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“But this isn’t a play,” Ellen argued, using the spool of ribbon she’d just picked up to emphasize her point. “This is real life. In my experience, real life is far less dramatic than what is seen on a stage.”
Alice laughed outright at this, though not unkindly. “This from a woman who comes from the Wild West of America.” She turned to Charlotte and said, “Did you have a chance to attend that Wild West show in Earl’s Court when they performed there a few years back?”
Charlotte could feel herself on the verge of an entire other conversation that she would very much liked to have had with Alice, but Priya interrupted by saying, “Family obligation is not something to be taken lightly.” She looked at Charlotte with deepest concern. “I would hate to see you hurt from raising your hopes too high where Prince Petrus is concerned.”
Of course Priya would be the wet blanket of the bunch. That didn’t stop Charlotte from loving her cautious friend, though.
“I have ample reason to believe that Petrus would not cast me off at this point,” she said, eyes downcast, face heating. “Particularly not after the other night.”
She peeked up to find the Rathborne-Paxton brides all staring at her with varying degrees of surprise and amusement.
“Well done,” Alice said at last with a hearty laugh.
“Well done indeed,” Nanette grinned along with her. She straightened a bit, then added, “Though men have been known to wriggle out of promises for much less than that.”
Charlotte shook her head and stood to begin gathering finished bows from the table and place them in a basket. “Petrus would never do that. I am confident in his love.”
She smiled to herself as she spoke and plucked bows from the table to add to the basket with a spring in her step.
That spring flattened a bit as she spotted King Milas approaching the other end of the ballroom, where Petrus, Prince Oskar, and several of Petrus’s cousins were working to hang decorations around the top of the wall, using ladders and hammers. The king called up to Petrus, who scrambled down from the ladder to speak to him.
Charlotte held her breath, wishing she was close enough to that end of the room to hear what the king had to say. He seemed serious, whatever it was, and even across the distance, it was plain that his words had shifted Petrus’s mood from jolly to sober. Oskar looked equally somber, perhaps even more so.
Charlotte hadn’t realized she was standing still watching the men until Petrus glanced in her direction. The intensity of his stare felt like he’d fired an arrow into her heart. She even gulped for breath and stood straighter. She tried with everything she had to send her beloved a look of encouragement, but when King Milas and Oskar turned to glance in her direction, the arrows fired at her seemed to sting.
“Oh, dear,” Ellen said, as though she’d been privy to everything the three men had said. “That doesn’t seem good at all.”
It might have been even worse than that, because Charlotte realized that she was not the only lady that the three men were staring at. Lady Jenny had just entered the ballroom as well. She carried long ropes of some sort of golden decoration in her arms, and Charlotte had to admit that the effect of so much gold surrounding the beautiful woman was as if an angel had descended into the room.
The terrible thought hit her right then. She would never be as beautiful and refined as Lady Jenny Lindstrom. She had not been born into nobility, like Lady Jenny. When she glanced back to the three men and found King Milas smiling at Lady Jenny with approval, her heart sank even further. It was obvious that, if given a chance between his nephew marrying a Swedish noblewoman of impeccable pedigree or the daughter of a British industrialist who hadn’t quite lost the rough edges of his birth, Charlotte would not be his first choice.
“Prince Petrus doesn’t look at Lady Jenny the way he looks at you,” Alice said, breaking Charlotte out of the downward spiral of her thoughts. She turned to Alice, who went on with, “Anyone with eyes can see that, even a king.”
Charlotte sighed and continued around the table, adding finished bows to the basket. “I suppose you’re right. I only wish that the king would look beyond the interests of his kingdom to understand the hearts of his family members.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Charlotte realized how silly they sounded. Kings were responsible to their kingdoms above all. King Milas might like her as much as Lady Jenny, but he would press for his kinsmen to do what was right for Aegiria.
The three men said their final words to each other and went their separate ways. King Milas exited the ballroom, and after hesitating for a moment, Prince Oskar followed him. Petrus sent Charlotte an encouraging smile that didn’t quite seem complete, then scurried back up the ladder that his brother stepped in to hold to continue with hanging decorations.
Charlotte finished gathering the completed ribbons, then headed to the windows, where Queen Sylvia was directing the entire operation. Charlotte was mightily impressed with the royal family’s tradition of doing what servants would normally do and decorating the palace themselves. It made all the princes and princesses seem so much more human, in a way.
But with humanity came human frailty and the possibility of making mistakes. And as Charlotte reached the queen, so did Lady Jenny.
“You wanted these, your majesty,” Lady Jenny said, presenting her armful of golden garlands.
“Yes, dear,” the queen said, smiling affectionately at Lady Jenny. “You were so good to fetch them for me.”
Charlotte swallowed. It was just a simple compliment, but did it mean that the queen liked Lady Jenny more than her?
She shook the thought away as unhelpful. It was a good thing that Lady Jenny was liked. Charlotte had a feeling the woman needed that sort of support. It was only a shame that that support seemed to come at Charlotte’s own expense.
“We will hang the garlands from the windows,” the queen directed Lady Jenny. “They will sparkle beautifully in the candlelight.” She glanced to Charlotte with some warmth, but perhaps not quite as much? “And how can I help you, Miss Sloane?” she asked.
A sudden wave of anxiety swept over Charlotte. What if the queen and king didn’t approve of her? What if they refused to allow Petrus to marry her, whether Lady Jenny was a consideration or not?
Charlotte forced herself to smile and ignore her worries in favor of what was right in front of her. Worrying about tomorrow had never accomplished anything.
“Where would you like these bows hung, your majesty?” she asked with what she hoped was kindness and amiability.
