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“The queen has asked me to deliver these to you, and to help, if I can,” she said, approaching Princess Dagmar.
Something about Lady Jenny pulled at Charlotte’s heart in a way she didn’t like. The Swedish noblewoman was beautiful, without a doubt, but she was so…so dour. As if she didn’t quite approve of the English invasion that had descended on the palace. Or as if she were unhappy in love somehow.
Charlotte determined right then and there that she would befriend Lady Jenny, whatever it took.
“We could use some of those bows over here, I would think,” she said in what she hoped was an inviting voice. She glanced to Brigitta to see if the woman would play along with her plans to draw Lady Jenny in.
Brigitta looked confused for a moment before saying, “Yes, we could use some.” She stared at Charlotte in a way that made Charlotte wonder if Petrus’s sister knew something she didn’t.
Without a word, Lady Jenny brought her basket over to them. She seemed skittish around Charlotte somehow, like she did not want to make friends. Charlotte simply could not imagine what that was all about.
“Why don’t we hang the bows together?” she suggested, moving to take the basket from Lady Jenny once her end of the garland was in place.
“I…I should assist Princess Dagmar,” Lady Jenny said, glancing over her shoulder to the woman.
“I will helpMormie,” Brigitta said, skipping away from the fireplace to cross the room to where Princess Dagmar was showing Priya how to arrange the trailing ends of the garland they’d just hung.
Charlotte exchanged a glance with Lady Jenny. She appeared as clueless as Charlotte felt about what to do with being left alone together.
“I’ve just learned that ‘mormie’ is the Aegirian diminutive for ‘mother’,” Charlotte told Lady Jenny in a quiet voice.
“Yes, I know,” Lady Jenny said.
Charlotte wanted to pinch her face in disappointment. She felt as though she was not making the best impression on the noblewoman.
“Would you show me how to pin the bows to the garland?” she asked, hoping that deferring to Lady Jenny’s wider knowledge and expertise would earn her the woman’s friendship.
“It isn’t that difficult,” Lady Jenny said with just a bit of tartness in her tone. She set the basket down, then took out a bow and used one of the pins to attach it to the garland. “Like this.”
“Oh, I see.” Charlotte fetched a bow from the basket and pinned it along the garland as well. “Is there a specific pattern, or should we just put them where we see fit?”
Lady Jenny seemed to take an inordinately long time to answer the question. Charlotte hadn’t thought it was that complicated. But at last, Lady Jenny let out a long, almost exhausted breath and said, “I do apologize if my manner has seemed curt, Miss Sloane.” She bent to take another bow from the basket.
Charlotte’s heart leapt for joy. She’d broken through the woman’s reserve after all, she just knew it.
“No offense taken,” Charlotte said, reaching for a bow herself. “I understand how difficult it must be to spend Christmas so far from one’s family, in a foreign country. And please call me Charlotte.”
Lady Jenny turned to her with a surprised look…that quickly turned forlorn. “It isn’t that, Miss—Charlotte. And thank you for the honor of your name.”
Charlotte smiled as she pinned her bow, waiting patiently for Lady Jenny to go on.
Lady Jenny pursed her lips together, worrying her hands in front of her. She then glanced up to meet Charlotte’s eyes so quickly that Charlotte nearly sucked in a breath in surprise.
“My father sent me here as a way to strengthen ties between Sweden and Aegiria,” she explained in a rush. “It is expected that I will marry into the Aegirian royal family.”
“Oh, I see,” Charlotte said.
She wasn’t a complete stranger to fathers that expected their daughters to marry men of their choosing. Priya had been in nearly that same position, as her father had wished for her to marry a friend of his back in India. More than that. Priyahadbeen married to Raja Jogendra Dev Raikut of Jalpaiguri by proxy, though the marriage had been declared invalid by the British courts so that Priya and Lord Cathraiche could wed.
But Lady Jenny’s brow furrowed, and she pressed her lips together as though Charlotte didn’t understand at all. “I have been in Aegiria for almost a year,” she said, “and I have yet to become betrothed.”
“I’m certain there is still time,” Charlotte said, daring to rest a friendly, comforting hand on Lady Jenny’s arm.
Lady Jenny looked alarmed and distressed by the gesture. She met Charlotte’s eyes again and said, “That is precisely the problem. There is not time. My father has now told me that if I am not engaged to…to the man he has chosen for me by Christmas, he will call me home before the new year. And I…I do not wish to leave.”
Charlotte nodded slowly as understanding dawned on her. “You wish to stay in Aegiria?” she asked.
Lady Jenny nodded. The poor thing looked near tears.
