“Or I will be very late, Nikolai,” I corrected him with a sigh as I picked up my stupidly tiny handbag and shoved my phone into it.
“Indeed, my lady.”
“Have I forgotten anything?”
“I don’t think so, my lady.”
“Kol?” I turned to him with a grimace poorly masquerading as a smile.
It was something I’d picked up in the last week. Nikolai had felt way too formal and I was feeling lonely and bored so I’d asked him if he had a nickname. We’d also had the loyalty chat and he’d begrudgingly agreed to help me when he could. He’d told me his nickname was Kol and it made me feel a little less uptight and stuffy not having to call him Nikolai all the time.
“My lady?” he asked.
“Please don’t test my patience today, Nikolai.” Didn’t mean I always called him Kol. “I’m high enough strung.”
“Apologies,” he answered, finally dispensing with the ‘my ladies’.
“Thanks. Okay,” I sighed. “Let the torture commence.”
As I followed Nikolai down to the car, I ran through who was going to be at the tea, picturing the pages of bios that Dad had been showing me in the past week. The Marquis de Ronique’s wife was a socialite of the highest order; she was always throwing lavish parties and attending even fancier ones. She had a tight group of ladies who sounded more like the popular clique at any local high school, and all they did was gossip all day while they sipped Champagne and tea and ate caviar or something. To say I was not looking forward to spending the afternoon with them was probably the biggest understatement of the month.
But I’d spent the last almost week stuck at home doing… Well not much of anything actually. I’d even only managed to spill about three things. I’d only tripped down the stairs once, I’d said a choice swearword in front of Hendricks and Mrs Illyc, and I was still getting the hang of the run of the house. Otherwise I was doing rather well. The fact I’d been in jeans and no heels for the last week was probably testament to that.
When I wasn’t continuing with my Gallyrian studies and making the staff mutter under their breath, I meandered around the grounds sometimes as Nikolai walked behind me at a stately pace or I encouraged him to talk to me, which gave me a good excuse to try out my abysmal Gallyrian on someone who at least appreciated me trying. I spent a lot of time emailing or messaging Jenn and Bea, and Mum. And I was all caught up on the litany of Christmas movies that Bea insisted I watch now my duties were over. I’d tried telling her lessened was not over, but we were only a few weeks out from Christmas and the lovable girl would not be silenced on the matter.
I spent most of my time, however, in the library next to the fire reading whatever took my fancy. When I needed a new book, I stood in the middle of the room and span until I got too dizzy, then I picked the first book my blurry eyes saw on the shelf. This technique had about a ten percent success rate, but I’d learnt a few things about Gallyrian history I didn’t think I’d have learned otherwise.
And of course, I had plenty of time to keep up on the news. I still wasn’t quite sure all the causes for the civil unrest. Then again I didn’t really know exactly what was up with the civil unrest, so trying to find a cause for it was going to be especially difficult.
So the crux of it was that, although I was loathe to meet the Marquise de Ronique and her gaggle of lady friends, I was exceptionally happy to have something else to do and to get out of the manor.
Nikolai drove me away from Genovich – the village and the estate – and out to another estate house that was still over half the size of Genovich. I was greeted out the front by the equivalent Hendricks, who took my coat and led to a room from which I could hear the polite muttering of talk before he even opened the door.
“Lady Tatiana, Lady Ronique,” he said using the sort of tone of voice that manages to cut through even the loudest chatter without rising.
All – damn there were a lot of them – the ladies in the room turned to look at from their seats, or their place by the tea table or by the fire. One woman stood up elegantly and gave me a smile I knew meant I was an obligation and a sideshow, nothing more.
“Lady Tatiana, welcome.” She gave me a very short curtsey which I returned.
Children of peers was difficult apparently. As a duke, Dad was higher in the hierarchy than the Marquise de Ronique. But as his daughter and the second one at that, that made me more level with her. Add to the fact that I was born and bred in an English colony, and I was going to be treated less well than I was apparently supposed to be at every opportunity.
“Lady Ronique, it is a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me into your home.” My Gallyrian had a lot to be desired, but I think I’d got it right.
She babbled something excitedly and I was regretting my feeble attempt to be polite.
“Sorry…” I said then knew that had not been the way to start that sentence. “My Gallyrian is still…very poor, I’m afraid.”
Oh the glint that lit every eye in the room at that admission! I was such an idiot.
Cue a few Gallyrian mumbles from that corner of the room, and quite a few accompanied smirks of glee.
“Never mind,” the Marquise de Ronique said with an almost majestic wave of her hand. Please come sit by me and have some tea.”
I picked my way as carefully as possible and still managed to tread on one person’s toes and hit someone else with my tiny handbag. I finally dropped into the seat beside the marquise and a maid came over to get me a cup of tea. After she gave it to me I held it by the saucer, totally paranoid if I moved I’d spill it.
“How are you finding Gallyr thus far, my lady?” someone asked. Her nose was tipped up at the end like she needed some physical proof that she was the snootiest cow in here.
Behave, I reminded myself. “It’s lovely. I’ve never seen snow before, so I’m glad I’m here for winter,” was a totally stupid thing to say to these women, but I said it anyway.
“So you will not have skied before?” another asked.
“Uh. No. I haven’t.”
“Amanda is a wonderful skier,” the marquise said to every woman around her.
I blinked, assuming I was either supposed to be in on this or decided out and reminded of it.
“Amanda is very close to the marquise,” a woman in perhaps her late forties said, leaning in close to me.
She surprised me totally and I jumped a little. The smallest amount of tea dribbled onto my blouse but I was hoping I got away with it. A little more was sloshed in the bottom on the saucer and, I knew if I tried drinking it, more was going to end up down my front. So I was in a pickle.
I then remembered the reason I had tea outside my saucer and smiled at the lady. “Oh, good,” was all I could come up with.
“I’m Miss Farraday, my lady. It’s a pleasure to meet you. A shame your sister couldn’t make it today.” She seemed like a nice woman, but I was also super aware that everyone else was looking at me from the corner of their eyes like they knew I wasn’t supposed to be there and that was a little distracting.
“Uh, yes. Lia is…very nice.”
Miss Farraday tittered politely, but was interrupted from replying when the marquise demanded my attention again.
“You will of course be skiing later in the season, Lady Tatiana,” she said almost brusquely.
I opened my mouth, realised I was at a loss for words, and kept it open as I looked around like someone might have an answer for me. Finally I snapped it shut and hoped the next time I opened it that something actually came out. “I couldn’t tell you, Lady Ronique. That might need to wait until my second Gallyrian winter.”
She waved a hand at me dismissively again as she gave me a condescending look that reminded me I was a sideshow here. “Everyone knows that all the important people winter in Holberg.”
Of course they did and I was quite clearly not an important person because I didn’t. Was she also implying my sister and fathe
r were also not important? How about the royal family? I had it on good authority that there were plenty of winters when at least one of them did not winter in the mountains.
I forced my face to remain relatively neutral and I could see the marquise was actually trying to get a rise out of me. She watched me with that sort of anticipatory arrogance that I was so used to seeing on the popular girls at school – by popular I of course here mean the girls who had decided they were popular as opposed to anyone else thinking they were popular. I could tell Gallyrian society had much the same hierarchy in it. And it was thankfully one I was used to navigating. I was just not going to be able to navigate it with my usual aplomb. I was going to have to take a leaf out of Dad’s book here.
“Of course they do. When will you be going up?” I asked her, assuming this was the least offensive thing I could say to her.
“My sister won’t be going this year,” Miss Farraday said and I looked to her in surprise.
The marquise’s eyes were narrowed dangerously but still imperceptible enough to just be looking like an arrogant bitch. “Unfortunately I have obligations this season that prevent me from attending Holberg. We already have plans for the next season though.”
I nodded, having no idea how to salvage yet another blunder. “How nice. Perhaps I will see you up there.”
The marquise gave me barely more than a sneer and turned to someone else to discuss God knew what in Gallyrian, which I knew was intended as the snub of the century. And I was torn as to how much I was supposed to care about it.
On one hand, I wasn’t much fussed what the Marquise de Ronique and her snooty friends thought of me. If they didn’t like me then I wouldn’t be invited to another tea party and that was perfectly fine by me.
On the other hand, if they didn’t like me who knew what repercussions that was going to have. I could see news articles discussing more of my finer points. I could see more people muttering behind my back. I could see Dad’s look of exasperation as he asked me why I “couldn’t just have sucked it up for one afternoon and played nice?”
I sighed and finally lowered my tea cup towards my lap.
Miss Farraday leant towards me and whispered, “Vivianne thinks she is terribly important and I’m afraid she had her heart set on disliking you, but her reach only extends so far. People may listen to her opinion, but once they meet you I hope they see she is wrong.”
I gave her a small smile. “Thank you. I’m not so sure about that, but it’s kind of you to say, Miss Farraday.”
“Please call me Charlotte, my lady.”
“In that case, Anya please.”
“I believe I could get away with Tatiana, my lady,” she said companionably.
“Then I will settle for Tatiana.”
We shared a small smile and sat awkwardly on the couch together. I may have secure one ally in the great cold war of the tea party. But it was obvious she was the other pariah. The other ladies in the room decided it was perfectly civil to look at us like we didn’t belong and they couldn’t fathom why we’d been invited.
I was fairly sure I’d been invited for the express purpose of being shown how unwanted I was. I thought Charlotte had merely been an obligation as the marquise’s sister. It was obvious she was thought of as little as I was. But she bore it much better.
When someone did deign to talk to me, they were so passive-aggressive I thought I was going to explode with all the fiery retorts I held in. But I was doing it for Dad and Lia.
I could sit through questions about which designers I wore – which I of course didn’t know. I agree politely as two ladies were very obviously discussing how amazing it was that people who were born to the same family could be so different – no names were mentioned, but it didn’t take a genius to work out they were talking about Lia and me. And I could not tell the tipped-up-nose woman that she was in danger of getting shit on her nose when seconded the marquise’s comment that nurture is far more important than nature.
All in all, other than Charlotte, I was incredibly keen to get out of there and poor Nikolai bore the brunt of it on the way home.
Chapter Five
I was snuggled up in front of the fire with a book in the library when Hendricks came in. The man moved so quietly, he scared the bajesus out of me when he finally spoke.
“Lady Tatiana, there is a visitor.”
I looked up at him surprised for more than one reason. “A visitor?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“For Dad?”
“No, my lady.”
“For me?” I asked sceptically.
“Yes, my lady.” Hendricks looked thoroughly unimpressed with my idiocy and I quite frankly didn’t really blame the man.
I had no idea who’d be visiting me. Lia was at uni in Albia, Mum wasn’t due in for almost another week, and there was no way Jenn and Bea were affording tickets to Gallyr. Not that they’d have been able to talk their way onto the grounds to surprise me.
“You’re sure it’s for me?”
“Yes, my lady,” he repeated, but there was slightly less patience in his tone this time. “Shall I show him in, my lady?”
I nodded, blinking dumbly. “Sure. Thanks.”
“She will see you now, your highness,” Hendricks said to someone outside the door and I shot up from my seat, my book being thrown, forgotten, onto it.
My heart beat erratically and I ran my hand over my hair as though that was going to make it look any better than it did. I suddenly understood why all these royals and nobles chose to look impeccable all the time – it sure made it easier when people dropped by unannounced. And something told me that ugg boots with my jeans had not been a great choice that afternoon.
But the expected royal wasn’t the one who walked in the door to the room with his patented scowl. Instead Nico walked in, a wide smile on his handsome face. I told myself I didn’t feel disappointed because any visitor was better than no visitor, and especially better than a certain crown prince I didn’t actually want to see so what had that been all about?
It was the first time I’d seen Nico not wearing a suit or his uniform. And he looked good. He was wearing dark blue jeans with boots, and what looked like a thick maroon jumper under a grey coat.
I gave him a smile in return as Hendricks bowed and left. “Prince Dominic. What are you doing here?” I asked him, dragging my mind off his oldest brother. “I thought you were supposed to be back at training?”
His smile widened. “General Arnell has been…gracious enough to allow me to take time until the New Year.” The pause was just long enough that I had the feeling he wasn’t being entirely truthful.
I laughed. “Uh huh,” I replied. “And how much choice did Arnell actually have in this gracious decision?”
Nico scrubbed a hand over his chin. “I think he is probably quite happy to see the back of me for a while.”
I crossed my arms. “Why, Nico. Have you been court martialled?”
He shrugged, but the coy smirk on his face told me everything I needed to know. “A leave of absence was considered…an appropriate compromise to anything official.”
“I’ll bet Dmitri is very proud of you,” I snorted.
Nico’s smile dropped a little, then it was back with full force. “Oh yes. Mitya is very proud of his little brother. I believe his parting words to me this afternoon were, ‘You are a bane to father and to the country’.” I had to admit, Nico’s impression of Dmitri was pretty spot on.
“Ouch,” I huffed a rough laugh. “He doesn’t hold back, does he?”
Nico shrugged. “I have known my brother a long time. I actually think that is one of the nicest things he has ever said to me.”
I wasn’t going to ask Nico what he’d been doing to be close to a court martial but, given his penchant for avoiding meetings and flirtation, I could guess. I also didn’t need to go into the dynamics of that sibling relationship.
“So you thought you�
�d… What? Visit me?”
Nico clasped his hands behind his back and strolled nonchalantly further into the room. “The palace seemed very quiet and stiff and proper all of a sudden, and I began to wonder why that was. Then I realised that it happened to coincide with your departure.”
“Is that a very long-winded, ridiculous way of saying that you missed me, Nico?” I teased him.
He took his eyes off the fire and grinned at me. “It just might be, Anya.”
His head was tilted at a certain angle to make his whole demeanour endearingly cheeky and there was a warmth in his eyes I told myself I wasn’t falling for. And, while I mainly believed it, I knew there was a strong chance I’d forget it if he kept being as charming as he was.
“I see. And what did you think we’d do after you came to visit me?” I asked. “I’m sure we’ve got a chess set – although I’m terrible. I can’t offer to cook you anything because I’ve been banned from the kitchen without prior warning–”
“What?” Nico burst out laughing and I couldn’t help my grin in response.
“I had a hankering for a cheese toasty earlier this week… Suffice to say it all went poorly and Dad has all but told me not to go to the kitchen for anything more than ice cream without supervision for the foreseeable future.”
Nico’s pale blue eyes danced with humour and his smile was thoroughly infectious. It made me feel happy and worry-free, I was relaxed and felt utterly normal. “I will remember that if I feel the need for food. But no, I had wondered if you’d been to Genovich yet?”
I looked around the room and pointed at the ceiling. “I know you don’t mean the manor.”
He grinned. “No. The village. They have an ice rink set up for the holidays and there will be Christmas fare available, as well as some quaint little shops I recall Natalia saying you’d love once.”
I nodded, remembering her talking about them once. “I think I could be persuaded to leave the house.”
“Excellent. Shall I speak to Uncle Max while you get changed?”
I looked down at myself and groaned. “I have to change?”
Lady in Training (I'm No Princess Book 2) Page 4