Page 108 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
Did that mean she found Dimitri handsome?
At that thought, her eyes drifted from the prince to the young lord standing on the steps, looking almost equally regal in the clothes she shoved him into. She wasn’t foolish enough to say she’d stopped noticing his face, only that it had become so much a part of him that the differences ceased to matter, made a perfect kind of sense in her head.
Yes, it was a face she liked, and yes, at least half of it was very handsome indeed.
Her cheeks heated.
“Beautiful,” whispered Posey beside her. “Even more magnificent than the last time he came.” She sighed dreamily, echoed by Erabella. Even Thomas seemed a little wistful.
“Presenting his Royal Highness, Prince Alexei II,” announced a man beside him, dressed in regal blue court apparel.
“They know who I am!” Alexei laughed, turning halfway up the steps and winking at the servants.
Posey looked ready to faint.
“Cousin!” Alexei declared, pulling him out of the bow Dimitri was attempting and yanking him into his arms. “It’s been too long. You’re almost as tall as me. How did that happen?”
“Age,” Dimitri said dryly.
At this, Alexei laughed, thumping him on the back. They moved towards the doors. The servants remained stiffly in position until they had disappeared, and then Minty descended, barking orders and instructions as the carriages were unpacked by the dozens of servants Alexei had brought with him.
Dozens. For one man.
And the carriage… a beautiful, glistening, gilded thing… a single wheel would have fed a family for a year.
Adeline was swept back into the kitchen, half-deaf to Mrs Minton’s orders. There were too many people around, and she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be doing. She made herself busy assisting Mrs Parsons with preparing a royal breakfast, ignoring Posey’s dreamy sighs while Erabella looked far too nervous to gush.
“Adeline,” Mrs Minton appeared at her shoulder. “You’ve been asked to take up the breakfast.”
Damn you, Dimitri!Adeline cursed inwardly. She was not prepared to parade in front of royalty today.
“Of course,” she said, picking up one of the trays. Mrs Minton took the second herself.
A great deal of laughter emanated from the blue parlour, and strangely, some of it seemed to be from Dimitri himself. Mrs Minton went in first and set down the breakfast on the table before slipping silently away. Adeline tried to do the same.
“So, when do I meet this maid of yours?” Alexei said, pausing in the middle of his laughter.
“Adeline,” said Dimitri swiftly. “Her name is Adeline.”
“Yes, you may have mentioned that once or twice.”
Dimitri looked across at her, smiling. “Will you not come over?”
Adeline turned, dropping into a bow. “Your Highness,” she said, feeling his stare wriggle into her.
Alexei’s mouth pulled into a tight smile. “My, you’re just as pretty as his letters implied.”
“Unless he was extremely flat with his praise, I doubt that’s true, but I thank you nonetheless.”
He barked a laugh. “Oh, I can see why he likes you.”
“She’s distinctly likeable,” Dimitri said. “Or so she keeps telling me.”
Alexei surveyed her carefully for a moment, less like a piece of art, and more like a specimen at a museum. “Tell me, Adeline, do you have any particular talents?”
She remembered how she had been when she first met Dimitri, how free she’d been with her words. There was no reason to stand on ceremony with this man, and Dimitri was here. She could say anything.
“You mean besides my wit?”
