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“Oh, but she did.”
Amelia slowly stepped back from the edge of the screen. She was confused—should she not have mentioned it?
“And that, after what she said to Lord Garland!”
Yet a third female voice.
“What did she say?” the eager one asked.
“She said, in front of my sister, that she thought him too old to pursue a suit with her.”
Two identical gasps of shock. “To hisface?” one of them asked in a voice that had turned squeaky.
“Directly! Poor man turned as red as an apple. He said he understood and took himself away. What else was he to do?”
“What ahorriblething to say. So uncouth.”
Horrible?Uncouth? It was Lord Garland who’d made the jest, something about he rather thought he was too old to join the quest for her hand, and as he was at least forty years her senior, Amelia had agreed with him.Thatwas uncouth?
“She’s too...cocksure, isn’t she?”
“Tactless,” another one agreed. “Such a contrast to her sister the queen. I met the queen, you know, when she was here a few years ago. Very graceful and subdued. Her sister, however...she desired all the attention for herself.”
That wasn’t fair. Amelia had desiredsomeof the attention, but not all of it. Let one of them spend a lifetime with a sister who would be queen and say they didn’t want at least some of the attention!
“I remember that she had a way of stepping into a conversation when her sister was engaged and taking over. It was all very... I don’t know. Untoward?”
Amelia could feel the blood drain from her face. That was not true. They didn’t know that Justine had been plagued with crowd fright all her life. Or that Amelia had learned at a very early age to step in and spare her sister the agony. Justine had welcomed it! She was much better in crowds now, of course, as she was queen, and she had William at her side, but there had been many years that the heir presumptive could hardly step into public without being attacked with nerves, and Amelia had always been able to do it with ease.
“Lady Iddesleigh confided that she doesn’t endear herself to them at all.”
Amelia folded her arms. She’d have to inquire of Blythe how she might go about endearing herself, then, as Blythe seemed fit to mention it to everyone.
“Well, it’s obvious why they’ve sent her all the way to England to find a match, isn’t it? She’s probably affronted all the bachelors in Wesloria.”
That remark was followed by some giggling between the three of them. Amelia could feel her heart sinking.
“My prediction is that she won’t find her match here, either. Gentlemen do not care for ladies who are so forward, no matter their title. And it’s not as if she’s a princess of France or England, is it? I don’t think I could point out Wesloria on a map.”
“Forward? I think you mean rude, darling.”
“Off-putting. That’s it,” said another one.
“Yes, that’s it,” one of the ladies said, and the three of them giggled.
Off-putting.As if she had a smell about her. A pungent smell of rot.
The door suddenly swung open, and a woman swept in, nearly colliding with Amelia. “Oh! I beg your pardon, Your Royal Highness! I didn’t see you there.”
“Please,” Amelia said, and gestured for the lady to precede her around the screen and into the room. And when the lady moved, Amelia slipped out the door before any of them could feign ignorance or try and convince her they didn’t mean what they’d said. She could feel the burn of tears, thick and hot, in the back of her eyes.
“Your Royal Highness?”
She didn’t know which woman called after her, and she didn’t want to find out. She’d never meant to offend anyone. Why was everyone so easily offended!
She hurried away from the direction of the ballroom, searching for a place she could recompose herself. If that was even possible. All her life, people had chastised her for the things she said, and damn it if she could understand why what she said was so troublesome.
At the end of the hall there was a half staircase up onto a landing. She picked up her skirts and ran up the stairs. A darkened balcony was just ahead, the doors open to the night air to help cool the house. She slipped out onto the balcony and paused, put her hands on her waist, and drew several deep breaths. It was dark up here, but there was light below. She drew a few more breaths, wiped away the few tears that had managed to escape. She went to the railing, gripping it with both hands.
