Lady Branson studied her thoughtfully over the rim of her spectacles.
“Tell us, Lady Seraphine,” she said as she laid down a card. “What do you think of the prospects here?”
Seraphine blinked. “The prospects?”
“The gentlemen,” Katherine clarified.
“The house party is nearly over,” Hannah added. “Soon we shall all be returning to London.”
Lady Branson nodded sagely. “Which means it is time to take stock.”
Seraphine suddenly wished she had remained with Thalia and avoided this conversation altogether.
The three women looked at her expectantly. Their curiosity was entirely innocent, yet she felt unexpectedly trapped beneath it. Everyone at Amberhall seemed to assume that matchmaking was a pleasant diversion. None of them knew that for her it felt alarmingly close to a necessity. None of them knew about William's deadline. None of them knew that every passing day brought her closer to losing her home.
She forced a pleasant smile and carefully arranged her cards in her hands, pretending to consider her next move rather than the question. The edges of the cards suddenly seemed fascinating.
“The gentlemen have all been very agreeable,” she said.
Lady Branson laid down a card with deliberate slowness. Across the table, Katherine and Hannah exchanged identical expressions of expectation.
Three pairs of eyes remained fixed upon her. Waiting. Expecting more. Seraphine resisted the urge to squirm beneath their scrutiny. Instead, she lowered her gaze and examined her cards with exaggerated concentration, as though the fate of the kingdom depended upon her next hand.
“...and they have all been very polite and dance quite well,” she continued after a moment.
The silence that followed stretched noticeably longer than before. Somewhere nearby, another group of ladies burst into laughter, but at their table no one spoke.
Lady Branson's eyebrows rose so high they nearly disappeared. “That is all?”
Seraphine selected a card and placed it neatly upon the table before looking up again. “That is all.”
Katherine exchanged a look with Hannah. Hannah's lips twitched.
She knows I am being evasive.
Unfortunately, that deduction was entirely correct. Seraphine could practically feel the disbelief settling around the table. She took a sip of tea to avoid saying anything further and silently prayed that someone would change the subject before the other ladies began naming eligible bachelors one by one.
The conversation moved on eventually, but the damage had already been done. Simply being reminded that the party would soon end sent a familiar wave of dread through her. She stared down at her cards without truly seeing them. Every gentleman she had met at Amberhall Manor was agreeable. Some were kind. Some were handsome. Some possessed excellent fortunes. Yet none of them solved the problem sitting heavily in her chest.
The deadline remained. One month. Less than one month now.
Yet not one of these men could make me bear the thought of being married to them, even to escape from the abbey.
The thought made her stomach twist unpleasantly. As the game continued around her, Seraphine found herself growing increasingly distracted. Lady Branson won two hands in succession and received enthusiastic congratulations. Hannah launched into a dramatic retelling of an embarrassing incident involving a puppy and a visiting baron. Everyone laughed. Seraphine smiled when appropriate, but her mind had drifted elsewhere. She kept seeing William's smug face. She kept hearing his cheerful voice informing her that the abbey would be waiting.
A nun.
The very idea made her want to scream. Not because she objected to religion. Because she objected to being forced into a life she had not chosen.
She suddenly felt as though the walls of the parlor were closing in around her.
“Lady Seraphine?”
The sound of her name cut through the fog of her thoughts.
Seraphine blinked and looked up from her cards, realizing that all three women were watching her with varying degrees of concern. She had apparently been staring at the same hand for far longer than was socially acceptable.
“Forgive me,” she said quickly, setting her cards into a neat stack. “I fear I have become distracted.”
