Page 2 of A Wallflower for the Disguised Earl

Vivienne laughed, a light, musical sound that lacked any real warmth. “Oh, do not encourage her, Aunt. If Corinna had her way, she would spend the entire Season hiding behind a curtain, reading about ancient Rome. Try not to wander off looking lost this week, Corinna. It reflects poorly on the family.”

“I shall try to maintain a firm grip on reality,” Corinna replied drily.

By the time the evening had fully set in, the trunks had been hauled upstairs. Eleanor had retired to her room with a headache, overwhelmed by the noise of carriages rattling past the window. Corinna and Vivienne were to share a large, well-appointed bedroom at the end of the hall.

Corinna stepped into the bedroom and found Vivienne already standing before the grand standing mirror, holding a pale blue silk gown against her chest.

“I think this one is for the first morning calls,” Vivienne said, turning this way and that. “It brings out my eyes. Do you not agree?”

“It is very blue,” Corinna said.

Vivienne sighed and tossed the gown onto the bed. “You are so very useless at this. You have no eye for presentation. It is no wonder you are so easy to overlook in a crowded room. You make no effort to be seen.”

“I see perfectly well from where I am,” Corinna said. She left her own small trunk unopened.

The room felt suffocatingly warm, filled with the scent of Vivienne’s intense floral perfume. I need to find a quiet space before I lose my mind. She turned and slipped back out into the hallway.

She wandered down the stairs, her soft leather shoes making no sound on the wooden steps. She passed the sitting room and found a smaller door slightly ajar at the back of the house. Pushing it open, she stepped into Phoebe’s study.

The room smelled of old paper, dried flowers, and beeswax. Books lined the walls from floor to ceiling, not arranged by size or color, but clearly heavily used. A large mahogany desk sat near the window, but what caught Corinna’s eye was the small, circular table in the corner.

Resting on it was a beautiful wooden chess set. The pieces were intricately carved from ebony and boxwood.

Corinna walked over and brushed her fingertips across the smooth head of the black knight. She pulled out the chair and sat down.

Her fingers moved on their own. She cleared the center of the board and began setting up a specific arrangement of pieces she had been turning over in her head during the carriage ride, a complicated middle-game scenario she had discussed with Thomas Briggs in his steward’s office back home.

Move the white bishop to pin the knight, advance the pawn, and trap the rook.

“You have a terrible habit of leaving your flanks exposed,” a voice said.

Corinna jumped slightly. Phoebe was leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a cup of wine in her hand.

“I was not expecting company,” Corinna said, her hands freezing over the board.

Phoebe entered the room and took the chair opposite. She glanced down at the chessboard. “You sacrifice the pawn to seize the center. Most aggressive.”

“It is necessary,” Corinna replied. “If one waits for the opponent to set the pace, one spends the game forever on the defensive. Far better to force them to answer to you.”

Phoebe lifted her eyes from the pieces and regarded Corinna steadily. “You are very intuitive, my dear, and have passed your days largely among your father’s books. You sound like you observe the world with the same sharp eye you give this board, and yet you permit your sister to address you as though you were no more than the furniture.”

A flush rose in Corinna’s cheeks. “Vivienne is… Vivienne. She must have all the air in any room she enters. It is easier to let her take it.”

“Easier is not always wiser,” Phoebe said, her voice low and warm. “If you withdraw into your own thoughts, child, you will guard yourself so closely that no one may come near enough to you. You would sooner unravel a puzzle than risk a feeling.”

She sees too much, Corinna thought, her chest tightening. She is worse than Thomas.

Before she could summon a reply, the whisper of silk announced Vivienne. Her sister swept past the open door of the study, pausing only to cast a glance within.

“A chess set,” Vivienne observed, her tone laced with delicate disdain. “How singular, Corinna, to unpack that before anything else. Pray do not soil your gown with dust.”

She did not wait for an answer. On she went down the corridor, calling loudly for a maid to carry hot water to her chamber.

Corinna looked back to the board, her jaw tightening. She lifted her white bishop and set it down with a decisive click.

Phoebe watched the empty doorway a moment, then turned again to her niece. “She truly believes your quiet competence offends her, you know. She has never been denied the smallest wish. She has no notion what she would be without her beauty to bargain with.” Phoebe took a sip of wine. “This Season will prove most illuminating. For all of us.”

“I only hope I may find sufficient corners in which to conceal myself,” Corinna murmured.