Six Months Earlier
Lady Regina Sheridan had no idea why she was standing in the middle of a ballroom in her nightgown.
It was particularly strange because Regina generally did not attend ballrooms or wander about them while under-dressed. In fact, she had never even left her family’s manor, even to visit the small collection of towns and villages that made up her family’s lands.
In fact, Regina’s only regular activities consisted of discussing survival strategies with her closest cousin, avoiding the sinister machinations of her parents, and trying to mimic wallpaper well enough to leave her childhood home before her family murdered her.
Yet when Regina cautiously pushed through the crowd at the ball, none of whom seemed interested in the half-naked woman in their midst, to see another version of herself…
The first thought that came to Regina was, By the blood, why would my parents spend the money to purchase a gown like that?!
After all, while Regina did not go about dressed in rags, she did not own any fancy gowns either. There were remarkably few occasions to dress up when you were spending most of your life trying to avoid being noticed and then murdered by your family.
Besides, her parents hoarded money as though spending a dime on anything but the bare necessities would cause them to die in distress. So why would they suddenly buy her a gown with enough lace to make hundreds of silkworms weep?
Beyond that, Regina could not understand why some version of herself might be somewhere other than the Sheridan family’s estate. After all, no Sheridan under the age of 25 ever left the estate unless they were about to have a mysterious “accident” or –
“I would like to welcome our guests to this celebration of the uniting of two great families,” said a startlingly familiar man who suddenly appeared behind not-Regina’s shoulder.
– Were about to get engaged.
A chill ran down Regina’s spine as she realized that she had never before seen her surly miser of a father look so happy.
“No Sheridan under the age of 25 leaves the Sheridan estate unless they are about to be murdered… or married off to another noble family,” Regina murmured, suddenly realizing what was happening.
It was only after Regina spoke that she suddenly remembered that her father was right in front of her. Regina felt the all too familiar panic starting in the back of her throat as she realized that she had both just revealed one of her family’s most terrible secrets and that she had revealed the secret while standing nearly naked in a ballroom.
Regina was not sure which act would get her murdered faster. Either way, she had just destroyed a dozen years of trying to be the human equivalent of a very forgettable beige so that her family would forget to murder her for not being useful.
Yet, to her surprise, none of the people around her reacted to her in any way.
“I almost feel insulted,” Regina muttered under her breath. “I know I am hardly the most beautiful woman in Carcosa but I am muttering ominous secrets while wandering around a ballroom in my nightgown. Does nobody care about any of that?”
Regina was so busy being both confused and irritated that she only realized the truth when the very pretty and very shiny jewelry-encrusted blond man behind her put his elbow through her torso.
“By the blood!” Regina cried in a mixture of anger and disbelief as she saw his elbow move through her body without encountering any resistance. “After all those years of outlasting thirteen cousins and a sister, did someone in my family finally notice I existed… only to murder me?”
The blond man bounced up and down in an odd little dance and Regina decided that was as much of an answer as she was going to receive.
However, even if she was dead, Regina was determined to find out who this false Regina was… and why her family was engaging the not-Regina to someone very high-ranking, based on the lace of her dress and the width of her father’s smile.
Regina’s eyes narrowed and she ducked behind the dancing blond, who was an excellent distraction for anyone who might be able to notice dead women in inappropriate nightdresses. It also allowed her to concentrate on the words of the nobles clustered around her.
Unfortunately, she soon realized she would have been better not paying the other nobles any attention at all.
She could hear the polished but cutting voices of the group of elegant noblemen around the dancing blond as they dissected not-Regina in every aspect.
“Pedestrian looking, is she not?” said an exceedingly gorgeous older nobleman with rose red hair and brilliant emerald eyes, though the haughty look on his face made Regina loathe him already. “No doubt she is the comeliest daughter the Sheridans could come up with but even so…”
“You may be underrating her charms,” said a handsome younger man who had a delicate pink flower with a ruffled center on his lapel and the oddest hair that Regina had ever seen – dark brown waves on top and a smattering of grass-green hair beneath. “Who knows? Perhaps the lady in question is kind and keen.”
“If so,” said a dignified older nobleman who wore a blue suit patterned after ocean waves to match his curly blue hair, “she is wasted on that family. She should have joined ours instead. Those brawny arms would help us a great deal.”
“No doubt,” said another middle-aged nobleman with an elegant leaf-shaped brooch and hair so black, it nearly burned purple in the candle-light. “I am sure this young lady would have excelled in helping you distribute frozen fish to the masses.”
“Exactly!” Lord Ocean Waves said, apparently immune to sarcasm when it came to his specialty.
“She must have strong powers,” muttered a strikingly beautiful nobleman standing a little ways away, his blindingly white suit matching the white hair rippling past his shoulders as he stared at Regina’s other self. “Maybe she could even win a dance battle against a feet fish.”
The other lords stared at Lord Feet Fish before they apparently decided to ignore his strange murmurings.
“She probably is powerful as well as elegant and astute,” Lord Grass Hair speculated. “Why else would she be chosen to ascend to such great heights?”
“Why indeed,” muttered Lord Leaf Brooch. “Though I would imagine that the Sheridan family’s purse greatly helped her engagement prospects.”
“Even so,” Lord Ocean Waves murmured, “It is strange that I have never heard of Lady Regina Sheridan. In fact, I do not believe anybody had heard of her before her engagement was announced.”
“Perhaps,” Lord Red Hair, “The Alpins would prefer their brides be a little less… distinguished than women who come from families with a better pedigree… and greater beauty.”
Even Regina, who was hardly bursting with pride when it came to her noble line, felt a little affronted at the clear condescension in his tone.
“Listen here,” she told Lord Red Hair now that she was sure nobody in this room could hear her. “My family may be murderous and miserly but that does not mean you should look down on us for our pedigree or lack of beauty. After all –”
At this point, Regina even dared to boldly poke her finger in Lord Red Hair’s direction, feeling a queer sense of liberation. Who knew being dead was so freeing?
“There are so many other things that are wrong with my family! Our pedigree and looks are the last things you should be criticizing!”
Regina expected that to be the end of it and was genuinely surprised when one of the nobles actually defended her… so long as she ignored the less flattering implications of his argument.
“Let us be fair,” Lord Grass Hair said. “None of us may know Lady Regina well, or at all, but the Sheridans are not nobodies. They have had quite a fascinating rise from mere barons with unknowable powers to actual marquesses. Who knows what their future will bring?”
Lord Leaf Brooch took a sip from his flute of champagne, eyes gleaming with speculation.
“Who indeed?”
~♦♥♦~
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