“Freddie!” I clasped my hands together in what was as subtle a gesture of glee as I could manage. “She sounds…”

“Out of my league?”

“I was going to say cool as hell,” I said. “Has she met Richard?”

Freddie shook his head. “I think she’ll impress the socks off him, but it’s been tricky enough getting me into her datebook,” he says. “And I don’t want her to feel pressured. It’s hard to find the right time to go public, and meeting Father could be even harder.”

I nodded. “Tell her your brother married a ne’er-do-well former greeting card artist. Richard will be delighted for someone with a real job to raise the level of discourse.”

He grinned at me, the most genuine one I’d seen in far too long. “Wise as ever, Killer.”

The sun had dipped below the horizon line, leaving only a last pulse of gold and an electric-blue sky swirled with pink clouds. The light flared with eerily cinematic timing as he said my old nickname, and it felt so good, I almost hugged him. But a halo of space was beginning to form around Richard, which was Freddie’s and Nick’s cue to join him. They nearly bumped into each other as they arranged themselves on either side of their father; Freddie gave an extra-jovial “after you” gesture. Unusually, I couldn’t read Nick’s face.

“Thank you for joining us to honor the important work of the Royal Geographical Society, one of my favorite patronages,” Richard said. “I’m told we’ve raised, conservatively, five million pounds towards the Antarctic mission. The anthropological and environmental impact of these grants is immense, and I’ve learnt more in my close meetings about RGS projects than I ever did at Oxford. Though don’t tell Oxford I said that.”

The room laughed politely.

“Which is why what I’m about to say is so bittersweet,” Richard continued. “Being a young patron of this society was formative for me, and it would be selfish to keep that experience from my own sons. My father held it before he passed, then my mother handed it down to me, and I’m delighted to continue the tradition by passing along this patronage to someone whose professional dedication has recently been on impressive display. So please, a round of applause for the RGS’s new patron, Prince Frederick.”