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“Where on earth do you wish to go?” Silva said as they started to walk.
“The moon? Is such a thing possible?” I asked.
“No, not at all.” She laughed.
“Forgive me for pulling you away like this. I needed peace and, in the process, may have disturbed yours.” I nodded to other ladies as they passed us by.
“No matter. A walk always does the body and mind good.”
“I believe so, too, though I prefer a walk through nature and not the town,” I said.
There were so many people it was impossible to truly relax.
“I find it amusing.”
“Find what amusing?” I questioned.
She looked at me. “You wish to escape your family, yet I rather enjoy them.”
“I enjoy them as well, just not all the time and especially not when I wish to be alone. I never get the chance to be alone. I have always had my brother, then, of course, my governess, then my sisters came, and I found myself never not under watch.”
“Such is the nature for all young ladies, even I.”
“Yes, but was your home not less chaotic as an only child?”
“And endlessly boring!” She sighed and glanced over at me. “I am already plain, so belonging to a plain house is overdoing it. Do you not think so?”
I giggled. “No.”
“You truly do not know how blessed you are to live in such a household,” she said as we turned and crossed the street, “where everyone loves and cares for and teases one another. Even your mama and papa.”
“Are not husbands and wives meant to care for each other?”
“What is meant to happen and what actually transpires is often not the same. It is rare for true love matches to exist and survive the tenure of marriage. My parents, though I love them dearly, cannot wait to be separated from each other.”
“I am sorry.”
“No, do not be,” she mused, “it is a system that works for them. They have their own rooms and appointments, times at which they both eat, and it changes only when we have company.”
That sounded terribly depressing. I wished not to pry, but I thought that surely such an arrangement was not the case for Silva and my brother.
“Ladies.”
One word.
It took just one word, and I was able to discern whose voice it was. So when I lifted my head and saw Evander alongside his sister, my heart fell.
“Your Grace,” Silva spoke to him first.
“Lady Montagu.” He nodded to her and then refocused on me. “Lady Aphrodite. How are you both this morning?”
I still did not speak, so Silva did. “Quite well, Your Grace. If you will excuse us—”
“Thank heavens I ran into you both,” Verity exclaimed suddenly. “I have been utterly at a loss about what to do.”
“Are you well?” I asked her.
“I am not.” She frowned. “I have no dress for this evening’s ball, and my brother is as clueless as a bird about how to help me. If you both can spare the time, will you accompany me to the modiste?”
