Page 27 of The Pureblood Daughter
Adelia returns to her desk and reads Lord Rosetti’s letter again, her eyes catching on his valediction.
Yours, TR.
Mine, she thinks, glancing up at her candlelit reflection in the window over her desk.I want him to be mine.
Chapter Eleven
“What?” Lady Gray says, turningfrom her mirror to face Adelina standing in the doorway.
“I don’t feel well, Mama.” Adelina places a hand to her temple and leans feebly against the frame. “I’ve a headache, and the opera will undoubtedly make it worse.”
“That it will,” Lord Gray says. He’s dressed in his formal evening wear, as is Lady Gray, and their carriage is due to roll up at any moment. “You’d do well to rest, my dear.” He crosses the room and presses a kiss to the top of Adelina’s head, and she works actively not to tense in his proximity. She’s still not confronted him regarding the viscount; she wanted to give him no reason to miss the opera lest her rendezvous be ruined.
The butler, Simon, approaches in the hallway, and Adelina looks back over her shoulder.
“The carriage is here, my lord.”
“Wonderful. Marian, it’s time to go. We don’t want to be late.” Lord Gray turns back to Adelina. “We’ll be home late. Send word if you need us.”
“Yes, Papa. Don’t worry on my account. I need only to rest.”
She steps aside, and her father heads around her and down the hall toward the staircase, Simon on his heels.
“A headache?” Lady Gray says, stopping before Adelina. The candlelight casts a warm glow on her golden hair, and her gown sparkles as she moves. One of her brows arches knowingly. “Am I to believe that, or are you trying to avoid an uncomfortable situation?”
“And what if I am?” Adelina abandons her feeble posture and looks her mother in the eye. “Can you blame me?”
Lady Gray presses her lips into a thin line, but then her eyes soften, and she lets out a long sigh. Stepping forward, she kisses Adelina on the cheek and then whispers, “I truly am sorry, dearest. If only women ruled the world.”
Then she’s gone, floating down the hallway after Lord Gray.
Adelina hurries across her parents’ room and pulls back the curtains just so, peeking out at the carriage below. The footman holds the door open as Lady Gray climbs in, then closes it firmly behind her. The carriage rolls away down the cobblestone street, and Adelina’s heart flutters in anticipation.
She hurries back to her room and slips inside, closing the door softly behind her. As darkness falls, she abandons her day dress for her riding habit: a long dark blue skirt and tailored jacket with a cravat tied about the high collar.She chooses to forgo the hat and instead lets her plaited hair hang down her back. A few dark tendrils twist about her cheeks, and Adelina pauses briefly to check her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes are still rimmed in darkness, and her skin appears almost translucent in this light. With a sigh, she turns from the mirror and moves toward her writing desk.
She dismissed Rose early in the evening in hopes the lady’s maid wouldn’t discover her missing and raise any alarms. Just in case, Adelina writes a brief note to leave on the desk.
Rose,
I’ve gone out and will be home before Mama and Papa arrive back from the opera. You’ve no need to worry; please keep this between us.
—Adelina
With the note left on the desk, Adelina moves to the door. She presses her ear against the wood, listening for any sounds in the hall. The house creaks, but no footsteps can be heard.
Taking a deep breath, Adelina grabs her dark cloak from beside the door before stepping from the room and easing the door closed behind her. She takes the stairs down to the foyer, making sure to avoid the seventh stair from the bottom.
In the foyer, Adelina pauses to sweep her cloak over her shoulders. The kitchen maids are chatting, their gentle voices carrying through the silent house. Simon says something, and the ladies laugh. Thankful for the distraction, Adelina heads in the opposite direction, moving silently toward the back of the house. The stable block is to the rear of the home on the ground level, with four stalls for the family’s horses.
Adelina slips through the door and crosses swiftly to the stable block. The coachman and two footmen are otherwise occupied at the opera, so the stable is quiet. Hay swishes around Adelina’s boots as she walks to the far stall, where her dapple-gray mare, Octavia, stands peacefully eating hay.
“Would you fancy an evening run?” Adelina whispers, sidling up beside the lean dish-nosed Arabian. Octavia turns and presses her warm pink muzzle against Adelina’s chest. “I thought so. Come now. We have to be quiet.”
Adelina doesn’t bother with a saddle and uses only a soft halter with a lead tossed about Octavia’s neck. If it were any other horse, she’d not be so lax, but Adelina knows Octavia almost as well as she knows herself; she trusts her wholeheartedly.
They creep quietly to the end of the stable block, Octavia’s hooves clacking on the cobblestone. Adelina pauses to ensure none of the staff are out and about, then climbs onto a nearby crate and slips onto Octavia’s back. Her mother would be horrified to see her riding astride, but she’d be even more aghast if she knew what Adelina was about to do.
Octavia is warm beneath her as theymove quietly from the stable block and onto the street in front of the house. The streetlamps have already been lit, and the moon hangs high in the sky, casting plenty of light for Adelina to see by. She pulls the hood of her cloak up over her hair; it wouldn’t do to be recognized. If her parents were to find out about this evening ride, they would never let her out of their sight, and the last thing she needs is her father enforcing even more restrictions upon her.
