Page 62 of Cursed

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Isn’t it funny how I’m overlooking one of the most beautiful oceans in the world, and all I can think about is a totally different beach?”

Edeena glanced over to Caroline, who was sitting under a large umbrella, staring out at the Aegean. They’d all gathered on one of the palace’s tiered decks, sipping mimosas and eating from great platters of fruit. Edeena hadn’t realized how much she’d missed the fruit of Garronia, how much she’d missed its sunlight and beautiful views. Strange that Caro was taking the exact opposite approach. “I’m not sure most of our neighbors here would even classify that little sandy inlet a proper beach.”

“I know!” Caro gestured to the rolling blue-green waters that were as much a part of the Garronois life as the mountains and the blue sky, and shook her head. “South Carolina is so much . . . softer, in a way. All those trees hanging with moss, the silence of the water, the nature preserve on the other side of the waterway from Heron’s Point. It’s like it has all these secrets to hide, and it won’t give any of them up easily.”

“Well, I’m only interested in the secrets its people give up,” Marguerite commented from Edeena’s other side. She adjusted her position on the teak bench, tucking a pillow underneath one arm. “You would not believe how people act like you’re not there at all when you’re refilling their coffee cups. And the best time of day to get the best dirt is in the morning.”

“The morning?” Edeena frowned. “I would have assumed at night, when there’s alcohol flowing.”

“I totally thought that, too, before I started working at the Cypress. But I was wrong. It’s breakfast or brunch—sometimes lunch, but the secrets that usually get dropped there are work related. Totally boring.” She wrinkled her nose.

Edeena considered her sister from under the brim of her wide hat. “You’ll go back, though? With Caro?”

“Well, duh,” Marguerite swatted her calf. “I’ve already missed days of gossip. I may never catch up.”

“Gossip about anyone in particular?”

“Well, if you must know, yes,” Marguerite said, pitching her voice in the signature slow drawl of a South Carolina matriarch. “I do hope that Wyndham Masters is finally done sowin’ his wild oats. He is a disgrace to his mother.” She pitched her voice in another falsetto, as Caroline giggled. “You don’t say. Tell me he hasn’t done anything else to blacken the family name.” And back to the first. “Why, I can tell you no such thing, Penneh, because it simply would not be true.”

“Stop!” Edeena cried, staring at her younger sister. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought her Prudence’s own daughter, her drawl was so exactly right. “They didn’t actually say those kind of things.”

“Oh, honey, that was only the beginning,” Marguerite grinned. “I’ve decided that after Caro finalizes the house sale, I’m going to write a book set on an unnamed fictional island, and I’m going to title it something insane, like The Wicked Ways of Wyndham. And then I’ll send him an email about it from a cloaked account when it goes on sale.”

“You’d better hope you’re hiding out on an island halfway around the world when you do,” Caro said, though her tone was more indulgent than serious. “Wyndham Masters’s family owns half of the Eastern Seaboard, according to the shopkeepers I’ve chatted with. And what they don’t own, they recently sold.”

“Ooooh, I’m totally using that line.” Marguerite sat back in her chair and grinned out at the gorgeous late summer day. “But enough about me, Caro. When are you going to tell Edeena what you’ve been doing up late at night since we’ve returned to the fair shores of Garronia?”

“Oh?” Edeena swiveled her head in time to see Caro’s eyes flash wide in dismay. “What is it, Caroline? Have you found your own Wyndham?”

“What? No!” Caroline shook her head vigorously. “I simply thought, well, depending on how long it takes us to sell Heron’s Point and get Prudence resettled, maybe I could look into taking some classes. I’d be allowed to do that, right? Take classes as an overseas student?”

Edeena considered it. All of them had attended college at the National University in Garronia, of course, but Edeena’s classes had been business, and business only, under Silas’s strict rule. It’d been worthwhile, since she now had her mother’s fortune to manage, but Edeena couldn’t get out of college quickly enough. Marguerite hadn’t even made the attempt to study anything outside her core courses, but Caro had legitimately enjoyed learning and had taken the widest variety of classes. If she wanted to continue her education with a course or two in South Carolina, why shouldn’t she? Perhaps she’d finally let herself relax and meet someone.

That settled it. “Absolutely,” Edeena said. “Wherever you want to go, as long as they accept international students, say the word. We’ve got more than enough money in the trust, and masters courses would be an excellent way to use it. That goes for you, too,” she said, turning back to Marguerite. “Once you can tear yourself away from the adventures of Wyndham the Wicked, if college is appealing to you . . .”

“Ugh, no thanks,” Marguerite lifted a hand. Still, her face had taken on a pensive aspect. “I’ll need to figure out a focus, though,” she mused. “With you and Vince checking off the marriage box and Caro going all Brainiac, I suppose I should have a game plan.”

“You could become a spy,” offered Caroline from the shade of her umbrella. “I’m sure Garronia needs another secret agent.”

Marguerite barked a laugh. “Excellent. And that’s probably easier than a life of crime.”

“Better accommodations for sure,” Edeena said drily, but she studied her sister closely. She knew Marguerite better than to encourage her too much toward a particular path—her sister would go the other way simply out of contrariness. But she’d continue to watch both of them carefully over the next few weeks while she plowed her way through the Saleri family records. Apparently, if her marriage to Vince was going to stick, she was the new head of household for the Saleris. Silas had stepped down to focus entirely on his own new family, and from the sound of their lawyers and accountants, he’d paid no attention to their various holdings since he’d taken on his new bride.

She smiled, shaking her head. A month ago she would have scoffed that anything could draw her attention away from her obligations so completely. Now . . .

As if in answer to her thoughts, a door opened behind her, and a rich, rolling South Carolina drawl flowed out to surround them all with warm amusement.

“Now, how did I know that this would be where I’d find you fine ladies,” the soon-to-be Count Vincent Rallis Saleri asked.

Dragging Edeena away from her sisters was easier than Vince feared it would be, and for that, he was grateful. Because if he had to spend another minute facing the gauntlet of family advisors, lawyers, concierges and—God forbid—tailors by himself, he was seriously going to lose it.

“What are you doing?” Edeena giggled as he hustled her back down the long corridor to the suite of rooms that had been given over to the Saleris in the wake of the unprecedented success of the engagement ball. Apparently, the Saleri mansion was being staked out by the press, waiting for the Countess and her Count-in-waiting to nest there, and wiser minds had advised that they all remain safely locked away in the royal castle until some other news story had taken hold.

Now, Vince pushed Edeena into the conference room where he’d been closeted away with a half-dozen Saleri functionaries for most of the morning. He’d finally sent them away for an early lunch—never mind that it was barely past eleven—but they’d taken pity on him and told him they’d be back after three. By three, he and Edeena surely could make some sense of the mounds of paperwork in front of him. Even though much of it had been translated into English, it was still far too much for him to take in at once.

“Did you know you have family holdings in thirty different countries?” he said to her as she looked from the stacks to him. “Thirty!”

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