“Don’t be too hard on him. He only told me.”
Caiden looks over at me, then scans the room, as if noticing his audience for the first time. The ladies all gasp and hurriedly drop into curtsies.
“I asked Perla to come.” The duchess folds her hands in front of her.
“I already have another seamstress scheduled,” he says.
“Cancel. Perla dressed your mother. She should dress the future empress as well.” The duchess pats his cheek, and Caiden flinches.
He sighs. “Fine. But you need to leave her be until she’s been introduced to the court. There’s too much gossip already.”
“Alright,” the duchess agrees. She turns to me. “It was nice to meet you, darling. I will send an invitation for tea as soon as my grandson removes your restrictions.”
“That sounds nice, thank you,” I say.
Caiden stares at the ladies until they scurry away before facing me. “Princess, I stopped by to apologize for not taking you myself today and to formally invite you to dinner.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” I reply.
He nods, then escorts his grandmother from the room.
After a few minutes of staring at the closed door, I let out a breath, and it feels like everyone follows suit. I look around at the ladies, all of their hobbies abandoned. “Were you all putting on a show for the duchess?”
“She’s a very traditional woman.” Marian smooths the fabric of her skirts.
“And powerful,” Charlotte adds. “My mother once told me she had more sway over the emperor than the empress herself.”
“You don’t want to cross her,” Marian warns.
“I heard the empress displeased her mother, and that’s why she?—”
“Katherine!” Marian cuts in.
Katherine snaps her mouth closed then looks away, her face pink.
“What do you mean? Are you saying the Dutchess had something to do with the empress’s death?” I scan the faces around me.
“Of course not.” Antonia picks up her abandoned embroidery and drops into a chair. “She’s not a royal and with her daughter dead, her only tie to the crown is her grandson. Don’t let them get to you.”
“Who wants to play cards?” Katherine blurts.
“I’ll play.” I might not have been out in the field for the rebellion, but my brothers sure learned a lot of information during card games over the years. And whatever these ladies know, I am going to find out.
Katherine, Charlotte, and Antonia join me at the dining table. The others go back to their reading or embroidery, and Marian tells us she has to check about the seamstress.
As we play simple games, the ladies talk. They share gossip about their families and speculate on who is pregnant or who might be the next to be engaged. I listen, hoping to hear something I can use.
“June says her brother is going to visit the temple during Darkfall,” Charlotte says.
“Jamison? I thought he wasn’t going to be a legionnaire,” Antonia says.
“He’s not. She said he got a position with someone important enough that they petitioned for him to get magic,” Charlotte explains as she plays a card.
I straighten.
“He’s not from an important enough family,” Antonia says.
“Most of the favored families sent their sons in the last Darkfall,” Charlotte says. “There are fewer to go through this time.”
