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“The most desired of the ton…even despite her age now. Well, desired by everyone but the Duke of Everely. He preferred a simple bowl of soup to her luxurious feast. So much so, apparently, he drank his fill before they were even wed, ignoring the poor, poor goddess.”
They laughed, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“If it’s simple he wants, maybe I shall send my daughter his way.”
They giggled.
“He would sooner take her over the goddess. Sometimes too much beauty is a curse. Men want fun, not a living painting. Though I do hear that he is quite the rake now that his wife has died, indulging in all types of things.”
I noticed one of them had dropped her handkerchief, so I picked it up.
“I beg your pardon, madam,” I called out. When they turned to me, their eyes widened. I lifted the handkerchief to them. “Did either of you happen to drop this?”
“Oh yes, my dear, thank you,” said the elder of the ladies.
“Not at all.” I smiled at them and walked on to our carriage. Luckily, ours was the only one yet to have come. I did not realize how fast I had been walking but preferred it so I could breathe and kick the ground before me slightly.
To hell with you fat-witted dirty-dish old wenches! I screamed in my mind and kicked once more. No good, jingle-brained—
“Aphrodite!”
I jumped at the sound of my mother’s voice. “Mama!”
“Did you forget you had family, or did you seek to fly? What on earth had you walking so quickly and away from us? I called to you, and yet you kept walking.”
“I’m sorry, Mama…I was lost in thought.”
“These thoughts of yours.” She huffed, shook her head, and turned back to look for my sisters. “Hathor, hurry. We must return so you may all prepare for the ball.”
“What is the point? The queen said not a word to me!” Hathor cried as she entered, yanking the feathers out of her hair.
“Consider yourself lucky, for the words she did speak brought the other young ladies to tears,” my mother replied.
“You are not riding with Father?” I asked Mother.
“Do you seek to calm her down alone?”
I did not.
“Abena, here,” she ordered our youngest sister, who was trying to stow away in the other carriage.
“Mama, would you not—”
“Here,” she repeated.
Devana laughed at her as she was able to ride with our father.
Abena marched to the carriage, was helped inside, and the door closed. My mother reached to grab her ear, but Abena hugged me. “Mama, people can still see.”
“So you are aware, and yet you spoke out of turn before the queen, and not only did you speak, it was language unbecoming of a lady!”
“But the queen laughed,” Abena tried to argue.
“You shall wash the pots!”
“Mama!” She gasped in horror.
“If you wish to speak as maids do, you shall work as maids do. May that remind you of who you are.”
