Sensing she was being mocked, and not entirely certain he was serious, Adelaide scowled without regard for her features. “You grow tiresome.”

“Wealth can be tiresome,” he replied without concern. “Perhaps you might inspect my signet ring for an example of my tastes.” He tugged a thick gold ring from his right hand, then held it out for her to take.

It was a dare, and she knew it. In order to reach the item, she’d have to close the distance between them, and she had no desire to do such a thing. But she could hardly back down, now that this discussion on gems and finery had gone so far. She had started the argument, and he was not going to win an argument she had begun.

With a slight lift to her chin, Adelaide took three steps forward and extended her hand, palm up.

Basset cocked his head ever so slightly, something almost fascinating entering his gaze, before dropping his ring into her grasp.

The weight of the thing startled her, but she recovered by focusing her attention on its face. The base was a rich, earthy shade of blue stone, and the engraving set into it was of gold. Against a flourishing letter B was a noble head of a unicorn with a horned mane. Etched around the outside of the stone were the words Pro Rege et populo.

“What is the motto?” Adelaide asked with a faint sniff, eying the stone for any signs that it might be glass.

“For King and country,” Basset recited, matching her sniff for some mischievous reason, no doubt. “And that is lapis lazuli. Not quite the fashion anymore, but hardly outside of it, I am told. And it is an heirloom, after all. I saw no need to have it reset when I inherited it.”

Perhaps it was not in fashion, but it was a stirring shade that even she could not find fault in. Were she ever to find something more delicate with such a stone set into it, she would not have any qualms in wearing such thing.

But she would not ask any favors of her husband. Not genuine ones, at any rate.

She held the ring back out to him, meeting his eyes squarely. “Trust a Cornish baron to have a mythical creature featured on his family crest. How fanciful.”

He took his signet with a faint grunt of displeasure. “I trust you would not object to a griffin or a phoenix, though they are mythical as well.”

“They are warrior creatures of inspiration, my lord,” Adelaide reminded him with all the disdain she could muster. “Not craven ones of whimsy.”

Basset nodded once, pursing his lips for a moment. The entire room seemed to hold its breath in anticipation for what he would do next.

“With all due respect to your father, and his father before him, and all the generations of Dyer forebears before them,” Basset began slowly, “one might prefer a unicorn as an emblem over a surly, stubborn, utterly useless goat.”