Brighter Than the Stars

Annabelle - Tea Parties and Politics

I changed quickly for Madeline's tea, slipping into a simple red dress. While I had been tempted to be as extravagant as possible, just to try and show everyone up, Madeline had told me not to—even though I hadn't even mentioned what I was thinking. I, like Leo, was readable–but Leo couldn't act, so he had it worse. Still, when he'd painted Nicole's ceiling for her birthday months back, she had known something was up just by looking at me, so I hadn't kept that secret very well, either. Sorry, Leo.

Clara appeared at my room's door ten minutes before we were supposed to be there, dressed in pale pink, with a pink ribbon in her hair. Despite the soft colour, she looked much older than usual, and it reminded me that she was fifteen, only two years younger than me. I was sure plenty of people thought fifteen (and seventeen) as children, which we were, but I'd never really thought of Clara as someone who would technically be an adult by Itarise standards soon. She'd certainly shown herself more than capable of taking on her duties as Maddie's lady-in-waiting, and there was no doubt the girl was talented–far more than I had been at fifteen. Her designs showed promise, and she had an excellent eye for detail. Besides that, she was fun to work with.

"Ready?" I asked.

She nodded. "Do you think we'll have to do much? I don't understand most of the politics Maddie's been taking care of, and what if they think I'm stupid? They already don't like that we have this position."

"They definitely won't think you're stupid," I said. "Trust me: they don't know much about politics, either. All the ladies of the nobility do is gossip and go to parties; they may try to pretend, but Madeline will take care of it fast enough. I won't lie: it's not going to be exactly fun. They just love taking any word you say and blowing out of proportion, so you have to be careful of what you say, but you can't say too little, or they'll pick up on that, too. I know that's not very reassuring, but you deserved to be warned. If they start doing that, just ignore it. You're fine. It doesn't mean much at all: they just like to talk. Lady Elena is supposed to be coming, though, and I always liked her. She'll love you."

Lady Elena was the only one in the circle not married, and managed her own estate and property, which her father had left her, his only child. Apparently, it had been somewhat of a scandal way back when, and was still heavily discussed today, even though both of Lady Elena's parents were dead. There had been no male heir, and no other children. There was maybe a distant cousin somewhere, but Elena's father had chosen to give the property to her, and so she had taken control of it. She was still fairly young, and I saw her as an older sister, as did many of the younger girls in Court. If there was one person I missed more than anything, it was her.

She wasn't married, and that had been another point the rest of Court couldn't stand. At a party, once, we'd escaped to a corner of the room, and she'd muttered to me, "I swear, Belle, if one more person tries to push their young, eligible, rich, perfectly handsome–all according to them–son at me, I will go crazy."

She could always be counted on to roll her eyes whenever the others said something stupid, and I was glad Madeline had made sure to invite her. She, at least, could be counted on to not be horrible.

Clara bit her lip and wrinkled her nose, something she always did when she was thinking. Nicole did the same thing, except she pursed her lips instead. "I know I shouldn't be thinking about it so much, and that they're all kind of horrible–no offense–but I guess I just want them to like me. Which is ridiculous, because they won't."

I shrugged. "If anyone could change their minds, it'd be you. They already have their minds made up about me." That was true enough, and I didn't really mind if they didn't like me. I didn't like them. But they should at least be nice to Clara. "It'll be fine. Maddie and I will both be there, and Nicole would be if she could. If anyone says anything, I'll insult them right back."