Read Online Princess of Athelia: An Unfinished Fairy Tales Novella by Aya Ling - Free Book Online

recently?” Lady Mansfield asks. She also treated me like I never existed, especially since I ruined her dinner party by splashing champagne on Andrew McVean, but now she can’t be more friendly. “Didn’t you tell us that your eldest tried to lead her astray?”
    “She has much improved now, thank heaven.” Constance rubs her forehead as though to ward off a headache. “Tristan has always spoiled her dreadfully, but taking her to the woods to go climbing trees, jumping over stiles, and getting her frock dirty and torn? I had to put my foot down. I could not have my little girl growing up a savage.”
    “You won’t have cause for worry, since most of the time the boys are away at boarding school.”
    “Well, that reminds me. I need to give Tristan another talk when he comes back. He may have stopped with shaping her into a tomboy, but he’s been feeding Rosie’s head with ideas lately.”
    “What kind of ideas?”
    Constance presses her lips in a slash. “He calls them modern, but I call them dreadful. He lent Rosie his books at that boarding school—books that a pure-minded young girl shouldn’t be around. I confiscated one book that had pictures of the human anatomy. It is positively disgraceful for her to be learning about such distasteful stuff when she should be concentrating on her own lessons. I told her to put everything she read out of her mind and worry about performing a court curtsy.”
    “You needn’t worry, Constance,” Lady Fremont says, simpering. “Considering that Rosie is your daughter, and a little beauty who takes after her mother, she won’t have much trouble with suitors.”
    “Making the right choice for marriage is no easy deal,” Lady Petunia says, joining the conversation. “You don’t know how much I have pleaded with Henry to pick a suitable girl from a good family, but he has been fixated on that Bradshaw girl. She might no longer be a servant, but the fact remains that she lacks a lady’s education. Did you know that she offered to help me do my hair? As if I didn’t have enough maids for that.”
    She sends me an irritated glance. As if I had anything to do with getting Henry and Elle together. If anything, my original goal was to separate them so Elle could marry Edward. But with so many women present, I’m worried that any defense of Elle might backfire and produce an opposite effect. From how Constance seemed so concerned about making Rosie into a little lady, I doubt any of them will approve of a union between Henry and Elle. Heck, I’m pretty sure that they don’t think too highly of me either—a girl who tripped over her feet during her presentation.
    “Excuse me,” I murmur and get up. The aroma of roast pheasant is assailing my nose, and my mouth is watering after pretending to be satisfied with a meager plate of salad. Plus, I need a break from the conversation—it’s getting more and more difficult to smile and agree with their views.
    I grab a plate and help myself liberally to food. Even in the palace, you can’t get pheasant that’s caught on the same day it’s cooked. Let Constance and the others gape at my appetite; I have endured their conversation all morning and I’ll be pissed off if I need to endure an empty stomach as well.
    Laughter rings out near me, just when I poured myself a tall glass of lemonade to go with my piled plate. Then someone stumbles in my back, my hand is jolted, and a chunk of meat falls on my dress. Half of my lemonade spills down my front.
    “Oh I’m so sorry!” Lillie gasps. “I was talking to Mother and didn’t notice you behind me.”
    Her mother also apologizes profusely, but like Lady Fremont, I sense the same restrained resentment in her face. Unless I’m much mistaken, Lillie’s mother also harbors anger toward me—anger that I stole her daughter’s chance to be queen.
    I tell myself to stop speculating; for all I know, they could be genuinely upset about humiliating me in front of the