Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I make my way to the kitchen, not at all surprised to see Lady Jane sitting at the table in her fluffy leopard-print robe, drinking a giant cup of some lavender Valium concoction. She often battles her insomnia at this time of night.
“There you are,” she says to me, and pats the seat beside her. “Here. Come sit down. Let me make you a tea. Or food. You hungry? Oh, you must be hungry. You didn’t have any dinner. Are you feeling all right? Feverish?”
I can’t even get a word in before she’s coming toward me and pressing the back of her hand on my forehead. “You do feel a little warm,” she says.
“I’m fine,” I tell her. “Just came to get a snack before I go back to sleep.”
One of the benefits of living in the same house as the royals, and having them treat you as family, is having unfettered access to the kitchen and bar. Anything you want, any time of day, you just go right on ahead and get it. When I worked for the Fairfaxes, we (the help) were sectioned off in our own house and quarters, so we didn’t have quite the same “family” atmosphere as we do here. It’s one of the reasons why, even when the going gets tough, I like working here.
“But you weren’t at dinner,” Jane says, sitting back down. “Magnus said he gave you the night off. I thought maybe you’d gone out.”
I laugh, opening up the fridge. “That would be a first.”
“That’s what I said, though I also thought you would deserve it.” She pauses. “You know I worry about you, Laila.”
“Why?” I ask, pulling out a dish of cold roasted lemon potatoes. That’s good enough for me. I close the fridge door and give her an expectant look. Lady Jane has looked after Ella for a long time, and now that she has Magnus and her children, I feel Jane’s overbearing tendencies being directed toward me.
“Well, because you’re so young and single.”
My eyes roll to the ceiling. Good lord. “Twenty-eight isn’t so young.”
“I’m thirty years older than you,” she points out.
“Well, you don’t act like it,” I tell her, grabbing a fork and taking the potatoes over to the table. “If anything, I should be worried about you. Why are you still single? Huh?”
Her eyes narrow wickedly. “You know why. No one is good enough for me.”
“Maybe it’s the same for me,” I tell her, spearing a potato with a fork.
“You’re not going to warm that up?” she asks, looking horrified.
I shrug. “Too lazy.”
She doesn’t look impressed. “So you think no one is good enough for you? No, I don’t think that’s it.”
I point my potato at her. “Hey, I have standards.”
“I’m sure you do. But in the four months that you’ve been working here, living in this house, I haven’t seen you go on a single date, haven’t even heard you talk about a single boy.”
“Boy,” I snort. “I date men, Lady Jane. Just not at the moment. I’m busy, if you can’t tell.”
“You have your days off.”
“And you really expect me to date a guy on Sundays only? Never mind the fact that I’m seeing my grandmother on those days?”
“It just doesn’t seem right,” she says after a moment. “You know, Ella was single for so long before she and Magnus became involved. I know she wasn’t quite sold on him in the beginning, but I was just so happy for her to be with someone.”
“But I’m sure Ella would have been fine if she stayed single too.”
She sighs and has a loud sip of her tea. “I suppose. But you know, she was never as happy as she was when she fell in love with Magnus. Even if she would have been fine, I would have hated for her to miss out on all the good stuff.”
“Well, I’m doing just fine,” I tell her, feeling defensive. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being single. Besides, I’m focused on this job right now, this career. The rest, the falling in love and getting a boyfriend, that can come later.” Or, like, never. The less hassle in my life, the better, in my opinion. The more detached from people you are, the safer you’ll be. I learned that the hard way.
“Hmmph,” she says, leaning back in her chair and fixing me with her gaze. “You know what I think it is? Someone broke your heart.”
Oh boy. Here we go. Even though Lady Jane is Ella’s lady-in-waiting, she’s become this meddling mother figure for everyone in the house. I’m not saying it’s all bad, but if you have a problem, she will definitely try to solve it for you—regardless of whether you want her to or not.
“No one broke my heart,” I tell her, and I’m not really lying either. I don’t think I’d fallen in love with James; I’d just fallen in very strong lust with him, and he took that lust and twisted it around until it snapped in two. I had all the rejection of a broken heart but with twice the bitterness.