The Debutante (Season Series #2)

Chapter 35: The Subterfuge

The next morning, Millie did not appear. There were no summons and no letters from the queen. Instead, I was free to join Georgina and the rest of the debutantes playing games in one of the sitting rooms. I was well-aware of the whispers now that I was back among them while Ashley and Adelaide were once again absent, no doubt spending time with the queen. But the sensation that I could breathe again was an overdue relief.

"Did you ever manage to visit Xavier?" I asked Georgina, as we made our way to the dining room for a quick luncheon before preparations for that evening's ball.

"I did, but your parents arrived before we could have a proper conversation," she said. I froze in my tracks and she looked around at me, her eyebrows lifted.

"My parents?" I repeated.

"Yes, they've returned to Highcastle," she said, "I'm sorry, I thought you would have known. Your brother seemed sufficiently surprised as well. I thought he'd have sent you a note?"

Xavier had done no such thing, which cast an ominous shadow over what had otherwise been a relaxing, sanity-preserving day.

"I shall have to call on them," I said absently as my mind ran over all the potential reasons for their return. Obviously I was not going to be calling on them, especially since they had made no attempts to contact me since the letter Xavier and I had sent at the end of last Season. Whatever had compelled them to return would surely only translate into yet more excessive demands coupled with an earful for having dared defy them in the first place.

I did my very best to carry on polite conversation with the likes of Penelope and Sarah at lunch, the pair of them taking the seats beside Georgina and I solely so they could prod me about my reappearance.

"Have you fallen from favour?" Sarah leaned over to whisper conspiratorially. It was the third rephrased version of the same question they'd been asking every time the conversation lulled. My patience nearing its breaking point, I set my utensils down and fixed her with a glare.

"If I had fallen from favour, do you really think I'd still be sitting here, enduring questions?" I demanded, only for Georgina to give me a little kick under the table. She attempted to steer the conversation in another direction, but I'd had just about enough of this lunch of idleness and gossip. Taking my leave of them, I disregarded the stares as I fled to my suite.

So distracted in thinking about the meaning of my parents' arrival, I hadn't realized I had a guest before I flew past her towards my bedchamber. Seated demurely on the love seat, Princess Anne had to clear her throat to draw my attention, startling me so badly I stumbled into the doorframe.

"Goodness, Libby! Are you all right?" she asked, springing to her feet as I laughed at my own clumsiness.

"You startled me, that's all," I said, massaging the place where my elbow had banged the doorframe, "How can I help you, Anne?"

She squirmed a little, choosing her words carefully.

"I'm here for two reasons," she said, gesturing for me to take a seat with her. She settled herself back onto the love seat while I lowered myself into the armchair.

"The first is because my brother sent me," she said. I couldn't help but swallow. Andrew and I had parted ways in the winter garden, he to return to the ball while I retired to my bed, in no mood to face a room of mostly strangers with a clearly tear-stained face. I'd assumed that the absence of queenly reprisals for my shirked summary duty meant that he'd somehow negotiated for my freedom.

"You seem like an awfully official messenger when he could have simply sent a note," I said, forcing an easy smile onto my face as I wondered with a twinge of dread why he couldn't have come himself.