The Masqueraders

Prudence Tremaine

Prudence moves through fashionable London as the elegant young man 'Mr. Merriot,' her composure and sharp tongue earning her a place in circles where her brother's recklessness would betray them. She carries the weight of the family's Jacobite past, weighing her father's grand schemes against the quieter, more dangerous business of simply surviving under a new name. Her wary friendship with Sir Anthony Fanshawe complicates everything: he suspects more than he says, and she finds herself wishing she could tell him the truth.

Sir Anthony Fanshawe

Sir Anthony moves through Society with the ease of a man who has nothing to prove, his phlegmatic calm a stark contrast to the anxious schemers around him. He takes an unaccountable liking to the young Mr. Merriot, offering friendship without demanding explanations, even when he suspects the boy of Jacobite sympathies. His quiet loyalty and unsettling perceptiveness make him both the safest ally and the greatest threat to the Tremaines' carefully constructed masquerade.

Robin Tremaine

Robin Tremaine has spent years following his father's schemes from one scrape to another, and now finds himself in London playing the Honourable Robin Tremaine while dodging the shadow of Tyburn. He is charming, quick to laugh, and quicker to see the absurdity of their situation, but beneath the shrug of fatalism runs a genuine fear of what his father's next grand gesture might cost them. His loyalty to Prudence anchors him, even as his own romantic entanglements threaten to unravel their careful disguise.

Mr. Markham

Gregory Markham moves through the margins of fashionable London, a man whose friendships are transactional and whose instincts for weakness are sharp. When a nervous stranger comes looking for Lord Barham, Markham sees not a threat but a commodity, and his willingness to squeeze information from the desperate puts him on a collision course with the Tremaines. He is the kind of enemy who does not need proof to act, only suspicion and the promise of profit.

Letty Grayson

Letty Grayson is young, impressionable, and utterly captivated by the mysterious Black Domino who calls her by her name and promises to find her again by the glint of a strange gold ring. She is the kind of girl who believes in adventures and perfect hours, and her innocent longing for the Unknown makes her vulnerable to the very real dangers swirling around her. Her romantic entanglement draws her into the orbit of the Tremaines and their enemies, where fairy-tale promises may prove far more perilous than she imagines.

Mr. Rensley

Rensley is a man of blunt ambition and little subtlety, convinced that the title and estates of Barham belong to him and willing to bully anyone who stands in his way. He is a persistent suitor to Prudence in her female guise and a snarling adversary to the mysterious Lord Barham, his coarse manners and quick temper making him both a social embarrassment and a genuine threat. His willingness to duel and his readiness to sell out anyone for advantage make him the kind of antagonist who cannot be ignored, only outmaneuvered.