‘It doesn’t completely control,’ Lucinda said. ‘But effectively. Yes. I suppose that’s fair.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s a long story.’ Lucinda poured more tea into her cup. ‘You see, Orion is a very old organisation. It dates back more than two centuries to a time when the crown had lost most of its power and Parliament’s strength was growing but still unsteady. After the revolutions in France and America, the noble families feared a revolution would happen here. The king was too weak to control his government, much less his country. So a group of the country’s most powerful land owners and parliamentarians joined together to ensure the government was run well. They called themselves the Orion Society.’
‘Orion…’ Allie said with a thoughtful frown. ‘Like the stars?’
‘Orion the hunter,’ Lucinda said. ‘In Greek mythology, he was a god. The founders chose to name their group after him because he could walk on water. Hubris if you ask me, but –’ she held up her hands – ‘it’s only a name.’
‘So… what did they do?’ Allie prodded her.
‘They took over the reins of power. They helped each other. Made sure they became prime minister, chancellor, regent – whatever was needed to make sure power was held smoothly, transferred without interruption. Controlled.’
‘And nobody knew they existed?’ Allie’s tone was dubious. ‘How is that possible?’
‘We are very good,’ Lucinda said, ‘at keeping secrets.’
‘How did you end up in charge of everything?’ Allie said. ‘And your dad? How did he?’
‘It’s very simple: we inherited it. The leadership passes from one family to the next in order. Each family acts as chair for three years and then passes it on. Or, at least, that’s how it worked until I came along. My great-great-great-great grandfather was one of the founders. The Earl of Lanarkshire.’ Her piercing gaze held Allie’s. ‘That’s who we are, you know. Technically, I am Lady Lanarkshire. So is your mother. And so are you.’
Allie gaped at her. ‘I’m a… Lady?’
For the first time that afternoon, Lucinda truly smiled. She had even, white teeth, and her eyes crinkled warmly. ‘Yes, you are.’
‘But you’re a baroness,’ Allie said accusingly. ‘I heard your guards call you that the night of the winter ball.’
‘I choose to use that title, rather than Lady,’ Lucinda said. ‘You see, I earned that one.’
‘You said the leadership used to just go from one to another of the families in Orion,’ Allie said. ‘It doesn’t any more?’
Lucinda’s smile disappeared. ‘No. I changed that. I thought the leader should be voted in. Some of our members are idiots and I couldn’t bear the idea of them making decisions about the future of the country simply because of who their parents were. It was an archaic system. One of my first acts as leader was to change the original charter. We all agreed. Now the chair is elected. I’ve been re-elected three times.’ She made a wry face. ‘I’d be rather surprised to be elected again under the circumstances.’
A sudden realisation struck Allie with almost physical force. ‘That’s what Nathaniel’s so angry about, isn’t it? You changed the rules. My brother Christopher said something about you throwing away our inheritance. That’s what he meant, isn’t it?’
‘Precisely so,’ Lucinda said. ‘He would automatically have taken over after me, as your mother would have refused, and he is her eldest child. Had I not changed the rules, all of this would have been his.’
‘But he can’t care that much,’ Allie said. ‘I mean, I don’t care. And I don’t get to do it either. Why would Christopher care so much?’
‘Christopher probably wouldn’t have cared at all, Allie, were it not for Nathaniel.’ Lucinda leaned forward, her face very serious now. ‘You see – despite everything you’ve personally experienced, Nathaniel is very charismatic. Very charming. Very convincing. And a fragile young man like Christopher, searching for a path to follow in life, is easily seduced. Nathaniel showed him how your mother deceived him about his own history. Convinced him he couldn’t trust his own family. Promised him a life of power and privilege. It is the traditional method – he broke him down. And then he built him up again. In his own image.’
As she spoke, Allie’s blood seemed to chill in her veins. Could her grandmother be right? It would explain so much. Christopher’s strange behaviour when she’d seen him last December. The way he’d seemed like a strange, angrier version of himself.
Remembering that day, the two of them standing on opposite sides of the running water, she felt colder. She tried to focus on asking more questions.
‘Why does Nathaniel hate you and Isabelle so much?’ Allie asked. ‘What happened? Is he just crazy?’
‘I’ve known Nathaniel since he was very young,’ Lucinda said. ‘I knew his father. We were… very close. Sadly, he died when Nathaniel was still a teenager. In those days, he was a frightened, lonely young man, who’d lost his mother when he was a child, and then his father died, too. All he had was his half-sister…’
‘Isabelle.’ Allie finished the thought for her.
‘Exactly.’
Allie picked up her cup. ‘So Isabelle and Nathaniel – they have the same father?’
Lucinda nodded.
‘And you knew their father well…’ Allie said. ‘How did you know him? Did you work with him?’
‘Not exactly.’ Lucinda’s smile was wry. ‘I married him.’
Allie, who had just taken a mouthful of tea, choked on it. Sputtering, she set the cup and saucer down and leaned forward trying to get her breath.
‘You
Looking supremely unruffled, Lucinda handed her a tissue. ‘Oh no. Their father, my ex-husband, had several wives – not all at the same time, of course. He never could settle down. I was his first wife. After we divorced, he married Nathaniel’s mother, who sadly died in a riding accident while still in her twenties. He then married Isabelle’s mother.’
Allie blinked. ‘Blimey, he must have been good looking to have so many women chasing him. Who was this guy?’
‘“This guy”, as you describe him, was Alistair St. John. He was a Scottish government leader and the owner of ILC, the biggest technology company in Britain,’ Lucinda said. She took a prim sip of tea. ‘He was very charming.’
‘Wait,’ Allie said. ‘Is he… was this St. John guy my grandfather?’
Lucinda rested her hand on Allie’s arm. ‘Oh no, darling.’
‘Then who…’ Allie held up her hands in frustration at the confusing maze of old people’s love lives.
‘Your grandfather was a lovely man – a good man – named Thomas Meldrum,’ Lucinda said simply. ‘He was my second husband. He was much older than me; he died before you were born.’
She said no more about it, but her face settled, suddenly, into well-used lines of sorrow.
In the awkward pause that followed, Allie scrambled for something to say to change the subject. ‘So, was Mr –’ she tried to remember the first husband’s name ‘– St. John important in Orion or Night School, or whatever?’
‘Of course,’ Lucinda said, as if the alternative were unthinkable.
‘What happened after he died? Like, to Nathaniel and Isabelle.’
‘Alistair and I were always close,’ Lucinda continued. ‘He made me godmother to both his children. Isabelle’s mother was still alive – is still alive now, in fact – so she lived with her. But for Nathaniel, there was no one but me.’
‘What was he… like?’ Allie asked curiously.
‘Difficult,’ Lucinda said. ‘I was often away on business. Nathaniel and Isabelle were both attending Cimmeria at that time, it was his last year. Then when the will was read…’ She shook her head.
This sounded familiar to Allie. She thought Isabelle had mentioned something about an inheritance long ago. ‘What happened? What did the will say?’
Lucinda set the teacup down carefully on the delicate, white saucer. ‘Alistair had left everything to Isabelle.
