The position he’d been trained for since he had been born was not his. The estates, the responsibility, the money, the title, the position—all of it gone.

“Who is?” Thaddeus asked.

Sebastian raised one wry eyebrow as he waited for Thaddeus to figure it out. And supplied the information when it seemed his normally sharp cousin was not processing it. “You’re the Duke of Hasford now, Thad.”

Sebastian didn’t think he had ever seen Thaddeus surprised before. The man was confoundingly strategic, always plotting his next move, anticipating events long before anybody else involved had thought of them. It was what had made him invaluable when they were growing up together—Sebastian usually thought up the mischief, Thaddeus planned out the event, and their friend Nash was there to quash any trouble.

But now Thaddeus looked as though he’d been hit in the head with a heavy object. Or a dukedom.

“That’s not—I mean,” Thad sputtered.

If Sebastian were feeling more inclined, he’d have to laugh at his cousin’s expression and inability to speak in a complete sentence. But he was not inclined. He was furious. With his mother, with his feckless, foolish father, with his own expectations.

“It is.” He tapped the papers in front of them. “This proves it.” He leaned back, folding his arms over his chest. “And I am plain Mr. de Silva.”

His fury changed to fierce protectiveness as he thought of his half sister, at home without any clue of what was happening. “You’ll take care of Ana Maria, of course.” He knew Thaddeus would have no thought of doing otherwise, but he needed to say it, to retain some measure of agency.

“Of course,” Thaddeus said. “But what if I don’t want to be the duke?” Thaddeus asked, directing his question to the solicitor. “Can’t we just pretend we’ve never seen these documents? That things are as we always thought?”

Thaddeus was the only person of Sebastian’s acquaintance who had never been envious of Sebastian’s position, either as a duke’s heir or as the duke himself. Which was why he seemed to have forgotten he was Sebastian’s heir. Thaddeus had been actively relieved that he was able to serve in the army, serving Her Majesty rather than his own pleasure.

Whereas Sebastian believed that serving his own pleasure meant that those who relied on him would also benefit. That belief applied mostly to the ladies he pleasured, but he took pains to ensure that his staff and tenants were also taken care of properly.

He was privileged, he knew that, but he used his charm and influence so that everyone would like and appreciate him rather than resent him.