“I am not knowledgeable enough about the system to answer that. Except that if it does, then good people, honest people, will lose their way of life. Their livelihood.”

He recalled what he’d been thinking about earlier, with Frederick. “What if I am able to effect a change because of who I am?”

He imagined that was how Della felt, leveraging her status as a duke’s daughter—even if she was currently disgraced—to make a difference. To help somebody.

“You’ll have to tell the crew,” Clark pointed out.

Not to mention he had yet to tell the Royal Navy.

“We’re with you,” Hyland added, as though it were that simple.

And to someone like Hyland, it was. Black and white, right and wrong. Griffith liked having someone like Hyland on his side, even if it meant that people’s noses got punched now and again.

“Thank you,” Griffith replied, glancing between the men. His men. “Thank you both.”

Chapter 11

“Did you have an interesting afternoon?”

Sarah’s voice was deliberately mild, although Della noticed her friend’s laughing eyes. Or not laughing, but smirking.

“I did,” Della replied as nonchalantly. “I ended up visiting with the Duke of Northam, he is a really kind gentleman.”

“Oh!” Sarah sounded startled. Not surprising, given that she thought Della had gone off to meet with the man currently dominating Della’s fantasies. Captain Passion, or something like that.

“Yes, I had hoped to see Lord Stanbury, but it turned out he was away from home.”

“So disappointing,” Sarah said. Della shot her a look.

“A duke?” Nora asked. “Like my grandfather?”

Della’s heart twisted in her chest. Nora had yet to meet her grandfather, but Della had told her all about their family, wanting her little girl to know she had people in her life, some of whom cared about her.

She’d met all of Della’s sisters, and already loved them; Ida was her favorite because she was willing to answer any and all of Nora’s questions. But the duke and duchess had kept themselves steadfastly away, refusing to speak of Della to their other daughters.

The sisters had wanted to cut ties with their parents entirely, but Della had stopped them; what if they had a change of heart? What would it do to the sisters’ own children, not to know their grandparents?

“Yes, like your grandfather,” Della replied at last. “And he has invited you to visit him.”

“And Emily?” Nora asked, looking at her friend who sat beside her.

Della and Sarah shared a look, and Della shrugged. If the duke wouldn’t receive a call from Nora’s friend Emily, then he wasn’t worth cultivating as an acquaintance. She just hoped she could discover what his response would be before she exposed the children to the potential unpleasantness.