Chapter 24
Verity twisted her gloves in her lap while she smiled.
Before her, Octavia danced around in her brand-new dress that she’d been waiting on for some time. It had taken three fittings and new ribbons to get it just the way her sister desired it to be.
“See how the sunlight reflects on the beading?” Her younger sister beamed. “I can look like the sun in the day and the stars in the night!”
“Not the moon?” Verity asked lightly.
Elowen sent her a glance to show she agreed, but said nothing. She was practicing her tea service skills once more since she had accidentally spilled during a visit yesterday.
Which I should have been there for. I shouldn’t have been so distracted. I still have so many responsibilities that I cannot allow myself to ignore.
“The entire sky!” Octavia beamed. She stopped twirling and clasped her hands together to create a pretty picture. Worth a painting. Until, that is, she fell off balance with her bent ankles and fell into the nearest chair. “Ouch!”
“Do be careful,” Elowen attempted to say helpfully.
Their sister waved a hand as she righted herself, pretending nothing had happened. “Anyways, I am not so certain I should wear this tonight.”
“What?” Verity was tempted to throw her hands up in the air. “You finally have a pass into Almack’s and you don’t wish to go?”
“No, that is not what I said, thank you very much. I do wish to go. However, no one is going to be looking at my dress. Not now! Not with gossip brewing.”
She stilled. “Gossip?”
“Oh, you’ve read this one. I know you must have. Everyone in London has, if not all of England. Perhaps all of Britain! Here, I have two more in my room.” Octavia shoved a piece of paper into her lap.
It was, as Verity anticipated, a copy of London Grey Truth crumpled that she straightened out.
She’d used her very first layout. The largest container of information sat neatly in the center. Then five smaller pieces of gossip were centered around it on three sides, the top being the title. It was a neat little layout. Clean and crisp. All the right words stood out.
The moment she had delivered this for publishing, Verity knew there was no turning back. She had every reason to be proud of her work.
So why is my stomach tied all in knots?
Keeping the smile on her face, she turned to Elowen, “Are you still wishing to attend tonight?”
“I’m all right.”
It wasn’t the sort of answer she was looking for. But before Verity could inquire further into her sister, the other one was taking command.
“What do you think, Verity?”
“What? Think of what?”
“The gossip, of course! It talks in riddles, really. I think it’s all a trick for something grander. A heist, perhaps! Or a love story that isn’t exactly clear yet. I don’t quite know but I think it could include a poor lord faking his death to save his rich heiress lover,” Octavia proclaimed.
Verity looked at her in bewilderment, wondering what on earth her sister was talking about.
“You think that stems from this?”
“Of course!”
She glanced at Elowen. “What do you think?”
“I don’t think it’s true…” Her sister paused, biting her lip before venturing on when she nodded. “Or at least most of it. Everything there seems rather cruel, and I don’t think people have as many secrets as we like to think. The world is often simpler than we might assume.”
“Lucien!”
The shout from Octavia made everyone turn to the doorway to see their brother who walked with his shoulders hunched. He slowly turned with a face that made it clear he had hoped not to be stopped.
Verity’s eyes narrowed. “Where do you think you are going?”
“I have plans. I’m busy.”
“Yes, you have plans to join us,” she reminded him. “Where have you been? You promised to help me escort the girls to Almack’s.”
He wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t sound fun.”
“But,” Octavia pointed out as she dragged him into the room, “it shall be worth every minute. I’ve been dying all day to know what everyone is saying about the Grey Truth today. You’ve read it, haven’t you? What do you think?”
He chuckled. “It’s scandal, of course.”
“Yes, yes,” Octavia responded impatiently while bouncing on the balls of her feet. “But what do you think it’s really about? What could it be?”
“Mmm.” Turning his sister about, Lucien was the smoothest dancer in the family.
He twirled her while she giggled and tried to stay upright.
While Verity rolled her eyes, he twisted Octavia about until she was dizzy on her feet and grabbing for a chair.
“I think someone is playing with us. There’s going to be lies mixed with the truth and truth within the lies. ”
Octavia reached out a shaky hand. “What lies, though?”
“The part about death, probably. Why would a gossip rag talk about anything serious?” Lucien asked while taking hold of his sister.
He shook her head like they were meeting one another.
She slapped him away and slumped in her seat, sticking out her tongue.
And she ignored the look Verity sent her.
“It’s most likely a ploy to ferret out something real, even personal, I would bet. ”
Verity looked to him in surprise. He’d gotten it closer to the truth than she would have expected him to.
“What do you mean?” Elowen asked with confusion plain on her face.
“I don’t know.” Lucien squished into the seat beside her. The two of them began elbowing each other. Mostly it was him, since Elowen was trying to be nicer about it. But he was clearly taunting her as he played with her hair and poked her in the arm.
After clearing her throat and sending him a pointed look, Verity motioned to her sister. “Come sit over here with me. Lucien, stop being a pest.”
“Could I be anything else?”
Octavia giggled until she snorted. “That’s all you are, unless you’re drunk.”
“Octavia, that’s hardly appropriate to say.”
But Lucien was waving a hand. “No, no, she’s right. But so am I, I bet, about the rag. You have to take those matters with a grain of salt. So what if all of London talks about it tonight? We’ll forget about it by tomorrow.”
“I bet––” Octavia stopped short.
Everything fell quiet. They all looked to the open doorway to find Cassian standing there looking at them. While he fixed a crease on his sleeve, he raised an eyebrow at the room.
“What is everyone talking about this fine evening?” He asked.
The others exchanged looks. As their parents had once been a topic of gossip when they were children, it wasn’t a subject typically welcomed by Cassian. He was the head of the family now, Verity considered, and yet so distant from them.
Standing, Verity worked on putting her gloves back on. “We’re talking about how we are going to be late to Almack’s. Will you be joining us?”
“I believe that is Lucien’s duty tonight.”
“Isn’t Verity set as chaperone now that she’s wed?” Elowen asked while Lucien groaned, lolling his head back in his seat.
Cassian’s gaze flitted across everyone before returning to Lucien. “It’s Almack’s.”
“But they don’t like me there.”
“Then try to drink less,” their eldest brother said and then turned to leave. “Behave, ladies. Lucien.”
Octavia bounced right up. “It’s time to go!”
The young woman took the lead on gathering everyone together and out into the carriage. Not that they fit like they used to when they were children. Verity remembered the few trips her parents dared take the five of them out of London, how many carriages were required for them and their trunks.
Elowen cried out. “Ouch, my foot!”
“Sit over there, you know I get sick if I sit on that side,” Octavia whined.
Lucian groaned and grumbled under his breath, not helping any of them into the carriage.
It was just as difficult as ever to fit the four of them inside one this evening. By the time they took to the road, Elowen wasn’t talking to Lucien, Octavia was fanning herself to keep the nausea back, and Verity felt a headache coming on.
Perhaps going to Almack’s tonight wasn’t a good idea after all.
Verity curtsied neatly to the society matrons who welcomed everyone through the doors of Almack’s. She also very neatly ignored the disgruntled look they sent Lucien; there was little doubt his card would be revoked if he did anything more out of line.
What he had done originally, she couldn’t be certain.
Her sisters and the gossip around town were usually her priority.
Lucien had always been the wayward child determined to make his own path––though lately that meant trouble and more troubles.
She watched him slip across the room toward the shadows and then turned back to Octavia.
“Can you––”
“Oh there is Eve! I’ll see you ladies later,” the younger girl chirped before hurrying off. She managed to elbow an elderly baron and tripped over her own hem before reaching her friend.
Sighing, Verity resisted the urge to rub her brow while she turned the other way to Elowen. “I suppose it is just the two of us now.”
“What would you like to do?”
“I am not here for myself, but for you. You should be making friends and dancing,” Verity reminded her sternly before wrinkling her nose at her own tone. “That is, I want you to enjoy yourself. It’s not about me.”
Her younger sister offered a sheepish smile. “I don’t mind.”
“But I do. Why don’t you… go try some punch?”
“It will be watery.” Then the girl paused and said suddenly, “Yes, I suppose that I should. Will you be here when I return?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where should I find you then?”
Verity huffed in irritation. “I don’t know!”
The surprised and hurtful look on Elowen’s face was the first sign she’d done something wrong.
Although older than Octavia, Elowen had never really attempted to enjoy her Season very much and seemed determined to be a wallflower.
There was always some sort of distance she put between herself and the rest of the siblings, and Verity could never sort it out.
But I still know when I’ve done something wrong.