Caroline’s eyes widened. “Eliza Tricklebank! You were in the group of debutantes invited to make his acquaintance?”
“Did you see them?”
“I heard of them in the retiring room. Everyone did. Sarah Montrose was bragging and Emily Peters was crushed that she was not invited to join. Apparently, she’s been struck off the list.”
Eliza had another bite of cake. “I wanted to meet a prince and I saw no other way to do it. His eyes are an amazing shade of green, Caro. I’ve never seen such a color. Oh, and he stepped on my foot.”
“What?”
“Right across the top of it, with all his weight. It’s a wonder he didn’t break it—he’s quite a large man up close.”
Caroline gaped at her.
“But I didn’t mind,” Eliza insisted through another bite of cake. “It was an accident, and I own some of the fault, because I leapt in front of him before he got away. I will never have another opportunity to meet a royal prince and I wasn’t going to let it pass because of some unwritten rule that one must be invited.”
Caroline’s mouth dropped more. “What has happened to you?”
Eliza laughed. “Where is the harm? If he’d been swept off his feet by the sight of me and had sent all the other unmarried ladies home, I would apologize profusely for my behavior. But he wasn’t, and he didn’t, and therefore there is no harm. This isn’t Cinderella after all.”
“Well, this is certainly not Cinderella. At least she danced,” Caroline said, and helped herself to a piece of cheese from Eliza’s plate. “You are not the only one to have encountered a prince tonight, you know. I was meant to dance with Prince Leopold, whose name is very clearly written on my dance card, do you see?” she asked, shaking her dance card at Eliza.
Eliza peered at it. She saw the name clearly written.
“We are acquainted, as you know,” Caroline said.
Eliza resisted a roll of her eyes. She loved Caroline, but Caroline adored every opportunity to mention any of her many important friends. She had told Eliza and Hollis the story of meeting Prince Leopold of Alucia at a country house last summer. She had told them more than once—several times over, if one was counting. The meeting had been very brief, but according to Caroline, hugely memorable to her and the prince both.
“We are more than acquainted, really, given our conversation in Chichester. Well, you’ll not believe it—he pretended not to know me at all.”
“Pardon?”
“As if we’d never met!” She reached for another piece of cheese. “I was given the cut direct, Eliza, and for no reason whatsoever.”
“But...did he not write his name on your card?”
“Oh, that,” Caroline said, and had a third piece of cheese. “Miss Williams wrote his name there because I had said, with certainty I believe I am due, that once I greeted him, he would naturally extend the invitation. Any gentleman would have done so. But he has cut me to the bone.”
“The bastard,” Eliza said in full solidarity with her friend.
“He will regret it, you may trust me,” Caroline said confidently. “All right then, come along, and stop eating! Let’s go and fill the rest of your dance card. There are only three sets left, and one of them is an Alucian dance.”
“But I want the tipsy cake!” Eliza complained. “I don’t want to dance the Alucian set. I’ll make a fool of myself.”
“Come,” Caroline commanded.
Eliza stifled a belch and allowed Caroline to remove the tipsy cake from her reach.
They walked arm in arm to the ballroom, but the hall was very crowded and their progress slow. As they made their way, the peacock, all smiles now, passed on the arm of an Alucian gentleman. “That’s her,” Eliza said, indicating the woman with a tip of her chin. “She’s the one who informed me I had to be invited to meet the prince.”
Caroline blinked. “Do you know her?”
“No. Should I?”
Caroline squeezed Eliza’s arm. “That is Katherine Maugham.”
Eliza glanced over her shoulder as the peacock was swallowed into the crowd. “Who is Katherine Maugham?” she asked, mimicking Caroline’s dramatic intonation.
“Eliza!”
“What?”
“Do you speak to no one but the judge? Haven’t you heard of Lady Katherine Maugham? Surely Hollis has mentioned her.”
Eliza shook her head. “If she did, I wasn’t listening.” At Caroline’s withering look, she said, “I have quite a lot to do every day and I can’t listen to every word my sister utters, for you may trust there are loads of words. Where is Hollis, by the bye? And are you going to tell me who Lady Katherine Maugham is?”
“She is the one everyone believed would catch the eye of the crown prince. Her father is particularly well positioned in the Lords and heir to a vast fortune. His ironworks company is one of the largest in all of England and this trade agreement would be a boon for him. I’m truly surprised Lady Katherine didn’t tell you herself, for everyone knows she is certain to whisper it to whomever is nearby at the first available opportunity.”
“Well, she didn’t catch his eye in the introduction line. He walked on before she ever opened her mouth.”
Caroline gasped. And then grinned. “Really. Tell me everything, especially how offended she was.”
Eliza giggled. When they reached the ballroom, Caroline made Eliza stand to one side. “Don’t move as much as an inch, will you promise?”
“I promise,” Eliza said, and saluted her friend.
Caroline hurried off. As Eliza waited patiently—she was too full to do more than that—she became aware of a group of gentlemen very nearby. Alucians and Englishmen, she confirmed with a quick peek, and once again, she noticed the thin, wiry companion of the prince. He seemed particularly agitated now. Eliza sidled closer under the pretense of stepping out of the way of foot traffic as a dancing set came to a close.
“How dare they utter the word rebellion,” one of the Alucians muttered, his words heavily accented. “Do they not understand that every whisper feeds the potential?”
“I think they do not understand your country,” said one of the Englishmen. “They believe what they’ve been told by those who would do you harm.”
That voice sounded familiar. Or did they all sound familiar to her?
“Then perhaps they should not have been invited,” the Alucian snapped. “Surely you must know that he is—” He very abruptly stopped talking and turned around.
Eliza blinked with surprise. She hadn’t realized she’d gotten so close. “I beg your pardon,” she said, and turned away, hurrying toward the ballroom door before any of them could speak.
“Eliza!”
In her horror at having been caught eavesdropping, she’d forgotten Caroline’s instruction. She whipped about to see Caroline walking toward her on the arm of a gentleman.
“Where are you off to?” Caroline said, and through her mask, Eliza could see her glare.
“Um...”