Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“He is a working man, Verity,” I replied, putting on my coat and going to the mirror. “If he spent time conversing with everyone, he would never see his patients.”
“We are not everyone. You are a duke. One would think he would be more…”
“Amiable?” I repeated her word as I tied my tie.
“Oh, forget about the doctor. What happened with Aphrodite?” She smiled, skipping next to me.
“What do you mean?” I replied as she leaned in, her grin wide and eyebrows raised. Such a nosy one. “Nothing happened.”
“Everything happened! She came here. You both spoke, correct? She stayed. And now you are getting dressed to see her.”
“How do you know I am going to see her?”
“Because you are happy.”
I glanced down at her, and she lifted her head in defiance, daring me to disagree. I sighed and nodded. “It is still…unclear.”
“Go clarify then.”
“That is what I am seeking to do, but someone is distracting me.” I reached up, poking her forehead to push her away.
“Fine, I will knit or read or do something boring as all ladies are supposed to do while you go out and have fun in the world. All after I spent the last four days nursing you back to health. It is almost as if I did not come out this season at all.”
Dear God. Could she apply any more guilt?
“I will not take you to their home. It is serious, Verity. But there is a ball tonight, and I shall accompany you.”
“I am tired of balls.”
“You have yet to reach your peak, and you are bored? Is that not the point of coming out? What else is there to look forward to?”
“Yes, of course. What else could there possibly be for a lady than a ball.” She sighed and started to leave.
“Why do I sense you are mocking me?” I called out to her, but she was already gone. I did not wish to be distracted. At least not at this moment. I still had too much to do today.
The first on my list was Aphrodite’s father.
Aphrodite
I paced back and forth in the drawing room, doing my best not to pick at my nails. It was now midday, and he had yet to come.
“You could at least pretend not to be so eager. If not for your own sake, then for my drawing.” Hathor frowned, lifting a horrid sketch she’d created of me.
“Is that supposed to be me? Is your talent not the arts?”
“It would be if you ceased to move about the room like a deranged ghost,” she replied, tearing the paper to start over. “If he comes, he comes. If he does not, you have only yourself to blame for trusting him.”
“Hathor!” I snapped.
“What?” She huffed. “I am wholeheartedly on Father’s side of this war.”
“You do not know his circumstances.”
She turned and faced me. “Then tell me.”
I opened my mouth but then turned away from her. “Where do you wish me to be for this painting?”
“Are we not sisters? Why will you not share with me?”
“Why must I share with you?”
“So I may pick a side with a clear conscience! Mama is in his favor. Papa is not. And Damon seems to be neutral. I must know so I can—”
“Break the tie?” I smiled. “No need, sister, for I have already done so.”
“So, you have accepted him?” she asked.
“Hurry, or I will not sit for your painting—”
“He is here,” Devana said from near the window. She was so quiet that I had all but forgotten she was in the room. “The Duke of Everely is here.”
Both Hathor and I rushed to the window. And sure enough, it was he, dressed in a deep green jacket and cream-colored vest. All of him finely trimmed, and in his hand, a small stack of old books.
“How scheming he is, using books to soften Papa,” Hathor muttered, her face so close to the window she nearly pressed against it.
“The correct word you are seeking is clever,” I shot back, and almost as if he had heard me, he glanced up at the window. I looked away quickly.
Hathor giggled. “Yes, because by doing that, he will surely not think you were staring eagerly.”
“I shall hit you.” I glared at her.
“That is not the behavior of a duchess.” She stuck her tongue out at me and went back to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To see him enter and Father’s expression,” she replied, and I felt the urge to follow, but I stayed, not wishing to expose myself any further. Instead, Devana went to peer out the door along with her.
“He is now inside,” she whispered and glanced back to me once again, smiling. “Now Mama is hugging him!”
“Yes, but Papa’s face is strained,” Hathor added. “I do believe he is not pleased.”
I stood, wringing my hands, and then I sat once more.