Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Yes, but that does not mean it should be so on the nose, as you American’s say.” She walked over to the cart, lifting one cup and sticking out her pinky. “See how undignified it looks? As if to say, ‘Look at me, look me, I have a pinky.’ We are already looking at you, and we all have pinkies. So, either you are desperate for more attention, or you believe we do not have the same appendage. Ridiculous, no?”
This was very serious. “Okay,” was all I could manage to say.
“Very good. Pinky stays tucked in.” She folded her fingers. “Now, when partaking in tea, you must pinch the teacup handle with your index finger and thumb, while your middle finger holds the bottom, and your fourth and fifth fingers should curl in toward your wrist. Make sure the handle of the cup faces three o’clock, and always, always take a sip from the same place each time. The last thing anyone wants to see is a cup covered in lipstick stains around the rim. Now also, when stirring your tea, avoid clanking your teaspoon against the cup. Instead, swirl it quietly, gently as if you are trying to hypnotize your lover. Then rest the teaspoon behind the cup on the saucer with the handle facing toward the teacup handle, logical of course. You are never, ever, ever to leave the teaspoon in the cup or your mouth. Understand?”
“Yes.” I think.
“Very good, now we will test all the skills you have learned together. I will pretend to be ladies of different statuses, and we shall both go through a whole tea arrangement while adhering to the protocol for each person. Let us practice.” She was out the door again before I got another word in.
Oh, what fun.
“Thank you, Lady de Marissonne,” I said at the end of our lesson.
She curtsied deeply to me, and I nodded slightly with a small, closed-mouth grin at her immediately.
“Very good.” She nodded, and I stood a bit taller, happy to be complimented for once. However, as she left and Wolfgang entered with a tablet in hand, the small smile vanished.
He waited until the door closed before stepping forward, the deep frown on his freckled face telling me I was going to hate this. Gale had all but banned newspapers or anyone from talking to me about what was said in the press. I had not said anything to him about it. Instead, I just had Wolfgang basically translate what was said.
“The Morning Eagle again?” I asked him.
He nodded. “They are getting more vicious.”
Sighing, I sat back down, and instinctively, I wanted to cross my legs, but I remembered the last photo of me in the media and sat with my legs slanted.
“Read it.” I hung my head, waiting.
“Odette Wyntor snubs her sister. Augusta Wyntor-Washington, Odette Wyntor’s younger sister, claims her sister has snubbed her.”
“What?” I looked up at him in shock.
“Apparently, your sister spoke to some reporters last night. She is quoted throughout the piece.”
I reached for the tablet, and he gave it to me. Sure enough, there were quotes, not one or two, but several. Augusta declaring to all the world that I had ignored her, lied to her and that I was...
“Please tell me my translation is wrong, and this does not say, ‘My sister, Odette, always says she doesn’t want fame but then goes and tries to make herself the most famous person possible. If she is not the center of attention, she is upset.’”
What the hell? This could not be right.
“Yes, that is pretty much the correct message.”
“Was she drunk?” I gasped. But she could not have been drunk. She was pregnant, which meant she must have been insane. “I need to be the center of attention? Me?”
“Miss, there is a possibility that she was misquoted, that the press is simply trying to put words into her mouth. Do not get upset.” He tried to calm me down.
And if only it were that easy.
“My phone—”
“Miss.”
“Wolfgang, if it is a misquote, I want her to tell me. If it is how she feels, I also want her to tell me. Please give me my phone.”
He nodded, giving it to me, and when he did, I immediately dialed Augusta. Yes, it was true that I had not talked to my sister for the first two days I was here. But I did call, and I broke protocol by explaining what was happening that caused me to delay. Now I was snubbing her?
“Well, if it isn’t Her Royal Majesty,” was what she said through the phone.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from yelling. “Hello, Augusta, you must forgive me for calling you. I know it is late—”
“Is that how they train you to talk now? ‘You must forgive me.’”
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped, not understanding where her attitude was coming from. She sounded drunk. She couldn’t be.