First Dance

"What happened to your hair?!" the countess screeched when her daughter arrived home with a lion's mane and no bonnet.

"The wind at the ocean side was very strong, Mother," I said calmly.

The only way to deal with her when she got hysterical was to remain absolutely calm. It had not taken long in this world to learn that much.

"Yes, very strong," Percy agreed while standing stoically beside me. "Her bonnet flew right off and the pins with it."

The countess had no reason to doubt the word of her oldest son and let us off easily before going to order the cook to prepare dinner.

I turned to him suspiciously. "You just lied for me."

"Yes, I did."

"What do you want?"

He smiled. "The whole lemon tart. I think you owe me that much."

Curse him, he was right. Percy had done a lot for me today.

"Can I have one tiny nibble first?" I pleaded. I was the one who picked it out after all.

"One tiny nibble," he conceded.

After taking my taste—it was absolutely scrumptious—I regretfully handed it over. "We need to go back there again. These are divine."

"I heard a rumor they will not be this good for long. The palace is interested in hiring the pastry chef out from under the bakery owner in honor of the second prince's marriage. Apparently, the new princess really loves that bakery."

I wasn't surprised about the rumor since I knew this was roughly the time Marcy headed to the palace anyway. I was surprised that my brother—who hated the capital and most people—had listened to gossip.

"Where did you hear that?"

"Believe it or not, I do know some people in the capital. I have to forge my connections for when I take Father's place someday."

Huh. I guess his antisocial nature had a loophole. With that cryptic statement he headed upstairs to go over the ledgers with the earl before dinner.

I found myself with nothing to do so I sat in the sitting room with the curtain pulled back and watched people pass by until we were called to dinner.

As usual, it was a mostly silent affair, but my mother did make sure to give me more advice about my debut tomorrow. All the daughters of nobility that were of age would go forward and introduce themselves to the king and queen in front of the full court in descending order of importance.

As an earl's daughter I'd probably be within the first ten candidates. That happened in the morning. In the evening was the debutante ball, which was the best opportunity for newly-out-in-society ladies to network with the mothers and wives of other nobility and to dance with as many different partners as possible.

Part of me dreaded the dancing. Sure, I'd practiced my feet off, but what if I still screwed up? The other part of me was excited to be able to do physical activity without hurting myself.

You know those dance games where you held the motion-sensor controller and tried to go along with the moves on the screen? I couldn't even play those because the repetitive arm motions hurt my shoulders too much. Being physically able to dance was nice even if I didn't want to do it with a bunch of random noblemen.

"Percy, will you dance with me first?" I asked.

The first dance was usually reserved for a family member or a lady's prospective fiancé if she had one. It was done with someone the lady trusted to help calm her nerves before sending her off into the wolves' den. Not a terrible sentiment, I guess.

"That would be most appropriate," the countess approved. "If you dance with Percival I can dance with your father."

"Of course, Catherine. It would be my honor."

I smiled at him. I would be a lot less nervous dancing with him than with the earl. A sheltered lady like Catherine du Pont didn't know any other men well enough to dance with them first.

That night I lay awake for far too long, wondering what the next day had in store for me. I had never slept well before tests in school. This was no different.

My merit as a noblewoman was being tested in front of the entire kingdom tomorrow. I couldn't bring shame to the earldom—at least until I found a way to leave it. Because leaving would definitely shame them.

I assumed they would do their best to keep things quiet for Adele's sake. If scandal tainted the du Pont name she would have a hard time finding a husband when she got older. No, they wouldn't launch a search for me.

My brothers might look into things on their own but no one would dare go against the earl's edict. If he said not to incite a scandal they wouldn't incite a scandal.

They would probably pretend they married me off to a visiting dignitary from another country. That would explain why no one ever saw me quite well and Adele's future wouldn't be affected. A perfect plan.

I had been in their house long enough to know what kind of people Lord and Lady du Pont were. They wouldn't miss their oldest daughter one bit. My siblings would though and that was the one thorn in my side.