That hurt more than she would have thought. Shantra didn’t want to hear about how blissfully happy he and his first wife had been together. She didn’t want to think about how she was second best, an echo of the woman he’d rather be with. Shantra put her coffee cup down and stood up. She was no longer hungry. The conversation kept turning back to Angela, and she was already sick of hearing the woman’s name, but especially frustrated with these two women talking about how her husband had loved Angela too poignantly.
“It was very kind of you both to dine with me this morning,” she said, with as polite a tone as possible. “Especially on my first day in the palace. But if you don’t mind, I think I’d better find out what my duties are to be.”
Linda stood up. “Oh, I can help you with that. How about a tour of the palace first though?”
Shantra groaned inwardly. She’d been trying to escape, but there was no polite way to decline the woman’s offer. “That’s very generous of you. But I don’t want to take time away from whatever you had planned for the day.”
The women both stood up. “We heard about your fabulous luck in snaring Laithir for a husband and cleared our schedules. I mean,” she let out a burst of malicious-sounding laughter, “we had to meet the woman who could follow in my beautiful daughter’s footsteps, didn’t we?”
Shantra wished the woman had skipped the introductions. As it was, she wanted to find Janus, and then find a place to hide from these two women. But that would be rude, and she’d learned to be polite over the years. She’d handled the most annoying diplomats, and there was no way these two women would get the best of her!
Or so she thought.
“Let’s start in the ballroom!” Julia suggested.
“Oh, good idea!” Linda agreed and both women linked arms with Shantra as they led her through the long hallways, regaling her with stories of the fabulous parties Angela had thrown over the years.
“Her parties were the talk of society!” Julia said gleefully. “All of the gossip columnists tried to get into her parties, but Laithir had excellent security so they never succeeded. But that only made her parties more popular. You had to be ‘somebody’ to be invited.”
“Mother, we should dig up Angela’s guest lists for Shantra,” Julia enthused. “Remember that one when everyone ended up in the pool?”
“Naked?” Linda laughed. “Oh my, yes, people were talking about that party for years!” and she patted Shantra on the arm. “You’re right dear. We should give Shantra the guest list. Not everyone will show up for her first event, but it will be a start.”
Linda and Julia were on either side of Shantra, but they spoke to each other as if she weren’t even there. “I don’t think that I’m ready to throw an elaborate party,” she said with growing dread. There would be no way she could live up to Angela’s reputation. And she’d even told Laithir from the beginning that she didn’t like throwing parties just for the sake of having an event. He knew that she was different!
But the pressure was on! Linda and Julia were already making lists about the things she’d have to do for Shantra’s first “blow-out” party.
Before things got out of hand, Shantra pulled her arms away from the two women and stepped back. “Before you start down this path, let me talk to Laithir. I’m not sure he wants to have a big party in the near future. I heard him talking about some difficult negotiations that are coming soon.”
“All the more reason to have a social event,” Julia said, as if that were the most obvious response. “There is more business accomplished at social activities than in any board room. Didn’t you know that?”
Linda faced Shantra. “Julia is right. If you’re going to survive this first year of marriage with Laithir, and we know that you’re weak and not ready for all that is coming at you, then you’ll have to listen to us. We’ll guide you. We’ve been through this with Angela, and if you’re going to have a successful marriage, you need to start things off right.”
“That isn’t fair, mother,” Julia said with admonishment.
“What’s not fair?” Linda asked.
Julia looked at Shantra sadly. “Shantra isn’t Angela,” she whispered, as if Shantra wasn’t standing right in front of her. “Angela knew how to do these things right.”
Linda sighed and nodded. “They were so much in love.”
“Laithir refused to have children with Angela,” Julia explained. Pretending to ignore her mother’s horrified expression, she linked arms with Shantra again and leaned her head down closer to Shantra’s ear. “Laithir said that they couldn’t have children. Angela cried for a month before Laithir finally explained that he just didn’t want to share her with anyone for a while.” She smiled slightly. “Angela accepted his no-child rule after he explained. She loved him, so if he didn’t want to have kids, then she would wait. She was fine with waiting, since he just wanted her to himself for a while.”