Emma didn’t budge. “No, Olivia. I will not.”
“You’re useless,” Olivia sneered. She turned her attention to Caroline. “Caroline, go fetch me my sponge. I shall be lying in wait until you return.”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
Caroline’s lips twitched. “Perhaps you ought to consider investing in an ear horn, Olivia. I said no.”
Olivia’s lips puckered. “You may be a baroness now, married to Arid Alex, but that does not put you above me. I am still the daughter of an earl, and as such, I have had my title much longer than you. Don’t forget that, Caroline. We all know where you came from.” She swung her gaze to Juliet. “Or perhaps not all of us. Would you like me to tell her your shame?”
“My father was an addict who forced himself upon my mother in order to force a match she didn’t want,” Caroline said with not a hint of emotion in her voice.
Juliet’s heart squeezed at her friend’s admission, but she also felt a point of pride on Caroline’s behalf for handling this wretched woman this way. Later, she’d have to assure Caroline that she cared not one whit about her past.
“Olivia,” Emma started. “Caroline’s past matters naught to anyone but you. Why you insist on bringing it up makes no sense to me. Besides, what both Caroline and Juliet are too polite to point out to you, but that I am not, is that you’re of a lower station than either of them.”
“How so?” Olivia’s voice had suddenly become much softer, sweet even.
“Oh, stop blinking at me,” Emma said, crossing her arms. “When you do that it makes me think a fly has flown into your eye and you’re trying to flush it out. And your voice...” She trailed off and flicked her wrist. “You’re not fooling anyone.”
Olivia stopped blinking and pursed her lips. “What more have you to say, Miss Green?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Exactly. You seem to forget, Olivia. I am no longer, ‘Miss Green.’ I am Lady Sinclair, your brother’s countess. Therefore, I outrank you.” She gestured to Caroline. “As you’ve already said yourself, Caroline is no longer your poor relation, but a baroness. She outranks you, too. And as for Juliet, she’s a viscountess. Meaning, even the woman you referred to as a ‘no-good, filthy commoner’ outranks you.” A thin smile took Emma’s lips. “I daresay, Olivia, I don’t think there is anyone in this room you outrank.”
Olivia’s face grew a violent shade of red. “I am the daughter of the fifteenth Earl of Sinclair, sister to the―”
“Stuff it, Olivia,” Caroline said with a flick of her wrist. “I’ve heard that excuse longer than I care to remember. That ceased to matter the day you decided to marry a commoner. But, even if you were born the daughter of an earl, thus granted an honorary title, the fact remains, you do not outrank anyone here. Nor should it matter. We all came here to help you at a time when a woman needs the most help, no matter what her rank.”
Olivia flopped back down on the bed, and sighed. “You’re no fun, Caroline.”
Juliet’s brows knit together. That was the strangest display she’d ever witnessed.
“Care to join us?” Caroline asked Juliet, patting the space on the settee between her and Emma.
Juliet nodded, and took her first step in their direction when Olivia’s hand reached out and latched onto Juliet’s arm just above her elbow. “Get me some laudanum,” she barked.
“Pardon?”
“I said, get me some laudanum,” Olivia bellowed.
Juliet winced, and pulled her arm free. “I think not.”
A shrill, warlike cry rent the air, accompanied by an unsettling amount of kicking and flailing. “Get this creature out! Now!”
Wide-eyed, Juliet stood paralyzed as before her very eyes this woman transformed from a minor nuisance with her naked body and cutting remarks to an absolute madwoman. She kicked. She screamed. She pouted. She cried. She blindly grabbed things from the nightstand next to her and threw them across the room, heedless to whom or what they hit. It was a sight to behold. Both Caroline and Emma had told her Olivia had a tendency to throw fits or exaggerate medical ailments for attention. But this? This was sheer lunacy!
Caroline placed her hand on Juliet’s arm and gave her a gentle tug. “Come.”
Juliet couldn’t move. The bottom of her feet must have suddenly grown roots that went through her slippers and attached themselves to the floor. She was planted; and there was nothing Caroline or Emma could do to get her to leave.
Just then, the contents of a glass of cool water hit Juliet right in the face as the words “send him to the foundling hospital” floated to her ears.