First at Last (Updated Version)

Chapter Twenty-Two

I was awoken the next morning by a sharp knock on my door. I had hardly slept at all the night before and had only drifted off into a restless sleep as the sun was rising. My eyes felt like they had sand in them and my head ached from my awful sleep.

"Enter," I called as I sat up.

Agnes entered the room followed by a group of servant girls carrying a washtub. "Your mother has requested that you join her for breakfast in the drawing room."

Dread knotted my stomach immediately and I forced myself to keep from grimacing outright. "Of course," I replied. She helped me get ready for the day. I washed quickly, followed by Agnes helping me dress in a pale yellow gown and tying my hair back in a knot, leaving a few strands loose to frame my face. After I was prepared for the day, I left the servants to clean up the wash tub and I went down to the drawing room.

Mother waited in a chair near the window, drinking her tea, breakfast laid out on a tray before her. She glanced up when I entered, though her expression did not change. Her cold, gray eyes watched me impassively as I approached her and the tray across the table from her that was surely meant for me.

"Good morning, Mother," I said with a curtsy before sitting across from her. "You requested to see me?" Of course, it was a demand, not a request, no matter what language was used to describe it, though I did not point that out.

"Is it not enough that I simply want to have breakfast with my daughter?"

I stared at her for a long moment, perplexed. It certainly was unusual for her to want to just have breakfast with her daughter—if the daughter was me, anyway.

"Of course not," I said, still suspicious. "I am honored you would want to spend your time with me."

We ate in silence for a few moments, as I continued to cast surreptitious glances at her over my bowl of porridge, waiting for something, though I was not quite sure what.

Finally, Mother sighed, and met my eyes. "I am most displeased with how you behaved yesterday while we were at the palace helping with wedding planning."

Though, I was not surprised there was actually a reason for her wanting to have breakfast with me, the reason confused me. "Displeased? Mother, I did exactly as you asked. I did not speak with anyone, I did not interrupt, I stayed there, but out of the way. What else could I have done?"

"I did not ask you to come so that you could keep your nose in your book the entire time, Erika," Mother snapped impatiently. "I asked you there so that you would participate. You were supposed to help plan the wedding, get involved. Instead, you sulked in the corner like a child and disappeared halfway through for quite a long time."

"I know you asked me to," I said carefully. "But I couldn't. You two were so engrossed in the planning that even William and Alice did not participate much. It makes no sense that I was there just to help plan, as well."

"Do not argue with me!" Mother paused, took a deep breath and when she spoke again, she was calmer. "Regardless, I was embarrassed by your behavior yesterday—and of late. I have spent some time trying to think of a punishment that might be suitable for all of the trouble you've caused me lately. Finally, I came up with one."

I swallowed my argument. It would only make it worse. But the look in her eyes. I couldn't quite read it and it made me nervous.

"As you know, Alice and His Highness's engagement ball is this upcoming week." I did not know that, but now hardly seemed the time to bring that up. "You are to give a speech in their honor."

"What?" My eyes flew wide. "You cannot mean that."

A malicious light glinted in Mother's eyes. "I do, Erika. I have spoken with the king and queen and they are delighted that you are so enthusiastic about the union between Alice and the prince. You are to give a speech that emphasizes just how happy you are for them."