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“Oh, but look at you. Come closer, I need to look at you…” Rosamund urged as her laughter petered out.

Sophia gulped but humored her nonetheless as the old woman cupped a palm around her cheek, feeling what she could not see clearly. “Oh, by the summer fields and the winter nights, you are exquisite. Skin as soft as silk, unlike my leathery visage.” She cackled again. “You are positively immaculate.”

“What leathery visage? I shan’t hear you say such things about yourself,” Sophia insisted, a lump forming in her throat at theold woman’s compliments. “Youare immaculate, and if I look like you when I am older, I shall be overjoyed.”

The old woman patted her hand. “Oh please, I look like a half-eaten prune. My eyes might be failing, but Icansee myself in a mirror.” She smiled. “I know myself well enough, and I’m happy. Not everyone gets the chance to grow old and ugly.”

“Then the mirror is lying.” Sophia knelt at the side of the armchair, her eyes drawn to the fine embroidery on Rosamund’s gown. “Goodness, what an extraordinary dress.”

Rosamund’s rheumy eyes lit up. “Thank you, my dear. It’s Italian. A Mandolini. I bought it a few decades ago, during a visit to Venice.”

“TheMandolini?” Sophia gasped. “The dressmaker who made the former Queen’s wedding dress?ThatMandolini?”

Rosamund nodded and smiled. “You have heard of him?”

“Heard of him? His work is famous… But you said a few decades ago—this looks like it was purchased yesterday!”

“Ah, that’s because I have been maintaining it on my own.”

“You have been maintaining a Mandolini? By yourself?”

“Don’t be so impressed, my dear. It’s simpler than it looks. The Mandolini house provides instructions with their purchases.”

“Still that’s—It’s such detailed work, and it looks… well, it looks pristine!”

Rosamund chuckled. “I just know how to use a needle. And I have always enjoyed embroidery, so it is no great chore.”

Sophia’s eyes widened with excitement, but she immediately collected herself. “Your Grace, please, you need to teach me. I’ve always wanted to do embroidery, but I never had anyone to teach me.”

Horse riding and shooting and archery she could do, but the more feminine exploits had never been part of her lessons. In truth, it felt as if she was getting her education out of order, ending with dancing and etiquette and embroidery, while she should have begun with it. Not that she was sorry about the way she had done things.

“Oh, but I would love to,” Rosamund gushed, gripping Sophia’s hand just a little bit tighter.

Thomas wasn’t listening to his brother and uncle, concentrating instead on the other side of the room, where Sophia and Rosamund were sitting next to each other and talking.

Huh…

His father may have instilled in him the values and rules of their family and taught him the importance of respect, but his grandmother had taught him something much more important.

Kindness.

And here she was, having what seemed to be the most pleasant conversation in the world with what should have been her mortal enemy. They were exchanging words and expressions, laughing, and she was holding Sophia’s hand as if she were her own child.

Indeed, he could not remember her voicing a hateful thought about the Kendalls, not a single time—even when she would have had absolutely every reason to, for she had been around in the earliest decades of the feud, when it was far fresher, far rawer than now.

She got along with everyone, that he was sure of, but he rarely saw her behave so amiably towards anyone after mere seconds of conversation.

He blinked his eyes as he heard William call out his name. Gregory had seemingly moved away.

“Have you seen her yet?” asked William.

“Seen her? Who?” Thomas responded, completely ignorant of the conversation.

“Are you drunk, Brother? LadyElspeth. Did you know she was back? I bet you did, you sly dog.”

“No, I haven’t seen her. I didn’t know she was back,” he answered with a sigh. “And I have no intention of seeing her, so you may drop the matter or leave me to drink in peace.”

“What? Why?” William scrunched up his face. “You mean to tell me you are going to stay faithful to?—”