There was a heaviness in his mood, though he usually was so sullen it was probably unnoticeable. He wondered if his mother was correct, but it made far more sense she was so out of touch with him that she had no idea. It was trouble imagining he was as useful and intelligent as she'd suggested.

"To me, it sounds like father is furious for some reason and he just wants to burn it all , that's why he's giving it to her. He hasn't shown much love for her until now, right?" His hand came up to scratch his chin as he looked away and frowned. "We convince someone he's not in his right mind, and that it's against her morals to take the inheritance if she doesn't want to be part of the family. "

As she focused on him, he managed to not reel back into his seat. Curiosity filled his emotions as he leaned forward just a touch, "What is it? I will keep it.."

Darius was moving exactly where she wanted him. Good boy. She smiled sadly at him. "This might be a shock to you... well, perhaps not. She's always been so different and her ways so much coarser than yours and your siblings'..." She swallowed and seemed to struggle for words. "Do you remember when you were boy and I had to spend some months at the Riviera until Pearl was born because it was a difficult pregnancy. Well... I was not pregnant then and the last thing I wanted..." her lip trembled again. She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "The last thing I wanted was to be separated from you children and be exiled like that. But your father... he forced me. I was afraid of him."

She brought the handkerchief up again and wiped her cheek. Then she opened her eyes. "Your father couldn't keep his hands off one of the maids. Well, perhaps more than one. But to add insult to injury, he forced me to mother the bastard child he fathered. He threatened to harm me if I wouldn't or if I would ever tell anyone. Darius, Pearl is not your true sister. She's your father's bastard child, and he's now trying to hand the inheritance to her as a final slight to his real family.

There was so much going on behind closed doors in this house. It would have made a wonderful book if he could stomach to write it. " Oh mother.." He took her hand to comfort her as she hit every cue for a sad woman. "Father is terrible, and the fact Magnus turned out that way proves it. You need to remove him before his evil ways are exposed. We can tell the lawyer, I'm sure.. I mean.. maybe because she was brought into the home through fraud, we can keep her from getting anything?" He knew nothing about this sort of thing, but it sounded good. He took her hand and patted it to try to soothe her, "Don't cry mother. You know getting so upset ...it isn't good for your health."

That was it? No questions? No doubts? She hadn't expected Darius to prance along this easily.

Or should she be suspicious? Was he pretending?

None of these questioned showed on her face. Instead she dabbed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh, you're right, my dear," she said weakly. "Do you think the lawyer could cut her out of the will? I mean, I wouldn't want her to come to harm. Perhaps we could find a good solution for her, somewhere out of harm's way. The poor child can't help her vulgar ways. Good education cannot correct bad blood. But we mustn't let her taint our name or steal from you children. If we could only find a way to... make sure your father has no control over the will..."

Darius rose his brow. "Wouldn't it be far easier to just leave her alone? It seems that is what she wants. And if we just gave her a tiny stipend... it would satisfy that we are being generous even if she didn't deserve anything. We'd be seen as charitable right?"
He looked at his mother hoping for approval. It seemed like the best solution, and while he would never want to give a half pence to any of his other siblings, he did like Pearl and want to help her out of this madness.

She had been under the impression that of all the children, Darius and Pearl were closest. Was he willing to practically cut his half-sister off this easily? Well, who knew what Darius really felt towards his sister or anyone. He had been a recluse for these past few years.

She sighed. "That would be an option, if she'd be willing to let go of any Carrington connections and rights. But the scandal, Darius... The scandal she's already caused. Just think of the scandal if a perceived Carrington were to get pregnant with some slum dweller's child. Oh..." She put her hand on her heart. "It's too much for me. The sleepless nights she's given me."

Darius looked at his mother and tried still to calm her. "Do you want me to get you something to drink, mother?" He waved her worries away. "She wants to be independent. I think she would be alright with this. And the scandal is honestly the least of our worries. She isn't obviously with child yet if there is even one on the way. So the scandal is minor considering what Magnus has done, at least I think so. And if we disconnect, you can always claim it was because she shamed the house. No one will probably care beyond that, right?" He liked Pearl, but it did hurt to hear she had moved out but he didn't blame her. Better to live with a small shame amongst the middle class ignored by the family, since he didn't see her striving for any sort of aristocracy.

"Oh, aren't you an angel. Yes please dear..." she said. They could easily ring for a servant, and Anne would usually do so rather than let her son do such a menial low task as fetching water. But she needed some time to gather her thoughts about what Darius had said. He was proving to be surprisingly useful.

Darius nodded as he stood giving her a little bow out of habit. He turned and walked off towards the kitchens to demand something for his mother to drink. He didn't dare give her plain water, and his usual types of wine perhaps wouldn't be good for her condition. He was considering maybe a little tea would do her a lot of good.

As soon as Darius was gone, Anne rose and began to pace the floor. She had hardly considered Darius in her calculations. True, he was the heir now, but she had also believed that she could easily control him. But Darius had gone to see a lawyer. Darius proved to be - smart was probably not the right word, but he was a force to be reckoned with, nonetheless. A force that could do a lot of good, if she could yield it.

After a while, when she thought her son might return soon, Anne sat down again, allowing her body language and face to show helplessness and fatigue once more.