CHAPTERONE
“Iwill not do it! I will not!” Olivia Agarn hissed to herself as she hurried through the endless hallways of Lord Jodrell’s manor house, cursing the dead-ends and wrong turns that made her feel as if she was trapped in a labyrinth.
“Watch where you are going!” a young lady snarled as Olivia passed by, almost knocking the woman over.
Olivia ignored the young lady, pressing onward as if ravenous hounds were on her tail.This cannot be permitted. I shall not do it. My friends will have the answer—they will know how to pry me out of this mess.
“Careful, Miss Agarn!” A gentleman leaped out of her path, his hand shooting out to try and catch her, but she twisted out of his reach, hurtling on with panic throbbing in her veins.
At length, she reached the refreshments room, scouring the elegant dining hall for any sign of her dearest friends. She had left them in the hallway just outside the refreshments room when her mother and father had summoned her away, but it seemed they had vanished, and at such an inopportune moment, she needed them desperately.
Spying a different gaggle of young ladies beside the punch bowl, Olivia took a breath and made her breathless approach, ignoring the haughty looks and turned-up noses.
“Have any of you seen my friends?” Breathlessly, Olivia began to name those dear friends, only to be rudely interrupted by one of the ladies, a rude, superior sort of creature.
“As if we do not know who your friends are,” the woman, Miss Patton, remarked with a snort. “Everyone knows ‘The Spinsters Club’ all too well.”
“Is that what you call us?” Olivia mustered a grin, for the unkind names changed with every season, and it had become a joke between her and her friends to guess what they would become next season. “How quaint.”
“We have not seen them,” said another of the ladies sharply, glancing around the room as if she might somehow become a spinster by association alone. “You should find them yourself.”
Olivia arched an eyebrow. “Do you not think that is what I am attempting to do? Why else would I have intruded upon your little… gossipmongers’ meeting, if I was not desperate?”
“You ought to be grateful that we are speaking to you at all,” remarked Miss Patton, pulling a face so sour that Olivia wondered if there was an excess of lemon in her punch. “You are a disgrace to young ladies everywhere.”
Olivia waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, yes, I am aware; I have been told often enough. It isexceptionallyawful that a lady should want more from life than to be a wife and mother. Atrocious notion, really.” She took a moment to bask in their horror, though her satisfaction did not last long, her words reminding her of why she needed to find her friends immediately. “So, you have not seen the rest of the proud spinsters?”
“Certainly not,” Miss Patton muttered.
Olivia shrugged. “Then, enjoy your evening. Perhaps, this will be the night that you finally ensnare that longed-for husband, so you may be happily shackled to the institution of marriage for the rest of your days, turning a blind eye to the infidelities and betrayals that will surely come.”
She walked off to an explosion of appalled gasps but could take no pleasure in them.Where is everyone? Where have they wandered off to?
Making her way down another endless hallway, lined with closed doors that, ordinarily, she would have been tempted to peek inside, she searched helplessly for her friends. With every minute that passed without them, her heart raced faster, her skull pulsing with the pressure of the fear that swelled within her. Her legs trembled, her gait shaky, as reality began to crush her.
“In here!” A hand shot out from one of the doorways, seizing her around the wrist and pulling her into the dusty gloom of a library. Two lanterns had been lit, casting an eerie glow upon the old bookshelves and the antique reading desk that looked as if it had been stolen from a medieval king. And lounging on the creaky leather armchairs, sipping cups of punch, were Olivia’s friends at last: Leah Bolton, Phoebe Wilson, Matilda Elkins, and Anna Dennis.
It was Matilda who had pulled her into the room, and the relief could not have been more powerful as it swept through Olivia’s jittering nerves, soothing them. Being the oldest and wisest of their friendship group at four-and-twenty, Matilda’s very presence was always calming.
“Do not tell us that you must leave,” Leah spoke first, fluttering her bare feet; her legs draped over the armrest of what appeared to be Lord Jodrell’s personal armchair, given the wear of the leather. “Has your mother tired of the ball already? Youmustinsist upon staying, for we cannot be without you.”
Olivia shook her head solemnly, clasping a hand to her chest. “I wish it were something so simple.”
“Do not keep us in suspense, dearest Olivia. Tell us what has happened in your brief absence,” Matilda encouraged, taking Olivia by the hand and leading her to one of the brocaded footstools, sitting her down upon it. It was a double relief for Olivia to take the weight off her shaky legs, fearing she might faint.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. “You are not to have a belated sibling, are you?”
“Again, nothing so simple,” Olivia replied, her voice catching in her throat.
To everyone’s surprise, it was Anna who discovered the answer first, drawing the attention of the room toward her as she said, “It is a gentleman. There has been a message of interest.” Her blue eyes glittered, a faraway smile etched upon her face, for though she was loyal to the supposed ‘Spinsters Club,’ it was not for a lack of hoping and daydreaming to be the very opposite.
“Worse than that,” Olivia murmured, staring down into her interlaced hands.
“Worse?” Matilda sat down on the footstool, nudging in beside Olivia.
Olivia nodded. “Or, rather, beyond that. Perhaps, there was an initial message of interest, but no one thought it important to make me privy to that knowledge. You know what being a young lady is like—we are good for nothing but bartering with and forging connections for gentlemen’s benefit.” She shook her head, fighting for her courage. “My father has… arranged a match. I am to visit my future husband and reside at the estate of his aunt for a week or more, so that “introductions” can be made. Although, considering this is already signed and sealed, it seems rather too late for introductions.”
A ripple of horrified gasps erupted from her quartet of confidantes. Phoebe and Anna leaned forward in their chairs, while Leah swiveled around in hers; the conversation was too important for lounging.