Page 77 of A Queen's Match

May tried to sound calm as she asked, “Are you feeling better? You must have been ill indeed to miss the sitting for our first official portrait.”

“Looks like you sat in for me just fine. Thank you.” Eddy ignored May, nodding at his brother.

“I’m sure you have much to discuss,” George said awkwardly. “I’ll just, um— I need to get out of this robe.”

May willed him to look at her, to acknowledge that they had almost kissed, but George refused to meet her gaze as heleft.

Eddy turned to her then, his expression flat. “We need to talk.”

He was brusque, even rude, but May was still too flustered to notice. She just followed Eddy to the sofa and sat opposite him, absentmindedly fluffing out her skirts so that the elaborate embroidery on the hem wouldn’t fold under.

“Well, May, I would say it’s good to see you, but that would be a lie.”

May jumped from the couch and turned as the door opened once more.

Hélène d’Orléans walked into the room.

For a moment they were all still, as utterly immobile as the charcoal figures in that sketch. Hélène looked well, May thought dazedly. Her eyes were bright, and there was angry color in her cheeks, setting off the magenta stripes of her tea gown.

Moving slowly, Hélène came and took the seat next to Eddy, putting a hand on his arm in an unmistakably proprietary gesture.

It struck May, then, how completely Hélène had outwitted her—making her think she had moved on, that she wanted that letter for the Romanovs’ sake.

“You’re not getting engaged to Nicholas, are you?” May said into the silence.

Eddy replied on Hélène’s behalf. “You should refer to him as His Imperial Highness the tsarevich, and no, she isn’t. She’s already engaged. To me.”

A bit blasphemous of you, being engaged to two women at once,May longed to say. But she didn’t dare.

She looked at Hélène instead, her stomach churning. “Agnes told me you stole back the letter—”

“I’d hardly call it stealing, since it was mine to begin with!”

Eddy squeezed Hélène’s hand in support, then glowered at May. “May, I can’t believe the things you did. Digging into Hélène’s past,blackmailingher? It’s despicable.”

“That was Agnes!” May met Eddy’s gaze, pleading. “I would never have done something like that, truly.”

“But you just admitted that you knew about the letter! Even if what you claim is true, and you didn’t send it, you still let the blackmail unfold. You let Hélène leave England, then manipulated me into an engagement!”

“I didn’tmanipulateyou!” May exclaimed. “All I did was offer you what all men want—a relationship with no expectations and no consequences!You’rethe one who signed up for a marriage where you had permission to sleep around, just like your father!”

She would pay for that dig at Bertie, most assuredly. But May was gratified to see Hélène flinch. Clearly, Eddy hadn’t told his beloved all the details of their engagement.

“What about Alix?” Hélène cut in. “Do you deny that you spread rumors about her?”

“They aren’t rumors! Alix really is sick!”

“And Ducky!” Hélène continued ruthlessly. “You gave her atrocious advice, telling her that she should be whining and weak, when you knew it would push Eddy away!”

“Wait—that was you?” Now it was Eddy’s turn to look surprised. He stared at May, brow furrowed. “I wondered what was going on; Ducky had never been so dull-witted before.”

“Sheaskedfor my help!” May spluttered. “Ducky didn’t want to marry you because she’s in love with her cousin!”

“She’s in love with Ernie?” Eddy shook his head. “Why didn’t she just say so?”

May bit her lip to keep from explaining that she’d meant Kiril. For whatever reason, Ducky had chosen to get engaged to Ernie. May might not understand it, but the least she could do was keep Ducky’s secret.

“Even if that’s true, and Ducky didn’t want to marry Eddy, you have still behaved deplorably. Toward Alix, toward Eddy, and towardme,” Hélène cut in.