She had managed to effectively wrap his brother around her littlest finger without much more than an occasional batting of her eyelashes and a fluttering of her fan. Without so much as the blink of an eye, Albert had adhered to her wishes and cancelled his plans to travel with them. He had been planning to go with them until Lady Julia asked him not to leave. As far as Edward was concerned Albert should be going with them.

In six weeks the Duke of Ashebury, Viscount Locksley, and Edward were going on a trek through the Far East. She was pulling him away from those closest to him, causing him to put aside his love for drinking, whoring, gambling, and traveling. Albert was blinded by her beauty, her grace, and her attentions, allowing her to take up far too much of his time with rides in the park, rowing on the Thames, theater, dinners, and-God forbid-poetry readings. Albert had been his anchor, his solace, his one constant in all matters, all things.Īnd now she was stealing him away-with her silken black hair and her startling blue eyes and her sweet laughter and her gentle smile. After they were abandoned so far from home, left in the marquess’s keeping, Albert assured Edward all would be well, that they began life together in the womb and, therefore, would always remain together. They constantly shoved and slapped at each other until the solicitor traveling with them separated the boys. While they traveled to Havisham Hall, where they became the wards of the Marquess of Marsden, Albert unwittingly offered a distraction, providing a place for Edward to vent his anger and frustration over life’s unfairness. During the evening of the day their parents were buried, Albert crept into Edward’s bed so neither of them would feel so lost and alone.

At the age of seven, older than Edward by only an hour, his twin had become the Earl of Greyling that night when their parents were killed in a horrific railway accident.ĭays later, Albert held Edward’s hand as they sat dutifully in front of the caskets that contained whatever remained of their parents. The only thing that saved it from going completely black was Albert. On the cold and dreary evening of November 15, 1858, Edward Alcott’s life turned gray.

The earl takes all