Fortress of Blood and Power by Rachel L. Schade EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Rachel L. Schade
- Language: English
- Genre: Fairy Tales
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2.2 MB
- Price: Free
A single drop of scarlet blood welled against my pale skin, threatening
to stain the pristine fabric. With a hiss, I withdrew my finger before I
could ruin my dress and set my needle aside. Besides, there was no
more time to fuss over the gown, and it was finished. Even if I wished I
could spend the rest of the night adding delicate details like lace or tiny bits
of embroidery—anything that could keep me confined to the relative safety
of my room and away from the oppressive atmosphere of tonight’s town
ball.
Kate was already there, her face an expressionless mask as she offered
me a handkerchief. Though my maid had learned to school herself, I could
sense the judgment emanating from her, as heavy as the dark clouds
painting the evening sky outside my bedroom window. I was used to her
coldness, but tonight, my nerves were frayed, and it grated on me.
Cringing, I pressed the kerchief to my finger, waiting for the bleeding to
stop, and succumbed to letting Kate begin preparing me.
“Your brother has enough for you to pay a seamstress to make your
gowns,” Kate muttered at last, tugging harder than necessary on the laces of
my stays.
In my heart, I knew I should rebuke her. There was nothing unladylike
about making one’s own dresses, and it wasn’t a servant’s place to give her
opinion on my brother’s wealth or my hobbies. But my tongue remained
frozen, stuck to the roof of my mouth as she tugged me into my petticoats
and finally my dress.
As I studied my reflection in the mirror, taking in the soft lavender
fabric I’d spent so many hours carefully stitching together, pride warmed
my heart. It offered the barest relief from Kate’s icy looks and the
unwelcome howling of the early December winds outside.
When I settled into the chair before my vanity so Kate could start on my
hair, she paused, her permanent scowl deepening. Her eyes flicked
disdainfully toward the long locks cascading down my shoulders, gleaming
bright silver in the flickering candlelight. “Perhaps you should cover it for
once.”
Instead of answering, I looked down, silently fidgeting with the folds of
my skirt until Kate sighed and got to work, barely trying to repress her
grimace as her fingers brushed through my hair. As if touching it would
harm her in some way.
Shame and hopelessness smothered my earlier pride. My brother
Charles and his friends had been gossiping about me more than ever. I
suspected it had much to do with the fact that Charles was hoping to make a
match with Louisa Eggerton, a woman whose beauty was fine, no doubt,
but whose father’s fortune and influence in our town had a far greater pull
on every eligible young man’s heart. The more he distanced himself and
made cutting remarks about me, the more the townspeople warmed toward
him.
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