Page 68 of A Fragile Enchantment

Rosa did not look impressed. “What have you two kept from me?”

Miriam seized Rosa’s hand across the table. “Perhaps we should head back and discuss this at home. Or perhaps we should forget it entirely. You know how the Avlish are about their gossip.”

Rosa calmly extricated herself from Miriam’s grasp and rose from the table, a shadow unfurling against the brightness of the square. She moved with purpose toward the nearest paperboy, who almost fled at the sight of her. A flash of coins in the sunlight, and the column was in her hands. Niamh fought the urge to flee herself—or perhaps to grab it from her hands and pitch it into the fountain.

Rosa returned and dropped into her seat in a spill of black fabric. Miriam tried to snatch it away a few times before Rosa swatted her with it. She scanned the Lovelace column, then relinquished it to Niamh. Her expression did not change. “I don’t understand theAvlish’s fascination with this nonsense. They think they are so coy and cutting. But the only insult here is that I would be angered by something as trivial as this.”

While I am not one to report on society gossip, I did hear an interesting account from a Certain Someone’s bucolic retreat. It seems there is turmoil brewing among a Most Illustrious Family. While I have not ferreted out the reason behind the brothers’ quarrel just yet, what intrigues me is the aftermath. When our Wayward Son stormed off, a woman snuck off after him into the woods. I have to wonder now if those rumors from the inaugural ball were indeed true, and that this is the same woman Lady E reported seeing with him on the balcony. What a scandal, to dally with a man like WS in such unseemly places. I’d owe Lady E an apology, but then, I would need to overlook the embezzlement incident from two years ago. Alas, I cannot.

Forgive me this one petty indulgence. One has to maintain a sense of humor in this complete and utter madness. I confess, I cannot help wondering what this portends. I will be watching the situation with Lady R and her father closely. If the engagement is broken, perhaps it will be a blessing. God knows a Certain Someone could afford to focus less on parties and more on what is unfolding just underneath his nose.

Niamh knew it was ridiculous to feel betrayed by someone she’d never met—a gossip columnist at that. Yet seeing herself written about so flippantly, almost mockingly, by someone who purported to care about people like her… It stung. But that pain paled in comparison to the violation of what she’d held so dear. The precious, tiny flame of that memory in her hands went as cold as ashes. Even this one moment of joy had been taken from her. Perhaps she was a fool to believe it’d ever been hers at all.

But right now, she had more pressing matters to deal with.

“Infanta Rosa, I amsosorry, I—”

“Why are you sorry?” she asked. “Someone had to comfort him. Far better you than me.”

It shocked her. There was not a hint of anger in her voice, nor jealousy. Rosa watched her with the same, flat look in her dark eyes.Rosa is quite an understanding person,Miriam had told her. But Niamh hadn’t expected that meant she would not even bat an eyelash.

“You’re not angry with me?”

“No.” Rosa smoothed her hands over her skirts. “It is too much effort to be angry over every little thing. Besides, you two seem to be friends. I will be his wife, not his whole world.”

“Thank you.”

Tears stung at the back of her throat. Rosa’s compassion, as understated as it was, moved her. But she didn’t deserve it. She felt hot all over with humiliation—with anger, not only at Lovelace but with herself. She’d been naive to believe she’d gotten away with it. Jack would doubtless make the connection sooner rather than later. If he took it seriously, it could jeopardize her job. And Kit… After everything he’d told her about his past, how could she be so careless as to embroil him in another scandal?

She’d done nothing but hurt everyone around her.

Before she could well and truly spiral, Rosa said, “Miriam, will you send for the carriage? I suddenly have found myself quite exhausted.”

“Why can’t you do it?” Miriam protested. Niamh couldn’t see Rosa’s face from this angle, but the two girls seemed to confer with nothing but their eyes. Miriam plastered on a smile. “Of course. I’ll be just a moment.”

As soon as they were alone, Rosa turned to her. “So. Shall we speak candidly?”

Niamh’s stomach bottomed out. How foolish she was, to thinkanyone could be so merciful. “Your Highness, I swear to you, nothing happened—”

“Do not lie to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Niamh whispered. “I do not know what came over me. I—”

Rosa’s hand rested softly on her knee. “Don’t apologize for that.”

Niamh snapped her gaze to Rosa’s. Her weary face blurred behind Niamh’s damp eyelashes.

“Once we are married,” Rosa continued, “I don’t particularly care what you do. If you choose to pursue whatever this is between you, then you have my blessing. If he buys you a townhouse right next to Sinclair’s and does not come home most nights, I will look the other way.”

They couldn’t possibly be having this conversation. Niamh would not complain if the ground swallowed her up and spat her back out in the sea. “I… I could not do such a thing to you.”

“You are a sweet girl.” Rosa leaned back in her chair. “However, I’ve told you before that this is not about love. It is nothing but a very complicated game, one I intend to win. I have played it out in my mind a thousand times. But you have proven to be a most unexpected obstacle.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lovelace has the right of it. My father is a conservative man. He already thinks the prince regent is an incompetent buffoon. If he feels I am being mistreated or made a fool of, he will renege on his agreement. It will not take much to jeopardize this union. Nor will it take much to remove you from the board entirely.” Rosa didn’t say it unkindly, but the threat in her words was plain. “I say this as a friend. Tread carefully. It is not only the column you need to worry about. The whole country is watching us. A war on two fronts is not something one should fight alone.”

She knew that well now. Niamh couldn’t escape her nature. Shewas silly and naive and scatterbrained. She’d never stood a chance against the nobility, and she never would. Ever since she arrived in Avaland, she’d been caught in the tempest of these nobles’ whims. But while Rosa might have imagined a thousand outcomes of this Season, Niamh’s end had always been a foregone conclusion: she could never come away unscathed.