**THE PRINCESS SERIES is part of the GOLDEN UNIVERSE, and considered a sequel to THE GOLDEN QUEEN/A BRAZEN LOVE**
♦YOU MUST HAVE READ THE GOLDEN UNIVERSE NOVELS AND THE BRAZEN NOVELS TO READ THIS SERIES! AS WELL AS BOOK ONE, PRINCESS OF CANDOR!♦
In...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
♪ You don't think I listen, but I do, you see Words are never bitter 'cause your voice so sweet ♪ {BANKS—Holding back}
Despite Lady Read's overwhelming running back and forth and hiking up and down stairs—the woman was getting quite the work-out—she took some time to accompany Cordelia and Helen into town, to shop for proper attire for the soirees to come.
"You must look perfect and distinguished, both of you," she'd said, as she ushered Cordelia and Helen into a carriage, and shoved in beside them. They were cramped—the style of carriages here was the smaller, the stuffier, the better—but didn't have far to go, according to Lady Read.
They passed the mill, incurring the rush of fishy scents that wrinkled Cordelia's nostrils and caused Helen's face to turn green. But otherwise, their trip was smooth, and the hustle and bustle of the small town soothed Cordelia.
She and Helen had been assisting Lady Read as best as they could, but the woman knew what she wanted, how she wanted it done, and didn't trust anyone but herself to do it. Even her most dedicated staff was more of a nuisance to her than anything else. She went around fixing flowers in vases, adjusting crooked paintings—"why are these always crooked?"—rearranging books in bookcases, overseeing the cooks in their preparations, nitpicking at every dish they dared proffer to her.
Helen had taken up needlework, staying out of the way. Cordelia had taken to gazing out the window, watching the children play outside, and sometimes eavesdropping on Berenice, Lady Read's granddaughter.
Oh, Berenice—what a handful she was, Cordelia understood now. She was beautiful, and knew it; she flaunted her looks to anyone who came near her, and made it clear she would marry someone high-placed, but on her terms. Her defiance towards Lord Read was common knowledge at the manor. Serving girls spoke of it while busying about with their tasks, and more than often, while pretending to be nose-deep into a book, Cordelia overheard her antics.
She tried to sneak out—but Lord Read changed the location of his keys daily, and ensured his manservant wandered the halls at night to interfere in any of her creeping. She wanted to attend lavish parties, she said; but no one knew where, as the most lavish parties in Romsey were always here, at Read Manor. She often shirked her duties—the only request Lady Read had of her was to keep an eye on her nieces and nephews, but she was too busy plotting her next date, her next escape, and disregarded the kids, leaving them in the care of the overworked governess.
And oh, the looks she'd given Cordelia and Helen. Though they were but temporary guests, neither one interested in stealing any of her prospects, she treated them as competitors. They were young, beautiful—both only a few years older than her—and marriageable. Berenice regularly grumbled about how if any of those prospects were to meet them, they'd abandon their pursuit of her and go for them instead. These were rumors; she often had her friends over—other girls of her age with higher standing, a trick she'd learned from her grandmother—and they chit-chatted in tones they thought Cordelia wouldn't hear... but they had no idea the skills she'd picked up in Torrinni Court.
