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“Back at ya, hot shot. Last I heard you’re blowing your father’s money as fast as he can earn it and doing nothing of value with your life.”

Frederick draped himself in her favorite reading chair like he owned it. “I don’t care what you think about me, and I don’t have anything to prove to you. No one cares when rich boys cry cause money should make us happy, right? It should solve all of our problems?” There was so much bitterness in his voice, it would make a lemon seem sweet, but Pearl wasn’t moved.

“It solves a lot of problems, Frederick.”

“It doesn’t make people love you, though. In fact, it usually makes people love you for all the wrong reasons.”

“And it’s love you’re looking for?”

Frederick sneered. “I gave up on that a long time ago. But Corvus didn’t. More fool him.”

“And is that why you’re here? To plead his case?”

“And why shouldn’t I plead his case? You won’t give the man a second chance. How many times does he have to open himself up before you see the man loves you more than I thought it was possible to love a person?”

Pearl was on her feet as anger surged within her. “Sometimes, no matter how powerful, how influential, how rich, or how used to getting your way you are, you don’t get what you want. You have to accept you messed up and move on.”

“Is that what you want him to do? Move on? Is that what you wanted him to do when you were snogging him senseless in his library? Is this all some ploy to get back at him for a stupid mistake he made when he was too young and stupid to stand up for himself? Are you going to let your pride stand in the way of what you want?”

Finger pointing and voice rising, in the face of Frederick’s calm demeanor, Pearl responded. “How dare you! You don’t know anything about me or how I feel or what I want. I want a lot of things I can’t have. I want a lot of things I can’t trust myself to have.” Hot, angry tears were running down Pearl’s face as she sat back down - anger draining away. “If you’ve come to make me feel worse about myself - congratulations, you’ve succeeded.”

Frederick’s sigh was bone weary. “No. I’m just really bad at sincerity. I’m sorry I made you cry. Let me try again.” And he actually sat up straight and cleared his throat as though it really was a second take. “I came here to tell you some things that Corvus refuses to because he might just be the most stubborn arse I’ve ever known, and I think there are a lot of things that you deserve to know. I’m gonna start small since we’ve already established how piss poor I am at this. Did you know he read every word of your dissertation as soon as it was published?”

Pearl’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why didn’t he know anything about it when the topic of my dissertation came up, then? Why did he ask so many questions?”

“For someone so smart, you’re incredibly thick. Why do you think? Because he knew it was something you are passionate about, and he wanted you to talk about it. Nothing makes a swot happier than talking about her pet projects.”

As offensive as it was, he wasn’t wrong. “Ok then, he read my dissertation. What else?”

“You convinced the stupid luddite to get a mobile. I and every other sane person in his life have been on him to stop sending letters like it’s 1842 for years, and then when he got one, do you know how many people he uses it for? One. I tried to text him on it, and he left me on read like we haven’t been friends for most of our lives.”

What a stupid, adorable thing! The man really learned how to use a cell phone just so he could communicate with her? And she felt it was terribly appropriate to leave Frederick on read.

“Did you know he hunted for that stupid lost book for you for years? The Chaucer one. He actually has two other incredibly rare lost texts in reserve in case he needed more than one to convince you to take the job.”

Pearl couldn’t help but perk up. “Which ones?”

“Do you think I’m going to tell you? If you want to know the answer to that question, you’ll have to ask Corvus.”

The inclination to strangle Frederick was only increasing as this conversation progressed. “But doesn’t that sound a little manipulative? He finds all these lost texts to convince me to take a job to win me over after he messes up so badly? Why didn’t he just come to me and apologize and ask for a second chance?”

If the look on Frederick’s face was any indication, he was becoming sorely tempted to strangle her as well. “And you’re going to look me in the eyes and tell me that would have worked? You forget I’m his best friend. I know he was young and stupid and too easily persuaded by his parents, but I also know what he said to you, and just how hard it would be to come back from those words. I suppose if you want to look at it from the perspective that he bought those books to manipulate you, that’s your right. But maybe, just maybe you could give him a drop of benefit of the doubt and look at it this way. Almost immediately after he broke your heart, he regretted it with every fiber of his being, but he didn’t know how to make it right. Time passed, and he tried dating a woman of his mother’s choosing and realized with even more certainty the depth of his mistake. You, of course, are in another relationship at this point, but he begins to plan how to give himself a single shot at a second chance. He desperately does not want to blow it a second time, and buys three enormously rare books just to get his foot in the door. And I will tell you right here right now, if you reject that man, he will still give you all three of those rare books. In his mind, they were always yours and they will be part of the penance he has been trying to pay for almost a decade.”

Pearl went to open her mouth, but Frederick cut her off. She’d never seen him get riled about anything. He kept his flippant, devil-may-care attitude firmly in place at all times, but passion was leaking out of his pores as he rose to the defense of his friend. “I’m not finished yet. Corvus is the best of us. He took our awful, inbred, prejudiced childhood and threw it off in ways I didn’t know was possible. He actually helps people, Pearl. Not that he would ever tell you. He’s managed to make a dent in the Winterbourne coffers by giving so much of it away. Many an heir has tried through riotous living, but he’s actually achieved it through charity. Perhaps most impressive of all, he’s convinced most of his mates to go to therapy to try to make us upstanding members of society. I know that what he did to you was wrong. I know how much he hurt you, but Pearl, that was not the same man. This man is one you could trust yourself to fall in love with. I think he would actually kill someone if they hurt you. Do you remember that stupid book you found when you first started working on his library? His mum put it there, and he went to her that day and told her that if she ever said or did anything ever again that stated or even implied that you were anything lesser, he would throw her out of the manor and cut her off from every Winterbourne estate and coin and let her figure out just how far her supposedly inherent superiority would get her. As soon as his father died, and he inherited control of the estate, his first act was firing every single staff member who bought into his parents’ superiority nonsense starting with their butler Oswald. I could keep going, but I’ll stop there and say this. Get out of your own way and go be with that man who loves you more than I have the words to express.”

Pearl didn’t often find herself speechless, but in the face of this onslaught of new information, it took her a moment to muster a reply. “I didn’t reject Corvus. I just told him I needed some time. We’re only 30. Well, I guess Corvus is almost 31, but regardless, It’s not like we have to rush into this. I want to do it right, and getting in a relationship with him when I have doubts won’t do either of us any favors.”

Instead of soothing Frederick as she expected, he only looked more desperate. “He doesn’t have time! He’s going to die, Pearl. The Winterbourne ancestry magic is going to kill him. There’s a generational curse that says if he doesn’t marry before the age of 31, he will die. I know you care about him. I know you do. Don’t let your stupid pride kill an innocent man.”

Pearl’s mouth dropped open as all the pieces fell into place. It all made sense now. The book, Cecilia’s pleas, his fatigue, everything. “Why…” her voice came out hoarse, and she cleared her throat. “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“Why do you think, you absolute idiot? Because Corvus wanted it to be your choice to marry him, and he refuses to marry anyone but you. He’s so stupid and dramatically in love with you, he’d actually rather die than marry anyone else.”

“And why are you telling me now?”

“Because I’m willing to lose my friendship with Corvus if it means he’ll live.”

Pearl didn’t hesitate, and Mercutio jumped on her shoulders ready, as always, to go into battle with her. “Take me to him.”