Felicity continued. “Why shouldn’t we women vote? After all, it’s not as though the gentlemen have done so wondrous a job of things with their stewardship. I do not intend to offend, my lord.”

“No offense taken, my little buttercup.”

Uh-oh, thought Alexia, Felicity has been given an epithet. Lord Akeldama likes her.

The vampire continued. “I find such struggles adorably commendable.”

Felicity began pacing about in a manner Alexia had to admit not unlike her own good self when seized with a particularly inspired argument. “My point precisely. Don’t you want the vote, Alexia? You cannot be content to allow that buffoonish husband of yours to speak for you in matters political. Not after the way he has behaved in the past.”

Alexia declined to mention at this juncture that she already had the vote, and it was one of only three on Queen Victoria’s Shadow Council. Such a vote as this counted a good deal more than any popular ballot might. Instead, she spoke a different truth. “I have never given the matter much thought. But this still does not explain how you have ended up on Lord Akeldama’s doorstep.”

“Yes, little snowdrop.” Lord Akeldama took up a perch on the arm of the settee, watching Felicity as a parrot might watch a drab little sparrow that had strayed into his domain.

Miss Loontwill took a deep breath. “It is really not my fault. Mama did not endorse my endeavors with regards to Lord Ambrose. So I have been liberating myself from the house after bedtime by means of the servant’s entrance. You used to have some success with this approach, Alexia. Don’t think I didn’t know. I believed I could accomplish such a thing undetected.”

Alexia was beginning to understand. “But you miscalculated. I had help. Floote’s help. I cannot imagine Swilkins being sympathetic to the Ambrose cause.”

Felicity grimaced in agreement. “No, you are perfectly correct. I did not realize how vital the approbation of one’s butler is in allowing for nocturnal autonomy.”

“So let us get to the crux of the matter. Has Mama tossed you out?”

Felicity got that look on her face that said whoever was at fault in this scenario it was probably Felicity. “Not exactly.”

“Oh, Felicity, you didn’t. You walked out?”

“I thought, since you were taking a house in town, perhaps I might come to stay with you for a little while. I understand the company will not be nearly so refined or elegant as that to which I am accustomed, but . . .”

Lord Akeldama’s forehead creased ever so slightly at that statement.

Lady Maccon cogitated. She would like to encourage this new spirit of social-mindedness. If Felicity needed anything in her life, it was a cause. Then she might stop nitpicking everyone else. But if she stayed with them, she would have to be taken into their confidence regarding the living arrangements. And there was another thing to consider. Should Felicity be exposed to a werewolf pack in all its ever-changing and overexposed glory while still unmarried? This is the last thing I need right now. I can’t even see my own feet anymore. How can I see that my sister is properly chaperoned? Alexia had found pregnancy relatively manageable, up to a point. That point having been some three weeks ago, at which juncture her natural reserves of control gave way to sentimentality. Only yesterday she had ended breakfast sobbing over the fried eggs because they looked at her funny. The pack had spent a good half hour trying to find a way to pacify her. Her husband was so worried he looked to start crying himself.