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“I can make arrangements, my lady,” I say to Ruby, ignoring the heated look Mason is giving me. He should have more time with his daughter, anyway.
“Excellent, it’s set. Don’t argue, brother; it’s not polite to disagree with a woman.”
“I will talk to your twin,” Mason mutters under his breath, but gets to his feet despite his feelings on the matter, and offers Madeline his arm. The smile he gives her is anything but upset though, and there’s a softness in his expression I haven’t seen before.
Well. Maybe once before.
I look away before the way my face is heating gives me up. I need to get ahold of myself. I can’t keep falling to pieces every time he looks at me. Anyone could tell what we’ve shared. Maybe not exactly, but they’ll have a good guess. And then I’m ruined. Over.
Ruby waits until Maddie and Mason are gone, before she turns to me.
“Now,” she says, with an enthusiastic glint in her eyes. “Let’s go look at dresses.”
I’ve already been down in the wardrobe vault below the laundry, but this time is different. I’m not frantically working with Mrs. Harris, and am instead being trailed by two maids, and Ruby’svalaidas we go downstairs.
Thevalaidis unusual enough, it’s a rare lady that won’t be waited on by a a true lady’s maid, but can’t, for obvious reasons relating to chastity and obnoxious social demands, be served by a valet.
Ruby has avalaid, a personal attendant who identifies as neither male nor female, and to be honest, I find them a little intimidating. Jolan stands nearly six feet tall, and is more muscle than curves, and when they serve us tea while we look atdresses, their hands look like they could crush the teacup they hand me.
Ruby watches me watching Jolan, and when they leave to attend to something, she turns to me with a smile.
“Maids are all well, but Jolan offers me something a maid does not. Freedom from questions, freedom from the risks of being out and about in society without Noah glued to my side as chaperone. I’m sure you understand, how difficult it is to navigate a world that seems to hate women at the same time it says it cherishes us?”
I look at her, helpless, because I don’t know how to answer that. I know what she means. This world, the way it’s built, has us all pinned down, our every move dictated. Sometimes I think my life was planned out before I was born. But the cruelty of it, what I’ve lived through? It doesn’t make sense.
“Avalaidis the perfect accompaniment for a young lady,” Ruby continues. “No man threatens me with Jolan around, and my virtue is never questioned.” She shrugs and then smiles, clapping her hands together. “Shall we look at dresses? Something, perhaps, to catch my brother’s eye?”
I go still, the air in my lungs turning to ice. Her gaze is steady on me, the curve of her lips not cruel, but calculating.
She knows? But how does she know? I’ve been obvious. I’ve been stupid—
My vision swims, blurring over, and hot tears form, clinging to my lashes.
Hands wrap around mine, as the teacup I’m holding threatens to fall.
“Oh, dear, no, I’ve upset you,” Ruby says, and the gentle touch of her fingers on mine grounds me. She takes my cup and saucer, setting them down on a large leather footstool, where they’ll be safe from falling and shattering.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, as I blink away tears. “I’ve said the wrong thing.”
“No, my lady, you have every right,” I sniff, not able to force myself to meet her gaze, but knowing I must or be considered impudent. My lower lip trembles.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I don’t have any rights to your private thoughts or wishes,” she says, “but please tell me that my twin hasn’t used you ill, not so soon after we’ve arrived. He can’t have moved that fast despite you captivating his interest to intensely.”
My heart trips over itself, my lungs squeezing tight. Lord Noah? She thinks that Lord Noah is… that I’ve caught his attention?
Relief floods through my whole body, my blood practically tingling with it. A laugh bubbles out of me that I can’t stop. She doesn’t know. My secrets with Mason, with Benedict, remain just that.
“I can’t begin to think what you might mean, but I would never dream to attract your twin’s attention,” I say, because that is the whole truth. I have my hands full trying to manage what parts of the King family I can. I don’t even know what I am to either of the older King brothers. A convenience, maybe. Someone who’s slipped into their lives accidentally.
Ruby gives a playful roll of her eyes.
“Surely you’ve read a romance novel, or two, of a maid marrying up. It’s quite a popular trope, I’m to believe. Rags to riches, andall that.” She gets to her feet, but not before handing me a tissue so I can wipe my eyes. “But don’t worry, I’m not accusing you of anything improper. I just like a good bit of intrigue.” She smiles and folds her hands together in her lap in front of her. “Well, don’t worry. Let’s look at dresses, shall we?”
She rings a small bell sitting on the tea tray and my throat tightens as maids flutter into the room. They pull down an array of dresses, and I’m frozen, like a lost little spirit, surrounded by chattering women who keep offering up dress after dress to Lady Ruby. They don’t ask me what I’d prefer.
And why would they? She’s the noble born. I’m the servant. Do they even know her plans, to dress me up like a doll, a plaything, and let me loose in her ball?
“The theme is hunted and hunter,” Ruby says to one maid who pulls a dress made of black velvet with a caped fall of silk organza gathered at the shoulders. The thin transparent material falls to the ground. “So I think that would be perfect.”
