Chapter 177: Envy in Riding Silk

Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Envy in Riding Silk

The Marchioness took Elysia’s arm, and the two of them swept out of the shop, followed by a line of clerks carrying parcels to their carriage.

Elise and Clarissa murmured something about being expected at home and slipped out soon after.

Deborah was left alone beside the empty rail.

The clerk returned, still smiling.

"Will Miss Corvis be paying in coin, or by draft?"

"I..." Deborah’s voice came out thin. "I didn’t bring that much with me."

"That’s quite all right." The clerk’s smile did not waver. "I’ll accompany you to the Lord Chancellor’s residence to collect it. Or, if Miss Corvis prefers, to the Crown Prince’s Wing."

Deborah went white.

If they went to the Crown Prince’s Wing, Vaelen would definitely hear of it. And after the banquet, she did not dare imagine what he would say.

"The Chancellor’s residence," she said stiffly. "Come with me."

Outside, the Marchioness’s carriage was already pulling away.

Across the lane, two men in plain dark coats, who had spent the last half hour studying a saddler’s window, turned and followed it at an unhurried pace.

With an outsider standing in his hall, Gideon Corvis paid the full amount without so much as a flicker of expression.

He even thanked the clerk for his trouble.

But the moment the door closed behind him, Gideon’s face darkened.

He snatched up the teacup beside him and hurled it to the floor.

It shattered at Deborah’s feet, splashing tea across the hem of her gown.

"What in heaven’s name did you buy?" he roared. "Do you have any idea how many years it took me to put that much aside?"

Deborah flinched. Her eyes reddened at once.

"Father, I didn’t want to either..."

She told him what had happened at the Silver Spindle. She was careful to leave out every word she had said to provoke Elysia.

"It was the Duchess of Draevenor," she said, her voice trembling. "She kept saying that since I’m to be Crown Princess, I ought to show respect to my aunt by marriage. She made me pay for everything in front of Elise and Clarissa. She said that if I refused, it would be an insult to her, and to the Duke."

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

"What was I supposed to do?"

Gideon looked at her for a long moment. Some of the anger drained from his face.

But whenever he thought of the sum, his chest still ached.

"It’s only money! Why are you shouting at her?"

Salome swept into the room, having heard the crash from the corridor, and pulled Deborah behind her.

"None of this is her fault. Once Deborah is Crown Princess, people will be queuing at our gates to curry favour. A word in the right ear, an appointment here and there..." She snorted. "A few riding habits will be nothing."

"Lower your voice!" Gideon hissed.

Salome ignored him.

"That girl has always lorded it over our daughter. Ever since they were children. And now that she’s a duchess, she’s worse than ever."

"That girl," Gideon cut in sharply, "is the Duchess of Draevenor. His Majesty made his own son kneel at the Zenith Gate on her account. If word of this reaches the palace, who do you think will be made to kneel next?"

Salome rolled her eyes.

"You’ve always been spineless where the Hartwells are concerned."

Then she turned to Deborah, and a calculating gleam came into her eyes.

"The woman with her. You said that was the Marchioness of Gildemont?"

Deborah sniffed. "Yes."

"The King’s own aunt." Salome lowered her voice. "Do you know how much land the Gildemonts hold? There are few who can compare with them in terms of wealth. And she is family to the Crown Prince as well. Which means that once you’re married, she’s family to you."

Deborah looked up slowly.

"She has two sons and no daughter," Salome went on. "A woman like that always longs for a girl to spoil. Find out what she likes. Learn her temper. Win her over. If she takes a liking to you, we’ll never have to worry about money again."

Deborah’s tears dried as she thought it over.

From what she had seen today, the Marchioness had meant to pay for Elysia’s riding attire herself. Elysia already had the Duke behind her. And now the Marchioness as well.

Why should Elysia have everything?

Deborah’s fingers curled at her sides.

"Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll make her like me. Before long, she’ll favour no one but me."

Salome patted her cheek. "That’s my girl."

As the idea settled, Deborah gave a small, scornful laugh.

"Honestly, I don’t believe the Duke cares for her half as much as everyone says. If he did, why would she need someone else to buy her clothes? All that devotion is probably just for show."

Vaelen had been cold to her ever since the banquet. The thought that the Duke of Draevenor might be just as cold to his own wife behind closed doors made Deborah feel a great deal better.

Besides, the Autumn Hunt was coming.

And her father had promised that this year, the grand prize would be hers.

Once Salome had led Deborah away, Gideon sent for his head groom.

The man arrived with straw still clinging to his boots.

"The mare from the western grasslands," Gideon said. "How is she?"

"Still wild, my lord. She bit one of the stable boys this morning. Nobody can get a saddle on her."

Gideon nodded slowly. "Good."

The groom hesitated. "My lord, if she’s to be ready for the hunt—"

"She will be ready." Gideon looked down at the desk, where the Silver Spindle’s receipt lay on top of his ledger. "Leave her exactly as she is. And keep everyone away from her stall."

"Yes, my lord."

The groom bowed and left.

Gideon sat looking at the receipt for a long time afterwards.

Then he folded it neatly and put it away.

On the ride home, the Marchioness held out for almost the entire length of Cloudmere Lane before she burst out laughing.

"Did you see her face?"

Elysia folded her hands in her lap. "Whose face, Aunt?"

"Oh, don’t you play naive with me now." The Marchioness dabbed at the corner of her eye. "And to think Cassiel told me you were shy."

Elysia only lowered her lashes, the very picture of modesty.

That set the Marchioness off all over again.

When she had finally caught her breath, she looked at Elysia with open approval.

"Good. A woman who marries into this family needs teeth."

Elysia smiled and said nothing.

Watching the shops slide past the window, she felt a faint sense of déjà vu.

Not so long ago, Vaelen had paid over a thousand gold for half a jeweller’s shop, simply because he could not bear to let her win. Now Deborah had emptied an entire rail for much the same reason.

The two of them truly were well matched.

The Marchioness saw Elysia all the way to the gates of Draevenor Manor, but she would not come in.

"I’m exhausted," she declared. "I’m going home to rest."

Her laughter had worn off somewhere along the way. She had set out that morning to buy her niece riding attire, and somehow Deborah had ended up paying for all of it. She was still grumbling about it when the carriage stopped.

"Oh well. I’ll just have to buy you something else, then."

"Aunt," Elysia said gently, "you gave me three chests this morning. That’s more than I could use in a year. If you still want to give me something, there’s plenty of time. We have a great many days ahead of us."

The Marchioness huffed, but her expression softened.

"Very well. But don’t think I’ve forgotten."

By the time Elysia reached her courtyard, the servants were still carrying parcels in from the carriage.

Clara stared at the growing pile.

"Your Grace, that’s a great many clothes."

"It is," Elysia agreed. She smiled. "And I didn’t pay for a single one of them."

Clara tilted her head. "The Marchioness bought them?"

"No. Miss Corvis."

Clara froze. "Miss Corvis bought you riding clothes?"

"Yes."

"And you... accepted them?"

"Why not? She offered. In front of witnesses."

Clara opened her mouth, then closed it again. She looked at the parcels with an expression of deep unease.

"But Your Grace... His Grace already left money for this."

Elysia turned to look at her.

"Before he left, he gave the steward a thousand gold," Clara said. "He said the Autumn Hunt was coming, and you were to have whatever riding attire you liked. As much as you wanted." She glanced at the parcels again. "Now it may not be needed at all."

Elysia stood very still.

"Cassiel... left money for me?"

Clara nodded.

For a moment, Elysia did not know what to say.

"Tell the steward to put it aside," she said at last. "We’ll find a better use for it."

Clara blinked.

Elysia could not say exactly why. She only knew that she did not want to spend it on clothes.

She looked at the parcels without really seeing them.

When he had asked whether she wanted anything from the north, she had shaken her head.

He had not argued or called her ungrateful for dismissing his kindness. He had simply gone and seen to it in a different way, before she had even remembered the hunt herself.

She thought of the seal waiting on her bedside table, and the few lines in his firm hand beneath it.

And she wondered, not for the first time that day, what else he had quietly arranged before he left.

As it turned out, there was a great deal she had yet to learn.