Page 3 of The Baroness of Sin
“I am certain they will find it most amusing, whether they participate or not,” Martha assured her more worried older sister.
“Speaking of ‘they’,” her sister pivoted on the matter of the subject, “who were you planning on inviting to this impromptu ball of yours?”
“Just the unmarried Lords of London, the married ladies of London, and anyone who would hear of it that it would be rude not to invite,” Martha commented nonchalantly, even though she knew the larger consequences of what she was saying.
“That... would include almost everyone of status in London,” Emma said with a mixture of horror and disbelief.
“Just the ones who can make it on short notice,” Martha added with a knowing smile. They both knew that even people who could get away with not attending wouldn’t dare miss the first ball hosted by the Baroness of Carrington after the passing of her husband. It would be all that anyone was going to talk about for at least a week.
Her late husband, Lord Carrington, had, after all, attempted to seduce his sister-in-law, attempted to kidnap her betrothed, and drowned in his attempt to escape the consequences of his own actions when they caught up with him. Martha was sure the ton had yet to run out of things to talk about, and this thought turned her smile bitter on her lips.
She was shaken from her dower mindset by her sister’s own, much less serious complaints.
“Martha, I assumed that when you were done mourning you would take up painting again or maybe buy a pet bird.” Her sister’s exasperation was visible through the cracks in her composure. “I didn’t realize that your new pastime would be to cause me distress.”
The indignant cry that Martha let out at Emma’s joke was heard by the staff all way upstairs as Letty would later tell her lady.
* * *
Most of Emma’s stress was alleviated within the first hour of the ball’s commencement. It was clear from the early onset of revelry that the festivities of Mayfair Manor had been missed immensely since the family had its run of bad luck.
In fact, the ball raised Martha’s spirits quite a bit, and not just because of the praise she received for all the aspects of the ball. She was quick to point out that Emma’s advanced palette had chosen the food to prepare for the evening. As nice as the compliments were, Martha found that many of her old friends had genuinely missed her company.
Martha’s husband had taken her away to a home far from London and had closed her off from many of her old acquaintances. She had made the best of entertaining his connections and their wives, but she found many of them to be unpleasant and boorish. For a long while, she fretted that she simply did not fit in. Now she was able to put together that her husband kept rather poor company to match his own inner ugliness.
Despite her eagerness to engage in social frivolity until her voice gave out, Martha knew that she couldn’t ignore the primary reason she had thrown the ball. The gentlemen had come to meet her, and she couldn’t leave them wanting, could she?
She was happy to learn that her dance card was the first to fill. As a widow, and one of the older unmarried ladies in the ton, she hadn’t expected such eager attention. Either the unmarried gentlemen were genuinely encouraged by her recent change in status, or they were being exceedingly polite. Martha wouldn’t feel vexed either way.
Once she had to resolve a dispute between Lord Wellingway and Lord Quinton over placement on her dance card; she knew she had to intervene before someone became injured, in body or ego. “Gentlemen,” Martha said with a cheery smile while raising hands to each of them, “I know it might seem unfair to the one who has to dance with me, but if one of you would take the honor of dancing with my sister Emma, I’m sure you will find yourself unable to compare her beauty and grace to any other.” Put into such a place socially caused the lords to quickly resolve their dispute, Lord Wellingway taking a place on her sister’s card. A little more maneuvering and Martha was able to fill up her sister’s dances as well.
“I thought the whole point was foryouto meet gentlemen. I was not prepared for courtship tonight,” Emma told her when they had a moment aside. Her wide eyes almost appeared owlish behind the thin round rims of her spectacles.
“It is for me. I just wish to have my sister close by for the dancing, for comfort and such. Take pity on me, Emma. I am diving into all of this, but I am very much out of practice.”
Emma’s lips were a grim line, but she nodded in understanding.
As the night progressed, Martha found herself having a good time. A grand time. One of the best times she had in years! But she didn’t find what she had sought from this ball. None of the gentlemen she talked to or danced with were unpleasant; frankly, everyone was more than charming. The problem she found herself quite frustrated with was the lack of passion she felt. None of the gentlemen here made her heart thump in her chest or her skin feel hot. She yearned for someone who would make her feel so strongly that she couldn’t think straight.
She used to think that love like that was just in stories until her sister Harriet proved to her it was real, and now Martha wanted that love more than anything.
She had grown tired of dancing. She excused herself after the last dance, before the second break began, to go out to the garden for some air. When a gentleman offered to escort her, she needed to be a little more insistent than was proper to deter him. She let her frustration get the better of her, and that firmed her resolve to get a moment to herself.
She knew the fresh air of the garden would calm her.
* * *
Amanda awoke in her darkened bedroom. She had no memory of falling asleep, only of crying for a long time and the warm, and slightly damp, comforting shoulder in her father. Now she was alone and didn’t care for it.
She was about to call out for her governess when she noticed something outside her bedroom window. In the garden in the manor nearby, swirls of colorful light and fabric intermingled in the mix of light and darkness, reminding her of the fairy lights that Old Nann, the cook, had told her about. A few steps towards the window, and she caught a sound, just a few chords of music on the wind. Yes, this must be one of those fairy parties from the stories.
Old Nann had warned her that if she ever saw fairies, or anything that indicated they had been there, she should not go near. But Amanda also remembered that fairies can give amazing gifts and wishes, even giving out new brothers and sisters. Didn’t that mean that they could give her a new mommy?
Amanda climbed over the twisted metal railing of her bedroom window. She was only a few feet from the ground, and her bare feet landed silently in the cool dew-covered grass. She started her pilgrimage across lawns of lords and ladies towards the lights and the music.
Chapter Four
James let out a long, tired sigh as he took a small but healthy sip of the wine that swirled and stuck to the walls of his glass. It tasted sweet and strong on his tongue and helped wash away the bitter taste that stuck in the back of his throat after having to retell the story of losing his wife.
