“They are not above the law.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “When have you last heard of an earl brought to justice for his crimes against the working classes?”
She touched her aching temples. “I haven’t.”
“Drummuir here’s been owned by Rutland,” he said. “It’s why the conditions are so dire.”
This shocked her a little. “I did not know,” she said.
“He cooked the books, too,” Lucians said. “Consequently, the consortium buying Drummuir formed the wrong conclusions from their due diligence. When they noticed this mine will yield only low profits even after the necessary investments, they sold it to me at a loss. Will there be consequences for Rutland? Doubtful.”
“The lords you have ruined,” she said slowly. “You did not choose them at random, did you?”
“No.”
Gooseflesh spread down her legs. She hugged her knees more tightly. “You are taking the law into your own hands, one reprehensible nobleman at a time?”
He cocked his head. “You disapprove.”
“Tell me,” she said, “have I married an anarchist?”
“Hell, no.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said, and then, suspiciously, “Why aren’t you?”
His mouth twisted derisively. “You know what anarchists do?”
“Contemplate the demise of the monarchy?”
“They sit around all day and talk a whole lot,” he said. “And under this pretense of avoiding authority by talking a lot about everyone’s ideas—when in the end, there’s always a leader and group coercion, anyway—they achieve bloody little.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t care much for authority,” he said. “So I won’t suffer inefficient authority exerted by hypocritical chatterboxes.”
“Understood,” she soothed. “Are you a communist, then?”
He shook his head. “Though I support a few financially—William Morris, for example.”
“The William Morris?” she asked, amazed. “The wallpaper designer?”
“Yes.”
“I had no idea.”
“Now you know.”
“Yes,” she said, “you’re a socialist.”
He gave a shrug. “I want to turn people in power; I care little about how.”
“Turning people in power,” she murmured. “I suppose that is my role, then. Or rather, my father’s.”
He gave a nod.
She felt numb. “I’ll have you know that my father hardly has a magic wand to wave,” she said. “And he is bound by the law, too.”
He leaned back against the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you deny that he has influence? Could open doors?”
She put up her chin. “Why not begin bettering the world by giving away your vast wealth to those in need?”
Lucian made a contemptuous sound. “Charity? No. I want lasting change. Remember the trouble of raising wages to a living wage as a single entrepreneur? I want a restructuring of government expenditure. A systemic redistribution of wealth—that is what I want.”
“Right.”
He was right fired up. “Take a guess how much of public spending is allocated to the British military every year.”
She gave a tired shrug. “Twenty percent?”
“Thirty,” he said, “thirty percent of central public spending for infernal imperial wars. On the other hand, nothing for health or education, not a shilling. Which very nicely maintains the oversupply of poor, uneducated lads to the front lines and mining pits. There’s more dignity in bullets and rocks than in begging for alms in a rotten London ally.”
He sounds like Lucie, she thought as she watched the room’s shadows play over his hard face; the strength of conviction, the focus, were the same.
“What do you propose?” she asked softly.
He uncrossed his arms. “We’ll never see money diverted from the imperialists,” he said. “They’d rather devour the world than feed the people of Britain. I’m looking at the revenue side and currently the most effective lever is to increase the income tax.”
“I had to study Gladstone’s voting records for my suffrage work,” she said. “I’m fairly certain that for the last twenty years he continually advocated for abolishing the income tax altogether.”
“Och, but he never did, because it’s baseless pandering,” said Lucian. He was pacing in front of the table now in a rare agitation. “The budget relies excessively on customs and excise duty when trade conditions are continually worsening, and American imports are able to undercut British products at every turn.”