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Father in heaven, may this week be the shortest in the history of mankind.
17
Aphrodite
I always knew my mother was a force to be reckoned with, but I did not know she was a miracle worker. Everyone had told her repeatedly that it would not be possible to do what she asked in a week’s time. The modiste told her she did not have the fabric to make the dress, and the baker told her he did not have enough time to make the cake. The cook complained that he did not have enough hands to create the feast, the decorator said there was no time to prepare the house, and, most of all, the ton said they would not be able to attend on such short notice. And yet everything was ready, and the last person had sent notice they would be in attendance at the reception—that person being the queen!
I lay on my bed, staring at the dress that hung in anticipation of my wedding in the morning. It was a beautiful white, with accents of gold and silver. The more I stared at it, the more mesmerized I was with its detail.
Knock. Knock.
“Come in,” I said, still unable to look away from the dress.
“Are you sleeping?” Hathor asked.
“No,” I muttered. I tore my gaze away from the gown to see Hathor in her nightdress, her hair in her cap. “What is it?”
She closed the door and came to my bed, lying down beside me. She shifted a few times before she was comfortable and looked at me. “This is your last night here.”
I frowned at that. “It is not. I promise I shall be back—”
“But it is your last night here as Lady Aphrodite Du Bell. Next time you come, you shall be Her Grace, the Duchess of Everely. You shall be a married woman, and I will not be allowed to come into your room like this. Even if the duke does not come with you.”
“Are you saying you shall miss coming into my room like this?”
“I am saying I shall miss…” She thought for a moment. “I shall miss being on the same side of the line with you. You shall cross over and be a wife and know of…whatever it is wives know. And I shall still be a child.”
“Do you really believe Mama is going to let you off? The moment I am away, you will have what you have always dreamed of—the attention of all the ton.” For the good or the bad sometimes. “You will join me on the other side as a married woman before too long.”
“Ummm. Very true,” she muttered and shifted to lie on her back, looking up at the ceiling. “But then what will we fight about?”
I laughed and turned onto my back as well. “I do not know, but we are sisters, so I am sure we can find something.”
“Promise me you will be careful, Odite.”
“Of?”
“Everything. You shall be the mistress of your own home. You will have a husband to tend to. Mama says that is not easy, even if she makes it look so. Then there is the whole estate to manage. Mama says it is of paramount importance to understand the lay of the house and make sure the servants respect and, most importantly, like you. They already had a mistress before, so they may be biased against you. It is good that Mama has given you Eleanor for assistance. She is very diligent, but one maid on your side is not enough. A house cannot run without the servants.”
“I know,” I said, smiling at the worry in her voice.
“Then, on top of that, there are, of course, tenants on the land. All the farmers and there are even a few mills in the duke’s authority. As the new mistress, you will need to get them all to like you in turn. Mama says this is hard because they can believe us toffee-nosed. The first few weeks—no, the first year is important as you see them through a good or bad harvest.”
“I know.” Everything Mama had told her, she had already told me, as she had been preparing me to be the Duchess of Everely for…for as long as I could remember. She did not teach me how to run any estate. She taught me how to run Everely. She did not teach me how to manage any tenants. She taught me how to manage the tenants of Everely. Maybe that was why she wished for me to be eighteen to marry before being left to care for such a grand estate. But truthfully, looking back on my instructions and lessons, it was quite dangerous of her, because what if I didn’t marry Evander?
“And the most concerning of all of this,” Hathor said, shifting to look at me in the darkness, “is his family.”
“What do you know of his family?” As she should have known nothing. The circle to which Evander had told the truth was comprised solely of Father, Mother, Damon—and by connection Silva—and me.
“He has a daughter already.” She frowned heavily. “Have you thought of how you shall manage her?”
I shook my head. “I have not.”
“You must now think of these things, Odite.” One would have thought she was the elder of the two of us. “Of course, it is unbecoming of you to be cruel. The child bears no fault. But no matter what your name is or how handsome you are, you are a human with feelings. Seeing the child will hurt your heart, will it not?”
I had honestly put no thought into it. “I shall be all right, I am sure.”
“You do realize that baseless confidence of yours is your most infuriating feature? Everything does not always work out simply because you are sure.”
