Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Ah, I mean Prince Wilhelm.”
“You call him by a nickname? I did not realize you were so close.”
“Yes, I met him while on tour years ago. He’s a good man…just…complicated. But then again, what do you expect from a royal?”
“Decency, righteousness, and honor, is that not what we are all meant to expect?”
“Expectations are heavy. I know and I’m only an earl,” he replied and then seemed to remember something. “Though I’m glad to say my estates are properly run and healthy…all they need is a good mistress.”
Right…I kept forgetting that other men were here for matches as well. “And what makes a good mistress in Covington?”
He shared his thoughts with enthusiasm that sadly I could not match. Not because I did not wish to but because I was keenly aware of the blue eyes that were staring intensely at the side of my face. I did not wish to think of him or even be aware of his presence.
But I was.
My lips still burned from his actions.
No matter where I spun and danced throughout the hall…I could sense him.
7
Hathor
I had collapsed onto my bed the moment I returned, without bothering to change. Never had I felt so tired, and what was worse…it felt like I had gotten only thirty minutes of sleep before it was daybreak and I was expected to be up once again.
“How much longer do you plan on lying about?”
I groaned, rolling onto my side. “Mama, I’m so tired. I believe I might even have a fever.”
“One does not get fevers in June. Now get up, you must prepare,” she ordered while Bernice helped me sit up straight.
I sighed and slid off my bed, marching to my vanity only to see my own reflection and scream. “Who is this?”
“It is you, dear,” Mama said as she came beside me, brushing my tangled puffy hair away from my face where all the rouge had smeared. “Apparently you decided to make your outside as messy as your inside.”
“What does that mean?” I asked quickly, hoping no one had seen or spoken of what had transpired last night.
“You tell me, as I am very curious about what made you act as though you’d lost your senses before Prince Wilhelm last night. You were glaring at him and avoiding him as though he were carrying the plague.”
I panicked.
“I already told you; he insulted me most viciously.”
“So why were you both flirting during dinner?”
I looked at her in horror. She always saw the truth in everything; how did she not see it here? “Nothing of the sort was happening. In fact, it was very much the opposite. I was trying to tell him we ought to maintain our distance from each other and then—”
“And you just muttered his name in your sleep. That is not distance, Hathor.”
“Mama!” My mouth dropped open…How…was I supposed to explain this?
“Close your mouth, that is not ladylike,” she snapped at me. I immediately shut my mouth, though my cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk’s in frustration. Why was no one else seeing the truth here? I was being tormented by an evil prince. “Hathor, you must be very careful with your actions around Prince Wilhelm. I know you wish to be a princess—”
“Mama, I promise you I no longer have any such desire. Not with him anyway. I swear it is not at all what it looks like.” She let out a sigh and looked over my face as if she did not believe me. I took her hand. “Mama, Lord Covington showed interest in me. Today I will go riding with him and I will even bring some of my art to show him. He was very keen on it yesterday.”
“Very well, I’ll tell the stable hands to prepare your horses. Bernice, make sure she is ready on time,” she said, brushing my cheek before moving to leave me.
I waited until she left before I spun around and looked directly into the freckled face of Bernice. “What is everyone saying about me?”
“My lady—”
“Do not seek to spare my feelings. The servants hear everything and know everything—what is being said?”
“It is nothing but a mess of gossip right now, my lady. Some people are saying the prince likes you keenly, others are saying he snubbed you terribly last night.”
“That is what they are saying about him, what are they saying about me? Did I do anything wrong?”
“Wrong, my lady?” she asked, not understanding, and it was only then that I could calm down. “Do you like him, my lady?”
“Ah!” I groaned, turning around and placing my head on the vanity top. “I do not like him. Why does no one see that?”
“I see it, my lady, though others might not because they know how much you wished to be a princess.”
“Oh, so they just believe me to be a title hunter.” I frowned. I still felt bitter at how that had become my reputation…as if I were the only noblewoman in England looking for a man with a title.