the secret club was not just about unravelling a mystery, it was about finding herself, too.
An identity.
Worthiness.
Meaning.
Because at the moment, Selena felt rather meaningless. More than that, she feltalonein her meaningless. And it was a pitiful feeling that didn’t sit well with her.
“Why don’tyouread through the book?” Selena suggested.
“Lord no, I value my time too much.”
Selena shook her head with a small smile.
“Besides, without the book, those wagers are all but hollow. On the other hand,” Theodosia stuck out a leg at a jaunty angle, “we look positively scandalous!”
That’s right.
Scandal and rebellion.
Selena could find meaning in that. After all, did rebelling not mean she stood for something? Even if that rebellion mostly just meant annoying her brother and his watchdog while she searched for those elusive club members.
“Shall we go shock my brother into heart palpitations?”
Theodosia chuckled. “Weeds don’t wither so easily.”
“Hah! Did you just call my brother a weed?”
“Some titles are deserved.”
True.
Selena grinned. Like the one she would soon be claiming for herself.
*
“I’m done playingnursemaid to your sister.”
