Page 39 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 1
"Is there something you wish to share with us all, Lady Emilia?"
My friend looks down at her knees. "No, Madame."
"I was asking Lady Emilia if I'd understood something you'd said correctly," I say.
"Hmmm." For a moment, I think Madame Veronica is going to lecture Emilia about paying attention, but she simply continues with her lecture for the rest of us.
I try to pay attention, knowing that the proper layout of a dinner party may seem boring, but it is going to be important if I end up at one of said dinner parties with no idea what to do. Or worse, if Lord Fallmartin wants me to host one. I wouldn't put it past him. Though hopefully, my cousins will help if that happens. Bella might be a little short with everyone, but she doesn't seem to actively want to hurt me.
"All right, that's everything for today," Madame Veronica says. "In a couple of days, we'll be meeting in the ballroom. You should all be having dance lessons already, but there is a lot of ball etiquette that needs to be taught." She nods once and sweeps out of the room, leaving us to our own devices.
Emilia leans back in her seat, smoothing out the fabric of her black dress, the accents of yellow flashing briefly as they catch the light, almost looking gold. I'm not sure if they're her House colours or not, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask. Etiquette lessons are helpful, but they still leave me with a lot of questions. At least Linc is able to fill in some of the gaps, though I imagine he's not that helpful when it comes to the rules surrounding women's clothing.
"I'm guessing you're disappearing off to meet your mysterious lover again?" Emilia asks me, a look on her face that says she hopes I'm not going to disappear immediately.
"I don't have a lover," I counter.
"But you're going to meet him."
I sigh and roll my eyes. "He's just helping me make sense of vampire history," I respond, trying not to think of Linc too much, especially in the way she's implying. "Nothing more than that."
"You should be careful, you could end up stuck in a scandal without wanting to be."
"There's no scandal to be had," I remind her. "He's just a friend. And I've barely known him for two weeks."
"I know, but you've already made it obvious you're meeting someone, Beatrice. It's dangerous." Her eyes widen as she says it.
A horrible feeling settles within me. She's not wrong about that. For all I know, House Hexamble could be a bitter enemy of House Rothorne and her knowing this about me is already going to be something that causes me a problem in the future. I need to learn to lie better. Or at least be able to evade the truth. I just got flustered when she first asked me where I was going after etiquette classes.
"I'm meeting him this afternoon, but I have a few hours before that. I was thinking of going to get Pip and taking a walk."
"Walking is dreadfully dull inside the castle," Emilia says with a wistful sigh. "I miss the fields."
"You would, wouldn't you?"
I look up to find a red-haired woman looking down at Emilia with a sneer.
My friend sinks back into her seat.
"I think it's perfectly reasonable to miss the things we grew up around," I say firmly. "Don't you miss things about your former life, Lady Harriet?"
She turns her gaze to me, but I match it. I can weather my brother's cutting comments, Harriet isn't going to be a problem. She's just a mean girl with a superiority complex. I've met my share of them before.
"Don't think you're special just because you belong to House Rothorne," Harriet says to me.
"I don't." I stand up. "If you'll excuse us, we have places to be."
Emilia scrambles to her feet next to me, smoothing down her dress again. I'm going to start thinking it's something she does when she's nervous if she keeps doing it.
"You should consider who your friends are," Harriet says.
"I do," I respond. "But I thank you for your concern." I finish gathering my things and head out of the room while Emilia scrambles behind me.
"You're going to make an enemy of her," she mumbles, looking behind me at the door.
"And what about her making an enemy of me?" I ask.
Emilia lets out a nervous laugh. "I can't give her advice."
