"Mama!" the Princess exclaims at her mother's words, standing up this time. "That is scandalous, and I will not do it."
"Yes you will, Young Lady, you will seduce Lord Vanderburgh and you will get me that money he has."
"But she wasn't presented to the court and the first Queen. She isn't out in society." Prince Doughlas, the first Prince says.
"Which I regret so much. If I was the first queen, it wouldn't be a problem, but I doubt that woman will grant Venetia an exception to still be a debutante now. If anything, she will do all she can to stop that from happening if she knows it is what I want."
"So how will she go about it?" the first Prince asks.
"The diamond. She will use the Diamond. The diamond is Lord Vanderburgh's sister."
Angrily, Venetia walks out of the drawing room, leaving her mother and brother.
"She will pretend to befriend the diamond and get access to Lord Vanderburgh from there." The Second queen continues.
The first Prince scoffs. "What a circle we have there. If Vaughn marries the diamond and Venetia successfully seduces and marries the diamond's brother, we would have a perfect relationship, wouldn't we."
"What do you mean by that? Vaughn –
"May have his eyes on the Diamond. I heard he asked her for a dance at the Wen's Ball nights ago, and called on her two mornings ago. One would think he has his hat set for the Diamond."
The second Queen puts down her tea cup with a chatter, eyes narrowed at the new information. "Vaughn must never marry the Diamond." She says.
"Why? The girl –
"Marrying that girl doesn't just grant him leverage to lots of money, but it also grants him access to all the connections Lord Vanderburgh may have. All his money, all his assets, and all his relationship. For a business man like Vanderburgh, can you imagine what all that entails? His connections alone may as well crown any man king if they desire. For his age, he has quite the fortune and connection. Vaughn marrying the only sister of a man like that may as well make him Crown Prince and King already. I cannot let that happen." Both her nails dig into the armrest of the chaise longue. "I already regret so much that you were tied into marriage with a penniless woman two years ago."
"She is a Princess, Mother."
"A penniless one, one from a conquered kingdom. Her title is as good as useless to me. Sybil must have known ahead, it's the only reason that fox of a queen agreed to your marriage so easily it left even me surprised. She must have known the girl was as penniless as a stray dog."
"As much as you hate her, Mother, she has a child for me now, your grandchild."
"One as useless as her. A son would have tipped things in our favor a bit, yet all she could produce was a girl in two years. Wench!" the queen cursed.
Outside the drawing room, Princess Lana stood with both her hands covering her daughter's ear as she listened to the second queen.
"We cannot let Vaughn marry the diamond. We cannot let him have such power. Whatever you are plotting, Sybil, I will not have it." The Queen says staring viciously at nothing. "Mona." She calls her maidservant who stands a few feet away.
She hurries over and bows. "Your Majesty?"
"Get me my stationeries. It is time I send word to Lady Weatherby."
*
"We got word from the parrot." She says stretching a folded piece of paper to the one in front of her.
She takes the paper and opens it to read. Once she was done, she threw the paper into the fire place. "He will be there tonight."
"Who? A?"
Shaking her head, "Not A, someone who knows A."
"What do we do? The plan was the wood ward estate tonight."
"Stick to it, I will take care of this one."
"But you are –
"I will take care of it."
"I can have one of the –
Shaking her head, she moves a few feet away. "No, let's proceed as planned."
~
"Are you sure?" he questions.
"I just got word from the pigeon."
"The ball is it?"
Nodding, "Yes. I will –
Shaking his head, "No. I will take care of it."
"But –
"Proceed as planned, I will take care of the surprises."
~
Hand wrapped around her brother, Kidaya walks into the Edgare ballroom, with Eddna in the other hand. Lady Erskine follows behind with Joan by her arms. As soon as the Lords see the diamond, they begin to approach.
"How hard it must be for your Margery now that the Simon girl has stolen all the spotlight from her." Lady Brigg says, and other Mamas around them smile mockingly.
"Oh, do not worry about my Margery, she has no problem at all, even though another has been named Diamond, she will still find a good match and be married her very first season. It is your daughter I must rather worry about. This is her third season, is it not?" Lady Weatherby asks with a smile. She had nothing to worry about, well she did a bit, until she received a letter from the second queen a few days ago, inviting her to tea.
~
The second Prince smiles taking the wine glass that Lord Edgare was offering. Earlier, he had no intention of attending the ball the minister was hosting in his drawing room, but after the minister had personally extended an invitation to him and told him he had something to discuss with him, he had decided to be at the ball, see the minister and then leave. And right now, they were discussing together with another man who seemed to be a guest of Minster Edgare.
Just as he raises his wine glass to his lips, his eyes catch sight of a lady, debutante if he wasn't wrong, who was surrounded by Lords while she stood in their middle with a smile. The Diamond. Prince Vaughn could still remember how shocked he had been when he realized she was the Diamond. As if sensing that he was watching her, she suddenly turns to look in his direction, and at him.
"I hear she is the Diamond." The guest says.
Smiling. "Yes, she is. A rare one at that, the first in three years." Minister Edgare says.
"I do not mind an introduction." The guest says bowing his head slightly to the diamond when she looks in his direction. She curtseys to him before returning her attention to the people around her.
~
After searching all over the hall with her eyes, she finally found him. It would have been hard for her to recognize him had it not been for the ring the man wore on his left pinky finger. The silver ring had their symbol.
The symbol of the faceless men!
'I have finally found you.' She says in her mind, eyes still on him. She was about to take a step towards him when someone came in front of her.
~
From the door, he searched for the man, and after almost an hour of searching, he finally found him. 'There you are.' He says in his mind, taking his first step into the hall.