“My dear, I must talk to you!”
Since Cousin Bathilda nearly always spoke in exclamations, Hero merely raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”
“You mustn’t dance with Lord Griffin Reading ever again!” Cousin Bathilda said with as much urgency as if she were importing state secrets. Mignon barked once as if to emphasize her mistress’s words.
“Why not?”
“Because he and Lord Mandeville loathe each other.”
“Hmm,” Hero murmured, absently scratching Mignon behind her silky ears. “I had noticed a certain strain between them, but I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it loathing. Perhaps a general dislike…”
“It’s much, much worse than dislike, my dear! Don’t you understand?” Cousin Bathilda lowered her voice to a whisper. “Lord Griffin seduced Mandeville’s first wife!”
Chapter Three
Far below the queen’s balcony lay the royal stables. There, the little brown bird would come to roost at night after it had tired of flying. Early every morning, the stable master personally groomed the queen’s favorite mare. As he curried the horse’s chestnut coat, the little bird would sing above him in the stable rafters. And sometimes if the stable master listened hard enough, the bird seemed to be singing these words:
“High, high on the castle walls
A sweet lady weeps alone at night.
Oh, will no one comfort her?…”
—from Queen Ravenhair
It was times like this that being an unmarried lady was particularly galling, Hero thought later that night as she and Cousin Bathilda rode home in the carriage.
“Why couldn’t anyone have told me about the scandal involving Mandeville’s first wife?” she demanded.
“It wasn’t a proper topic of conversation for a maiden.” Cousin Bathilda waved a vague arm, nearly clipping Mignon’s nose where it peeked out from her lap. “Seduction and affairs and all that. Besides, how was I to know that you’d go off and dance with the man as soon as you met him?”
“He asked me in front of Maximus,” Hero said for the third or possibly the fourth time. “Mandeville gave his permission!”
“Couldn’t very well have done otherwise, could he?” Cousin Bathilda replied with irritating logic. “Well, what’s done is done. You’ll just have to be more careful in the future.”
“But why?” Hero asked rebelliously. “You don’t seriously think I’d let myself be seduced by a rake, do you?”
“Of course not!” Cousin Bathilda sounded scandalized at the mere notion. “But everyone will be watching you closely when the man is anywhere near you.”
“It’s not fair. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Hero crossed her arms on her chest. “How do we know Lord Griffin seduced Mandeville’s wife anyway? Perhaps it’s just a nasty rumor.”
“Well, if it’s a rumor, Mandeville certainly believes it,” Cousin Bathilda said. “Do you remember the first Lady Mandeville?”
Hero wrinkled her nose. “Vaguely. She died four years ago, didn’t she?”
“A little over three years ago. You wouldn’t have moved in her circles anyway. She was quite fast for a young matron, but then she was a Trentlock,” Cousin Bathilda said darkly. “Always a feckless lot, the Trentlock family, though quite comely, of course. That must’ve been what turned Mandeville’s head. Anne Trentlock was a beauty, no doubt about it, and the family is old and very nicely situated. Everyone thought the match a good one when it was announced.”
Hero couldn’t suppress a shiver. Everyone thought her match was a good one. “What happened?”
“Lord Griffin Reading is what happened.” Cousin Bathilda shook her head. “The man is wild, has been ever since his father’s death. The old marquess died when Reading was at Cambridge. Reading immediately left and began living the life of a young roué in London. He associated with the worst sort of lowlifes, seduced married ladies, and was nearly involved in two duels. And through all these scandals, Mandeville was a rock of loyalty. He wouldn’t hear anything against his brother even when Reading began to be refused invitations.”
“And then?”
“And then Mandeville married Anne Trentlock. It was the match of the season, and naturally Reading was invited.” Cousin Bathilda sighed. “It was a year before you came out, dear, but I was there. Anne couldn’t take her eyes off Reading—everyone remarked upon it. There was speculation that she would’ve set her cap on winning Reading instead of Mandeville, had it not been for Mandeville’s title.”