The Regent nodded in acknowledgement and moved on.
Helena looked at Silas, widening her eyes at him. He smiled at her and nodded, squeezing her hand encouragingly.
Once the ceremony was done, they all trooped to the dining hall in the abbey, where a feast had been prepared. Helena was toonervous to eat much. There were too many distractions, and she was cowed in the face of so many nobles.
She surreptitiously watched the women, looking for clues on the right way to behave. These women had all grown up in the convent, but they seemed confident in their positions.
Helena wondered about that. The nuns certainly did not teach comportment, or how to play an instrument, or even a second language. They didn’t teach oblates how to converse politely, or any of the myriad skills a duchess was supposed to have.
The other women did not seem bothered by that.
Perhaps I’m good enough as I am.
The thought had her sitting up straighter and pulling her shoulders back.
I am good enough as I am.
They were all tired when they arrived back home.
Tired and hungry.
“I hope we don’t have to change for supper,” Amelia said.
“Absolutely not. Go and wash up, and then we’ll eat,” Silas replied.
He watched his sister skip up the stairs, followed by Charlie at a much slower pace.
“Is it just me, or does it feel more like a family around here, lately? Not that we weren’t family before, but it’s as if Charlie has completed it all.”
“He wasn’t here before,” Silas said. “Of course, the family did not feel complete.”
He put his hand around her waist, walking her to her chambers so she could freshen up as well. There was a lightness to his step that he could not at first identify.
Then, he realized that it was happiness he felt. He stopped at Helena’s door and twirled her in his arms, before swooping in to kiss her passionately, hand on her cheek, tongue in her mouth.
She kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm, if not more.
Heavens, she was the best thing he had ever tasted.
“Go on,” he said, stepping back. “I’ll see you in a moment.”
Dinner was a quiet but companionable affair. Amelia was inclined to prattle on about the Regent and how different he’d seemed from all the accounts she’d heard of him.
“He seemed to like you, Helena,” she said.
“He liked that I gave him the diadem,” Helena said drily.
To her surprise, Charlie laughed out loud. She flicked a glance at him and then looked at Silas with wide eyes. He gave a shrug and kept eating.
“They’ll leave us alone now?” Charlie asked.
Helena reached for his hand, squeezing hard. “Yes, they will.”
He nodded once. “Good.”
Helena watched him with soft eyes. Her brother had been through so much. She did not know if he would ever be fine, but she vowed to do everything she could to help him.
After dinner, Jeeves brought a large chocolate gateau with cream and coffee with brandy for dessert. They dug into it with gusto.
