Page 10 of The Pureblood Princess
“You missed a most eventful brunch,” Lord Rosetti says, his lips turning up in a smile.
“Oh?” Contessa looks from her father to Nadia, and then her gaze slides down to Nadia’s hand. “Heavens! He proposed?”
With a shy smile, Nadia nods and holds out her hand.
Contessa grabs her hand and holds it up in the light, gasping as the ruby sparkles.
“Grandmama’s ring! Oh, it’s beautiful on you. The silver complements your skin tone.” Looking back to Nadia, she smiles. “We havemuchto talk about. I must get to know my future sister.” She links her arm through Nadia’s and begins to tug her away.
“Where are you going?” a blond man asks as he enters the foyer with a particularly heavy-looking bag slung over his shoulder. The servants seem uncomfortable with his assistance, hovering around him like bees around roses, but he pays them no mind as he sets the bag down with a resounding thunk.
“This is my husband, Charlie Levingston,” Contessa says to Nadia. Then she starts pulling Nadia along once more and callsback over her shoulder, “Miss Magdalena and I will be out in the garden. Make sure all those bags get up to the room safely, darling.”
Lord Levingston rolls his brown eyes. “Yes, dear,” he mutters, exchanging a smile with Lord Rosetti.
Then Nadia is swept away on Contessa’s arm, and she’s completely content to allow herself to be guided through the spacious manor and out into the sprawling back garden. The sun is bright overhead, and despite the gray clouds that filled the sky earlier, it’s warmed up considerably since Nadia’s early-morning ride with Theodore.
“Ugh, get me out of these things,” Contessa mumbles, dropping Nadia’s arm to lean down and yank off her narrow boots and stockings. Her bare toes peek out from under her dress, and she sighs as she pushes them through the grass. “Won’t you join me?” Her gaze is playful, inviting.
Nadia is all too happy to pull off her boots and feel the dewy earth underfoot. They leave their shoes lying in the grass and set off into the garden, heading toward the pond in the distance. Contessa takes up her arm again and pulls her close, and Nadia wonders if this is what it’s like to have a sister, someone to whisper and laugh with while walking the gardens in early fall. It sends a bittersweet pang of grief through her heart; she wishes her mother had been able to conceive. Lady Gray would’ve been so happy doting on a brood of children. But some things just aren’t meant to be.
“I’ve been so eager to meet you,” Contessa says. “Theo and Mama have been irritatingly vague in their letters regarding you. I can’t believe he never told me he planned to propose. I’ll need to have words with him.” Her full lips pucker into an aggravated pout.
“You inquired about me?” Nadia asks, surprise coloring her tone.
Contessa regards her with a stunned expression, a furrow forming in her smooth brow. “Of course! Not only are you the long-lost Magdalena, you’re the only woman Theo has ever mentioned to me in his letters.” One of her dark eyebrows quirks up. “It’s seems you’re intriguing on many fronts, Miss Magdalena.”
Nadia’s cheeks bloom with warmth. She had no idea Theodore had written to his sister about her. And Contessa’s nickname for him is endlessly charming. “Well, now I fear your hopes may have been built up prematurely. I’m quite ordinary, I assure you. And call me Nadia, please.”
“Ordinary?” Tipping her head back, Contessa laughs, and it’s an enchanting sound.
Nadia can only imagine how many suitors she must’ve had the year of her debut. The thought brings to mind a memory of Lady Gray and Lady Fletcher sitting in the garden, gossiping about the private wedding. It’s an odd sensation, being so close to this family now after hearing of them only in whispers. They’re so much more than hearsay would’ve had her believe.
“You bonded with my brother. Any woman to even catch his eye is a far cry from ordinary, let alone one he’s been fated for since birth,” Contessa continues. She grins as they come to stand beside the pond, then turns to Nadia and takes her hands, giving them a gentle squeeze. “I can only imagine what a spectacular woman you are, and I can’t wait to get to know you. But first...”
A roguish look—similar to Theodore’s, now that Nadia thinks about it—glimmers in Contessa’s eyes, and Nadia can scarcely believe it when Contessa reaches back to start undoing the buttons on her dress.
“Help me with this?” Contessa says, turning her back to Nadia and pulling her dark hair over one shoulder.
Momentarily stunned, Nadia doesn’t even think to ask what Contessa plans to do; she just obliges, quickly undoing thebuttons and then acquiescing when Contessa requests that she loosen her corset as well. When the garments have fallen away and Contessa is in nothing but her chemise, she lets out a relieved sigh and gestures for Nadia to turn around.
“Wh-what are we doing?” Nadia asks as Contessa starts unbuttoning her long gown.
“Going swimming, of course. We have to enjoy the weather before the snow falls!”
Contessa slackens Nadia’s corset strings, and the relief is immediate. Nadia takes a deep breath and swears the air tastes sweeter when she’s not bound in cloth and bone.
Now they both stand in their underdresses, and Contessa wastes no time sprinting out onto the creaking wooden dock and jumping into the pond. The water glistens as it splashes all around her, and she laughs when her head breaks the surface.
“Well?” she calls out, voice taunting. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid!”
Another memory comes back in a flash. Nadia recalls promenading in the park with her mother, wishing she could dive into the pond and chase the summer heat from her bones. And now here she is, nearly naked, standing on the Rosettis’ dock in the shire of Graystone.
How things have changed.
With a playful squeal, Nadia sprints down the dock and launches herself into the pond. The water sparkles as it rushes up to catch her, and it steals her breath away as she sinks, her chemise weighing her down. The pond is deep, its bottom stretching far beneath Nadia’s feet, and small fish swim about lazily, seeming unconcerned with their raucous visitors.
Nadia swims toward the light, and she’s only just surfaced when children’s laughter sounds from nearby.
