Page 3 of Roses in Amber
"Of course not," Pearl spat bitterly, and turned her face from them with the most delicate tremble, giving the lie—or at least an impression of the lie—to her words.
One of them proposed to her immediately.
Pearl, with more dignity and unspoken wrath than I would be able to conjure in a lifetime, stood and gazed at this unfortunate with a loathing she might usually reserve for a slime eel, or a fungus. "I suppose you ask so that you might have only a little time to put up with me, and a very long time indeed to fondle my fortune. I assure you, sir, I am not that desperate."
She swept from the room at the end of this speech, glancing back only once. But instead of the scathing glance I expected from her, I saw desperation instead. Desperation, vulnerability, hope, trust, and then those emotions were shuttered so fully that I thought I imagined that they had been there at all.
But then I saw the look in her suitors' eyes, and knew that somehow my arrogant sister had convinced them that her coldness was only for show, that she was dying, that she was terrified, and that she would do anything for a show of true passion in her final days.
One of the youths slapped Rafe, who had proposed, along the back of the head, half in jest and in all seriousness. "What were you thinking, man, proposing in front of her entire family? What did you expect her to say?"
Rafe, who was reasonably handsome and extremely wealthy, proved to have an excellent, if sheepish, smile. "She's Pearl Gryce, mate. I expected her to say no. She did before." His gaze lingered on the door Pearl had escaped through, though, before he turned to Father and offered a bow. "May I call again, sir?"
Father, whose eyes had bugged in near apoplexy at Rafe's rejection, made an agreeably non-committal grunt that earned a smile and a bow from Rafe, who then herded his comrades out of our salon to the noisiness of the street. I glanced out from behind the curtain and saw the other youths leaping on Rafe, razzing him and ruffling his hair, but he seemed to take no mind of it, smiling as his own attention returned not to the window I hid in, but the one next door. I imagined Pearl turning swiftly away from that window, a pretense of having been caught, and let the curtain fall as I chuckled. "I didn't know she acted so well."
"Why did she turn him down?" Father demanded.
Even Opal smiled, at that. "Had she accepted, he would have felt himself trapped and found a way out, even with all of us as witnesses. Now it's a chase again, and better yet, a rescue. It's all very romantic."
Better than romantic, it was a horse race: before evening, one of Rafe's compatriots, a tall youth with a thin mouth and hard eyes returned to ask Father for permission to payhisregards to Pearl, and by late the next afternoon two more young gentlemen and an extremely handsome young lady came to admire Pearl's reputedly dying beauty, and made their addresses known.
"Which of them will you accept?" Opal asked that second night, earning Pearl's indifferent shrug.
"Rafe is the wealthiest of them, and unlikely to try to murder me in our bed when I don't conveniently die in a month or two. At least it's easy to appear increasingly fragile, with the quality of food available here." Pearl's nostrils flared just enough to convey absolute contempt, though in fact the Noble's dining hall was fit enough to serve anyone shy of royalty. "I prefer Solindra, though. She has less money but a great deal more charm."
"Solindra Nare has no brothers or sisters," Father said firmly. "Her parents are unlikely to condone a marriage that won't produce an heir."
Pearl rolled her eyes quite magnificently. "Children can be adopted, Father, or a child-maker hired to lie with her if she must be a mother. If we're appallingly canny we might find some young rake with money who'd prefer a husband of his own, and join two more fortunes together for the child's secure future. I'll take another week or two so she doesn't think this is all too easy, and be married before the spring cross-quarter day. I suppose you'll have to come with me, Opal. You can be better presented from Solindra's manor than a hotel, and Amber can move into the Crossroads with Father, if the ships haven't yet come in."
"How thoughtful of you," I said dryly.
Pearl cast me an icy look. "Once Opal is settled she or I will take you in, Amber, but it's easier to marry one woman off at a time. Having all of us hanging about might make someone realize the urgency of the situation."
That, I could not entirely argue with. Neither, in fact, was I in any particular hurry to wed, despite understanding the necessity of it. A little delay orchestrated by my conniving eldest sister was welcome to me.
Rafe, Solindra, and several others called daily for ten afternoons. Each time cold Pearl thawed a little more toward Solindra, who grew more radiant with each of Pearl's smiles, whilst Rafe, who appeared no fool, found himself increasingly attentive of Opal. My middle sister seemed quietly pleased by this turn of events, though I thought Opal would be pleased by anything that helped secure our fortunes. Not because she was a fortune-hunter herself, but because she would worry about us until we were all safe, and think very little of attaching herself to someone pleasant to ensure that safety was engaged. To my amusement, Father became increasingly offended that none of the remaining young men seemed interested in pursuing me, though they were polite enough while trying to steal my sisters' attention. Father began to try to herd them toward me, as if he was a sheepdog and they the sheep—leaving me in a role I dared not contemplate—and I heard them chortling about it on their way out one evening. "Why not?" asked one. "She's got a face you could look at for hours, and none of her older sister's sharpness."
Pearl sent their backs a daggered look indeed: had witchery been more common they might have found themselves bleeding from her glare, but instead the other one shrugged off his reply as the door closed behind them. "Not that one. Why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free?"
I murmured, "Oh dear." My sisters both looked at me, appalled, while Father turned white, then red, and went swiftly into the room he shared with Maman.
Opal said, "Amber?"
"I was very discrete!"
"Apparently not discrete enough." Pearl flung herself into a divan—even that looked graceful on my sister's long frame—and gazed at me with a peculiar mix of horror and admiration. "Really, Amber? Who?"
"Well, it hardly matters now, does it? Our wealthy young friends are still interested in you two, even if I've been, ahm." I glanced toward the door and the departed gossips. "Milked."
"It was that boy at the ball last year, wasn't it? The one who couldn't take his eyes off you. What happened to him? Maybe we can force his hand into marriage."
"For all the stars and the shining moon, Pearl. He left last spring with his parents, to sail for the Eastern Islands and their holdings there. All that gossiping snob who just left has is speculation. People talk because I won't look away when they stare at me. Anyway, if you and Opal have secured good enough marriages and Father's ships come in, either I'll be well enough off that I'm too profitable a union to pass on, or I'll be able to marry someone who doesn't care. Besides," I added with a sly smile, "it was worth it."
A blush crept up Opal's cheeks and she leaned forward to whisper, "Was it? Tell us about it."
My smile became a slow grin, and I bid my sisters nestle closer while I whispered my experiences to them, and we all of us went to bed shyly pleased with ourselves and convinced of our salvation in Solindra Nare's handsome form.
To this day I believe it would have come, had further disaster not struck.
