Page 92 of Pawns of Fate
“Do you know, Nicholas, I haven’t seen my uncle’s family since we were married? It’s been almost a year.”
“Really? Has it been that long?”
“I think it will be good to see them,” Rose mumbled unenthusiastically. “They’ve made a tidy sum from the star crystal mines, and none of that would have been possible without our marriage.” She relaxed her body further into Nicholas’s chest. “They should be happy to see us.”
It had been almost a year since the swamp campaign. The monsters had dispersed after the mages had deactivated the control spell, leaving the viscount free to build the largest star crystal mine in Albion. Hector had already turned a sizable profit on the whole venture, and he’d only scratched the surfaceof the rich deposits. Rose was right that heshouldbe happy to see the niece who had enabled his family to grow immensely wealthy.
But Nicholas had something up his sleeve that would undoubtedly dampen the viscount’s mood. He couldn’t wait for Rose to see it.
ROSE
When the carriagefinally rolled to a stop in front of her uncle’s estate, Rose wished that Ava and York had joined them. It wasn’t that she found Nicholas’s company to be inadequate. It was just that the more allies she had when interacting with Albion’s high society, the more relaxed she could be.
Officially, she and Nicholas were here to celebrate her cousin Hermes’s twentieth birthday. York, Ava, and even the marquess had been invited to the grand celebration. Rose felt nostalgic when she remembered how she’d first met Nicholas during her cousin Luanna’s coming-of-age party. Things had been so different then. She’d spent most of that party running errands for her aunt and tending to her cousin’s needs. Now, she could enjoy the party as a guest.
Nicholas helped her out of the carriage, which was no small feat given how far along she was in her pregnancy andhow formal her attire was. Even without a corset, her dress restricted movement and made balancing on the carriage steps a precarious activity.
Rose’s jaw almost hit the floor when she turned her eyes up to look at Castle Robson. Her uncle and aunt had never shied away from luxury or been truly frugal, but when Rose lived with them, they’d at least managed to keep a restrained eye on their spending due to their modest budget. That was clearly no longer the case.
If Luanna’s party had been an elaborate garden of color, then this party was an entire forest of it. The extravagance overwhelmed Rose’s senses. Bright performers, fire-breathers, and minstrels entertained partygoers in their rich dress. Servants, all dressed in a rosy pink to honor the Robson family, dashed about like an army of ants. Exotic animals made of magical light danced through the air in a graceful choreography, an entertaining spell that held quite a few people enthralled. Not to mention all the hues of the flower garden, which must have doubled in size since Rose had last seen it.
“Well, it seems that your uncle and aunt are enjoying their share of the profits from the mines,” Nicholas said with a fox-like grin.
Over the course of their marriage, Nicholas’s opinion of her uncle and his family had only deteriorated. Her husband was much more concerned about the injustices of her childhood than Rose thought she could ever be. She’d found happiness in Onanish. She didn’t mind if her aunt and uncle did the same.
“Ava will be sad that she missed all of this,” Rose repliedcalmly. “It really is a far cry from how things were when I lived here.”
“Morning sickness would have made her miserable during the carriage ride,” Nicholas responded gently.
It was true. Ava wasn’t nearly as far along in her pregnancy as Rose, but she was suffering from very intense morning sickness and usually spent most of the day in bed. York, of course, wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of leaving her side to accompany Rose and Nicholas to this party.
“Still, Ava enjoys parties more than I do,” Rose chided her husband as they walked toward the entrance.
She thought about all the gatherings Ava and Ms. Peridot had hosted since they’d promised Kreystallia they’d show her jewelry to Albion’s high society. It had worked; the business had taken off immensely over the past few months. Rose even spotted a few of Kreystallia’s pieces on the ladies at this party. It filled her with joy to see trade that was only possible because of the improved relations between the Ojoh and the rest of Albion—the months she and Ava had spent in Uddedin had already yielded fruit.
A maidservant wearing an impractical, fluffy pink dress guided them to their assigned table. Rose barely kept herself from staring at the girl in an attempt to reason out how she walked under so much cotton-candy-like fabric. The servant seated them in the area reserved for the most important guests, right next to an elegant, yet empty, table. Rose guessed that her uncle’s family would fill the seats whenever they deignedto sit down.
Nicholas gently nudged her shoulder. When he had her attention, he directed it across the party to a table where a tall man with a mane of ruby-red hair chatted with a few other partygoers. The man looked familiar, somehow, but Rose couldn’t quite place him.
“Your uncle has climbed the social ladder if Talbot is here,” Nicholas said dryly. So that was who the man was. Rose hadn’t seen Duke Talbot since their wedding.
“We should probably talk to him,” Rose replied, sipping some tea and ignoring Nicholas’s sarcastic tone. He’d been in an odd mood all day.
Just as they were about to make their way over to the duke, the party hosts made their dramatic appearance. Clad in ostentatious gold outfits and surrounded by spells of fireworks that looked like blooming pink roses, the four Robsons made for a sight that Rose would never forget, even if she did have to stifle a laugh.
She glanced over at her husband and worried that his eyeballs might continue to roll forever if any more annoyance wormed its way into his body. It was funny to her that Nicholas was so resentful of her uncle’s show of wealth. He’d played such an integral part in creating it.
“Next, they’ll have a magician give them diamond wings so they can fly over all of us with their money,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Let it go, Nicholas. The Sharps profit from all of this, too.”
“Not a chance.”
This time, it was Rose’s turn to restrain an eye roll. She didn’t know what had gotten into her husband today.
Rose found theparty pleasant once its initial gaudiness wore off. She enjoyed the food, especially the cake. Nicholas swept her off her feet for a few dances. She chatted with friends and introduced herself to a few acquaintances.
Luanna had greeted her with a short ‘hello’ and ‘congratulations on the pregnancy,’ but flitted away from Rose and Nicholas as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
