way to get that—or they might see an opportunity in turning on me if I made a telling comment.
Another marker of relative standing: it was Harriet Mismeren herself, not a butler, who answered the door. That might have been a tactic to imply a more personal sort of hospitality, but from the house and what Emeric had told me about them, I suspected it was simply that their wealth couldn’t accommodate quite enough staff to have one on regular door duty.
“Come in, come in. I’m so glad you could stop by,” Harriet said, her makeup-smothered face a little more eager than was quite dignified. Her hair was drawn back in a gold embroidered headband today, spilling out around it in carefully constructed ringlets. She’d put a lot of effort into looking her best just for little old me.
Of course, the Warburys made even the Achelings look like peasants. Too bad for her I was so far out of my parents’ good graces I could barely stand to use the name, with no real intention of groveling to get their favor back.
She led me down the hall to the sitting room at the back of the house that looked over a small but brightly flowered garden. They did have at least a few staff members—a gardener was out there, trimming one of the shrubs. He paused with a movement of his lips, and the blossoms on that shrub bloomed a little larger and brighter. I couldn’t tell whether it was a physicality spell encouraging their growth or an illusion to give the impression of the same.
The trappings for tea were already laid out on a cushioned ottoman between the armchair Harriet directed me into and the one she took. She filled both cups from the pot and made a vague gesture toward the sugar cubes, cream, and lemon loaf. I took a slice of the latter on a delicate china saucer and nibbled at it. Whether it was store bought or made in-house, she’d found a good baker.
“Thank you for inviting me over,” I said. “It’s a little lonely being new in town. I mean, I’m grateful to have Emeric introducing me around and looking out for me in general, but one person isn’t exactly the kind of social circle I’m used to.”
Harriet twittered. “No, of course it wouldn’t be. We’re pleased to have such excellent company gracing our little city. We have a solid community here, but it isn’t as highflying as many others.”
I let my mouth form a wry grin. “I doubt the ‘highflying’ ones would have welcomed me anywhere near as graciously as you all have. At least here I knew I’d have one friend to start who’d put in a good word for me after… after all my mistakes before. When I’ve proven myself and taken my proper place with my family again, you can be sure I’ll remember this.”
Which was exactly what Harriet wanted to hear. She practically preened, swiping at her curls and taking a dainty sip from her teacup. “Ernest would have loved to take the time to chat with you more as well, naturally, but business called him away at the last minute.” She gave a long-suffering sigh with a coy smile, both making a show of exasperation and of how important her husband’s business must be if he’d have skipped this visit to attend to it.
“What sort of work does he do?” I ventured.
Harriet waved off the question with a wrinkle of her nose. “Best not to get into it. I don’t understand half of the things he says about stocks this and bonds that. It would bore you to tears. What do you think of the garden? It’s come on particularly well this year.”
I accepted the change in subject, meandering through a few rounds of small talk about the flowers and then the weather and finally my impressions of Portland so far. But none of that was getting me the kind of information I’d hoped to find out or even a potential foot in the door to the local reaper families’ schemes.
Finally, I leaned back in my chair, swallowing my last bite of lemon loaf, and said, “It is a very pleasant city, but I can’t help feeling a little homesick. I wish I had a better idea of what to do to prove to my parents that I’ve realized where my true loyalties should lie.”
Hint, hint. If you know of any plots I might contribute to that would help with