Adeline sighed as she set the quill in the ink pot. “David told me. Before we went up to change for dinner.”
Delight once again crossed Elizabeth’s face. “Why, that’s wonderful,” she said.
“From what Father had me read on the subject, it’s really not, Mother.” She took hold of the quill and finished the reply to the invitation before her shocked mother could form a coherent response.
“Perhaps the possession of a harem is not the show of power it used to be,” Elizabeth remarked, which had Adeline impressed. Apparently her father had talked her mother into reading the same book she had. “Sultan Ziyaeddin gave up his harem so Charlotte would marry him,” Elizabeth added.
“Afterhis concubines had borne him all those children,” Adeline countered, arching a brow. “Ertugrul has eleven brothers. Any of them could be named the heir if Ziyaeddin changes his mind.”
Elizabeth blinked, a moue of disappointment showing on her face. “That doesn’t seem fair at all,” she murmured, allowing a sigh as she opened another envelope. Her eyes widened. “Ariley’s duchess is hosting a ball in honor of Lady Rose,” she said happily.
Adeline winced. “Yes. I learned of it the day before yesterday when I hosted Rose for tea.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Elizabeth asked in surprise.
Shrugging, Adeline folded the note she had finished, addressed the outside with ‘The Most Hon. The Marchioness of Reading,’ and handed it to her mother. “Do you really care what happens to Lady Rose?”
Elizabeth inhaled sharply. “But of course I do,” she insisted. “I realize her accident has made it unlikely she’ll land a husband of high quality, which is unfortunate—”
“Unfortunate?” Adeline repeated in alarm. “She deserves the very best. I would expect you of all people to know she needs to land the very best husband she can.”
Reeling at hearing her daughter’s scold, Elizabeth stared at Adeline for a full ten seconds before she dipped her head. “Which is why I know she won’t end up with the man she should,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “My time withFinding Wives for the Woundedhas proven that a hundred times over,” she added in frustration. “Her infirmity will limit her prospects.”
It was Adeline’s turn to react. Her mother was right, of course. A perfectly respectable man did not always land the woman he had set his heart on after he was wounded in war. Sometimes practicality ruled the decision. Sometimes it was something more visceral. More disturbing.
For Lady Rose, her wounded leg meant she would be overlooked by those who just two years earlier would have been lining up to dance with her. Lining up to ask her father for permission to court her.
Lining up to propose marriage.
“I am sorry, Addy,” Elizabeth whispered. “It is not her fault, it is not your fault, it is nobody’s fault, but... Lady Rose will be lucky to end up a viscountess or a baroness,” she said quietly.
“Which is why I thought...” Adeline audibly sighed. “She might make a perfect sultana.”
Elizabeth winced, her thoughts immediately going to Rose’s mother. What would Helen Harrington Burroughs think if her daughter ended up married to a sultan’s heir and living in Constantinople?
Would the Duke of Ariley even allow such an arrangement?
“There is an entire Season in front of us,” Elizabeth said as she waved at the stack of invitations still on the salver. “Much can happen, and will.”
Wishing she could be in the billiards room, playing as a partner with her father against David and Ertugrul, Adeline thought she might have some sway over who the two young men might consider for courtship.
She’d been through three complete Seasons after all. She knew all the eligible young ladies. Knew all the eligible bachelors. Which is why she had decided that this Season would be her last. She would be free to work at the charity and see to it that those who deserved a better life would have it. Her father had already promised she could have her inheritance if she wasn’t married.
Spinsterhood was looking rather promising.
