~Twenty-One~She padded from her bedchamber to the sitting room and sat, listening to the unearthly quiet of her family's suite. Her family, like most courtiers, attended the evening's soirée; even the flanking suites rang with empty silence.
She jumped to her feet, wishing she could jump out of her skin, for it fairly crawled upon her bones. She paced back into her bedchamber but, once there, looked around in puzzlement, not knowing why she had come.
She stared at the space below her bed, turning from the dark gap as if to deny its attraction. She paced back into the sitting room, dissatisfaction ever stronger.
Utterly alone. Her in this world, in this life…utterly alone. Lost to her, her two dearest friends, one to God and one to the devil, for that was how she viewed the Vicomte du Lu
