Cecilia ignored the insult. “Mother is waiting to greet the king, with all the others, but I thought perhaps you could introduce me to some people, which would be far more interesting.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Thomasin replied with a smooth smile. “You can meet the queen’s ladies-in-waiting, busy about their duties, or an ancient bishop with aching legs. Take your pick.”
“You are quarrelsome today. You know that I mean gentlemen, like the one who just left.”
Some raw emotion reared up in Thomasin. Suddenly she felt able to speak openly about what they had been dancing around. “Is that your purpose in coming to court? To chase men? To make a spectacle of yourself again? Have you learned nothing?”
The ice-blue eyes hardened. “I had thought to seek an ally in you, sister. That perhaps after all this time you might have grown up a little, that we might even be on the same side. But I see you are the same quarrelsome little girl. I wonder how the queen tolerates you.”
“Oh, she tolerates me well enough,” Thomasin snapped at once, holding up her hand with the pearl ring. “This is the mark of her favour.”
She turned and walked away from her sister, seething with anger. It was the first time they had clashed so bitterly since they were children, and it was worse for having been unexpected, and in public.
Queen Catherine was retelling an anecdote about her daughter dancing for the ambassadors when she was a child. When Thomasin looked back to see if Cecilia was still there, her sister had already gone, having spotted Hugh Truegood among the young men. She sauntered over to shower him with flattery.
“Who was that young woman you were speaking with?”
Thomasin turned to find Lady Howard beside her, all wide-eyed and sharp-nosed. Her heart sank.
“That was my sister.”
“Your sister? I would not have guessed. Her colouring is so different from yours.”
“She takes after our mother.”
“She is visiting court? Unmarried? How old is she?”
Suddenly, Thomasin realised the duchess’s motivation. “No, my Lady, do not think of her in that way.”
“It what way? I merely enquired.”
“She is not suitable.”
Lady Howard leaned in. “Not at the moment, no, but after she has been schooled, perhaps. And while Anne is absent from court, what better time?”
Thomasin decided to play dumb, annoyed that Lady Howard had thought the same as her. “Anne is absent? I thought I had not seen her. Why would that be?”
“She says she is indisposed, at Durham House, but my husband says otherwise. She has quarrelled with the king and last night, she tried to forbid her whole family to attend dinner.”
So that had been the reason why Thomas Howard had arrived late and alone.
“My husband is not the kind of man to take instructions, especially not from that headstrong girl.”
Thomasin thought it better not to reply.
“What is her name? Your sister?”
Again, she kept silent.
“Oh, don’t be so ridiculous, girl. I can simply ask someone else.”
“Her name is Cecilia.”
“Unwed?”
“Yes, unwed, but please, my lady. Leave her be. She is already known to the king, so any deception would not work.”
Lady Howard twisted her lips into an unpleasant smile and drifted away in the direction of the king.
