Ashes of Roses (Tales of the Latter Kingdoms Book 4) by Christine Pope Read Free Book Online Page A

tattletale — but guessed she must have been up in the room my stepsisters shared, unpacking their things and setting aside the ones that needed to be laundered.
    I went instead to the pile of field greens and began to rinse them off, setting the clean ones aside to drain as I did so. This was a relatively simple task, so my mind began to wander as I worked, imagining what the inside of the palace might look like, and what the music played at the balls would sound like, and what sort of food would be served at these gatherings. My stomach fairly rumbled at the thought. My stepmother did not precisely starve me, but I ate last, and of everyone’s leftovers, save for the bits that Claris slipped to me here and there.
    Well, at least the Emperor liked slender girls, or so the rumors said…
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    M aster Mellenden , the dancing instructor, arrived promptly at ten in the morning the next day. I heard my stepsisters groaning about the time scheduled for their lessons, as neither of them preferred to be up and dressed much sooner than luncheon, but on that point my stepmother put her foot down.
    “That is the only time he has available!” she’d snapped, as I lingered in the background of the large salon, studiously dusting her collection of small enameled birds. They’d been quite the fad some years ago, apparently. In fact, the whole house had become quite cluttered due to her tendency to latch on to the newest and most fashionable mode, no matter how frivolous it might be. “Master Mellenden is highly in demand! It was either ten o’clock or nothing! Do you want to look like left-footed fools in front of the Emperor?”
    Apparently neither of my stepsisters did, for at that comment they’d muttered and sighed and rolled their eyes, but did not offer any further argument. And so it was set that Master Mellenden would come three days a week for the next month.
    He was a handsome fellow, somewhere in his early thirties, I thought, and I could see why he would be so in demand among the ladies of the town. My stepmother was lucky to get him, even at the unfashionable hour of ten in the morning.
    Our house was not grand enough for a ballroom, but Janks and I rolled up the rug in the second salon and moved all the furniture against the walls, leaving enough space for several couples to dance there. My stepmother did most of her receiving in the main salon, and so having the smaller room out of commission for the next month probably would not discommode her too much.
    Janks’s service was not done there, either, for Master Mellenden declared that the only way for a young woman to learn to dance properly was with a man, and so the poor footman had to suffer through learning the verdralle and the linotte and the padrane , all the while handling both of my stepsisters as if they were made of eggshells. For their part, they tended to wear a look of disgust any time they were unlucky enough to be partnered with Janks rather than the dancing master, which I thought exceedingly ill-mannered of them…even though such behavior was only to be expected.
    I, of course, could take no part in these proceedings, but could only pretend to be useful by fetching fresh water for them to drink, or to run and get Jenaris a new pair of slippers when she tore the stitching on hers, or to be there to open the windows when it became too warm and the girls declared they couldn’t dance another step without some fresh air. To be sure, the air in Iselfex was none too fresh in early Sevendre, but I wasn’t about to say such a thing out loud.
    No, I only wanted to be present as much as possible so I could see how one was to place a hand on one’s partner’s shoulder during the verdralle , or how to do the complicated underhand turn during the linotte , or the way one must always start a dance with one’s right foot first. All this, and so much more, catching a faint whisper of what the tunes must sound like when played by a full quintet and not the