Chapter 22

The next morning, as Gwendolyn was settling into her new home, enjoying a cup of tea with a pastry in one of the several sitting rooms on the first floor of the villa, she heard the front doors crash open.

A second later, one of the guards assigned to her household came into the room, announcing, “my Lady, Gwendolyn Field, Marquess of The Floating Valley, allow me to introduce Her Royal Highness, Sharaa Maitala, Royal Princess of Imirene; Her Royal Highness, Pala Maitala, Royal Princess of Imirene; and Her Grace, Vislie Artise, Duchess of Shark Isle.”

Gwendolyn jumped to her feet as the two Princesses and the Duchess turned the corner into the room where she sat, sinking into a deep curtsy. The two Princesses remained upright, smiling pleasantly, but the Duchess curtsied in response, saying, “it is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gwendolyn.”

“The pleasure is all mine, your Grace,” Gwendolyn replied. Next to her hastily dropped pastry sat the open book which Prince Aparen had given her the day before. Gwendolyn had been studying from it, desperately trying to pry every drop of knowledge from its pages.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, your Highnesses, your Grace?” she added.

“I received your letter!” Princess Sharaa said, waving it around with a little laugh. “You needed someone to teach you about court, you needed friends and allies, and I decided that you definitely need a new wardrobe.” She looked Gwendolyn up and down, then added, “because you need clothes befitting your new station, of course.”

Gwendolyn nodded distractedly, running one hand through her golden-blonde locks, which had not been styled that morning. She was not insulted by the insinuation, considering she had brought only two dresses with her when she fled The Floating Valley.

“I’m nervous,” Gwendolyn admitted, “I know very little of life here at court.”

“Well, Vislie here is a great friend to the Maitala family, a powerful ally, and one of a very few people I trust with my life.”

“So young, to be a duchess,” Gwendolyn said, looking at the youthful face of the girl before her.

“My parents passed away when I was quite young,” said the Duchess seriously. “I was their only child, though my mother was pregnant at the time of her murder. I inherited all the titles and estates of my family.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” said Gwendolyn. The Duchess inclined her head with a small smile.

“I was young,” the Duchess continued. “I was raised here in court thereafter, until I was old enough to assume my duties as a Duchess of Imirene.”

“We were thick as thieves,” laughed Sharaa, “I must tell you one day about the time we crashed through the roof of my father’s conservatory while he was hosting a Duke from Krastiv. It’s only funny because no one got hurt,” she said, with a glimmer in her eye.

“Through the roof?” Gwendolyn gasped.

The Duchess spoke up. “Yes… we were playing hide and seek with Prince Aparen, and we got a little overconfident. We tried to hide on top of the conservatory roof, but…” she trailed off. “Let’s just say that my uncle, acting as Regent as I was a child, half-expected me to be banished from court.”

Gwendolyn laughed.

“So,” Princess Pala spoke up for the first time, “we were thinking that you may want to go shopping for some nice dresses. Along the way we can teach you a bit about life at court?” The younger girl, still almost shocking for how closely she resembled her father, had a quiet, calm air to her. There was also, unless Gwendolyn was much mistaken, a slight lack of confidence in her voice, and in the way she carried herself.

“That sounds lovely,” Gwendolyn replied earnestly.

“We asked Lady Vislie here to accompany us so that you’ll know a friendly face among your peers,” Sharaa said.

“Five Gods bless you,” Gwendolyn said with a bright smile, releasing from within her a tension she hadn’t even realized she was carrying. “I am still not so sure what I have gotten myself into. Your family has been so kind to me, I didn’t wish to appear ungrateful by asking too many questions.”

Princess Sharaa just laughed, her button nose scrunching up and two symmetrical dimples appearing on either side of her mouth as she did so. “You certainly don’t appear ungrateful,” she said. “Come along, our carriage awaits us. I suspect it will be best that you vacate your chalet for the day in any case, or you’ll make your new household nervous as they move in.”

“Nervous?” Gwendolyn asked as Princess Sharaa linked arms with her and expertly guided her out of the sitting room and toward the front door, stopping only to mutter a thank you here and there to the guards and servants rushing around.

“In my experience, many of our staff are too nervous if we are around while they are busy. They don’t seem to like us getting underfoot,” Sharaa explained. “I find they’re happier left to their own devices, shows respect and trust. Rather than hovering about as if they can’t be trusted to so much as pour a cup of tea.”

They emerged out into the sunshine as Lady Vislie added, “indeed, that’s why when servants in my household are preparing some large event, or in your case Lady Gwendolyn, trying to move into a new manor home and get everything arranged, it’s better that I leave them to it.”

They strolled down the slight hill toward the street, toward a marvelous carriage at least three times larger than any Gwendolyn had ever seen. It was covered with a beautiful purple, gauzy material, and pulled by four horses instead of the traditional two.

It was equally lush inside, with satiny pink benches and embroidered pillows. Because the carriage was so large, the seats were long enough that Gwendolyn could stretch out and sleep, if she wanted. The seats were wider than the bed she had slept in every day until coming to Ardelen. She sat to one side, and Princess Sharaa sat next to her, while Princess Pala and Lady Vislie sat opposite them. Along the way, the three elegant ladies chattered about court gossip, while Gwendolyn tried not to feel inadequate by comparison.

“And, you know, I heard that Duke Smallsee is interested in our lady, Princess Pala,” giggled the Duchess, elbowing her in the side.

“Truly?” Pala seemed shocked. “I’ve never even been to the duchy of Smallsee, nor do I think I have met his Grace.”

“I’m sure you have,” Princess Sharaa said, “as he is always at the parties. Perhaps you haven’t been formally introduced?”

“I’m quite sure I have not, but isn’t he nearly thirty?” Princess Pala asked, seeming disconcerted.

“No, that’s Duke Bayseland, Brenair Trastan. They do rather look alike, but Duke Smallsee is much younger, only twenty I believe,” Lady Vislie said. “I’m quite sure you’ve met him, Frete Gorrson? He was meant to go into the service of the Five Gods, but his older brother died of the plague a few years back. His father retired from public life shortly after, and for a time he was away studying in Parcee, but he returned last year.”

“Oh,” Princess Pala said, “is he the tall gentleman with the dark hair, almost red?”

“The same,” said Princess Sharaa, “he’s quite handsome. If you aren’t interested, he’s always welcome in my chambers,” she giggled.

Gwendolyn blushed just listening to them talk, and Lady Vislie took note. “Your Highnesses, you shouldn’t leave such impressions on our young Marquess here, what if she thinks you are serious?”

“Who said I am not?” Princess Sharaa said, still laughing. Her sister reached out and swatted at her. Still, the three girls dissolved into laughter, and after a moment, Gwendolyn laughed too. At first, her laughter was stilted and nervous. But after a few moments, she felt a breathless sense of relief, of acceptance, and of joy. She clutched at Princess Sharaa’s arm, laughing, as Sharaa continued to make bawdy jokes that caused Gwendolyn to blush scarlet even as she laughed.

“Oh,” Princess Pala said, breathless with laughter, “we’ve arrived, enough, we must be dignified!”

Of course, this insistence caused another round of giggles as the girls smoothed their skirts and fixed their hair. By the time the servant who had been driving the carriage had come around the side to open the door, they were once primmer and more proper, only the deep grins on their faces giving away the merriment inside the carriage.

Twenty minutes later, Gwendolyn had no trace of a smile on her face as she stood in the dressmaker’s shop. Though beautiful and elegant gowns surrounded the little group on all sides, Gwendolyn had been in and out of more gowns in twenty minutes than she had previously been in in her entire life. She was already tired.

“Do you prefer the satin or the taffeta?” the young clerk who was helping them popped her head into the curtained off section of the store, where the girls could sit away from prying eyes. Gwendolyn looked helplessly at the others.

“What’s the difference?” she asked.

The three watching her giggled.

“The stiff black one is taffeta, the lighter one in the green is satin.” Pala explained. “There are looser silks if you prefer.”

“I…” Gwendolyn hesitated, then said, “I don’t know anything about any of this.”

“You should just get all of them,” the Duchess said, “they’re all beautiful.”

“All of them?” Gwendolyn was shocked. “I’ve tried on almost twenty dresses! I can’t buy them all!”

“Fair point,” Princess Sharaa said, “you shouldn’t buy that blue one. It was lovely, but just doesn’t suit you.”

“That isn’t what I meant!” Gwendolyn said. She turned back to the mirror, looking at herself in a lacy dark grey gown. “I can’t just… buy so many things. What would I even do with them? Where would I even put them?”

“Have you seen your wardrobe, my dear?” Princess Sharaa asked, adding, “I’m quite sure you have room for them. And as for what you’ll do with them, you’ll wear them. You have so many social events, this month alone, that you can wear them to. Personally, I think you should buy the ones you like. All of them. You have more than enough gold for it.”

Gwendolyn was still looking at her own reflection, and the way the color of the dress changed ever so slightly as the candlelight flickered.

“Okay,” she said, after thinking it through. “But you’ll have to help me figure out what to wear to different types of parties.” She laughed.