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"Your mother had essentially planned half his future before we finished telling her."

Ross looks amused.

"That sounds like Mom."

"She went from names to the family succession language in under five minutes," Sebastian says.

The word catches my attention immediately.

Succession.

Ross takes his seat again.

"She's been waiting for this," he says.

Jane glances between the brothers.

"I'm still getting used to how seriously everyone takes that part."

Sebastian reaches for his wine.

"It's old language," he says. "But the rule itself is straightforward."

I look at him.

"What rule?" I ask.

Sebastian turns toward me.

"When succession eventually passes beyond Ross and me, priority within the senior line goes to the firstborn male child of either of us," he says.

My hand stills around the stem of my glass.

Ross nods.

"So if Jane is carrying the first son between us," he says, "their child becomes the first male heir of the next generation."

I hear the words clearly. I understand every one of them. But for a moment, I can't make my body react normally.

I look toward Sebastian.

"So because he'll be the firstborn son of either of you, he takes priority?" I ask.

"Yes," Sebastian says. "That's the way the succession language was written."

Jane smiles slightly.

"It's strange hearing it discussed before he's even born."

Sebastian squeezes her hand.

"He has time before anyone expects him to care about any of it," he says.

The room keeps moving around me. Ross says something to Jane about Eleanor overwhelming her, and Sebastian answers him. I catch only pieces of it because my mind is still fixed on the same fact.

They're wrong about who comes first. Not because the succession language is unclear:

Because they don't know Wells exists.