Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
They exchanged hugs and news, then Elizabeth set off to mingle and play the gracious hostess. She knew almost all the guests’ names, except for those visiting from out of town. She kept an eye out for Felicity and her family, thinking how big the children would have grown in the last two years since she’d seen them.
After a half hour or so, there was a commotion at the east side of the garden. Elizabeth saw a formation of the king’s guard—goodness, an escort!—and walked over to greet Felicity and her family with a sudden fluttering of butterflies in her middle.
But Felicity was not there, nor her family.
“Where is Lady Augustine?” asked the head guard.
“Here.” Elizabeth flushed at his strident voice but moved forward. “I am here. Where are our guests?”
“I’m here to fetch you on order of the king.”
“To…fetch me? Are the Italian visitors all right? Prince Carlo? Princess Felicity?”
Her voice faded as the guard took her arm. August materialized beside her.
“Unhand my wife, if you please.”
Her father appeared too, wearing the Arlington frown. “Here, what’s this?” he asked.
“Lady Augustine is to be presented before the king. His orders,” said the guard.
“Presented for what?” asked August.
“Begging your pardon, my lord, I do the king’s bidding, and I don’t ask why.”
His tone communicated that August should not either. The party had gone quiet. Elizabeth felt she might faint with so many questioning eyes upon her.
“If you’re ready to go, ma’am…” The guard took her arm again.
“Go where?” she asked. “And why?”
“To Buckingham Palace. King’s orders.”
She looked at August and her father, both of whom appeared flabbergasted. “I’m going to come, too,” said August. “I’m her husband.”
The guard looked about to refuse, then relented. “As you wish.”
“If you need help, send for me,” said her father in a hushed, intent voice that scared Elizabeth more than anything that had happened yet.
“You must still have the party,” said Elizabeth, as the guards led them away. “Papa, tell the guests they must enjoy the party. I suppose Felicity will arrive any moment.”
She saw her mother’s face, her sisters, her friend Rosalind with her mouth agape. Her first event as a society lady, her enchanting garden party, and she was being hauled away by a formation of guards before everyone.
For what? She could not be in trouble, had not done anything remotely criminal. But her father had whispered, if you need help… The king was often rumored to be mad. With all the gossip surrounding her, perhaps she’d gained his unwarranted attention. Did he mean to keep her under arrest?
She and August were deposited in a black coach led by four sturdy horses. At the head guard’s order, the coach departed, rolling past the carriages of more guests arriving to their home.
“They will have missed the excitement,” she said quietly. “Oh, I hope the party isn’t ruined.”
August said nothing, only frowned. The party was certainly ruined, but she didn’t want to think about that.
“I haven’t done anything against the king,” she said as the silence strung out. “I don’t know why he would summon me.”
“No one has accused you of doing anything against the king. Nor will they.”
She took his hand where it lay beside hers on the hard cushion, and noticed her own palm was sweating within her glove.
“I don’t know why this might be happening.” She didn’t wish to keep talking, especially in light of August’s taciturnity, but she couldn’t seem to stop. “I’m sure I don’t know what this is about.”
“Don’t worry.” He squeezed her hand. “Everything will be straightened out.”
“The entire ton saw me leave, didn’t they? Dozens of guests?”
Too much to hope they remained distracted by the food or flowers. Too much to hope that society’s gossips might stay silent about this, after she’d finally seemed to overcome the whispers about their marriage. This was a debacle. A disaster.
It was so unfair.
And she was afraid.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” she said, partly for the glowering guards who sat across from them, their legs nearly touching. “I’m sure the king cannot even know who I am.”
“He knows your father,” said August. “So perhaps he knows you. But you mustn’t worry.”
“Is it because I married in Wales instead of England? Is that permissible? Is it because I threw a garden party so early in the Season?”
“Darling, you’re blameless. Try to be calm.”
They arrived at Buckingham and were greeted by more guards as their coach rounded a newly constructed portico. Well, not greeted. The men held stern expressions as she and August were escorted down a corridor to the king’s reception room. They were in the older, gloomier part of the recently expanded palace. Her perceptive senses were sharpened in her state of anxiety. Ghosts of memories bombarded her, unrest within the walls, in the air. King George IV and his wife had not enjoyed a harmonious marriage or satisfying family life.