Chapter 69 Kitten And Shuttlecock
Back at the monastery, Zephyr and Charlie withdrew to a side chamber to discuss the latest tremors in court politics.
མ མ ཙ ཙ ན ན ན ཀ ན ནས པ ས ས སུ
In the garden. Sadie found Lillian kicking a feathered shuttlecock. “May I join you?” she asked, hopeful
Still irked by Daisy’s theatrics, Lillian scoffed. “You? Do you even know how?”
Sadie scooped the shuttlecock off the grass and sent it spinning. She had spent lonely childhood afternoons mastering games with the maids.
Lillian watched the feathers bloom into colors around Sadie’s silk shoes, eyes wide with awe. “Good heavens, Sadie. You’re incredible!”
Her delighted shout slipped through the paper lattice. Zephyr glanced toward the window. Outside, Sadie danced among the late–summer blossoms, the shuttlecock gliding under her knee, landing on her shoe, and soaring behind her only to be caught again. Her sapphire skirt flared like layered petals, and for once, the determined set of her face softened into an unguarded, girlish smile.
Across the table, Charlie followed Zephyr’s gaze. “Your sister has quite the footwork,” she remarked with genuine admiration.
Zephyr traced the rim of his teacup and answered without hurry, “She’s still a child at heart. Boys mean. nothing to her yet–only games like that can claim her love.”
Boys mean nothing to her…
Charlie spared him a single look, immediately understanding the subtext in Zephyr’s tone–he wanted her to stop entertaining the slightest romantic notion about his sister.
“I heard Sadie joined your household only last year,” Charlie said.
“I never imagined you would treasure her so fiercely. Tell me, Commander Gates, what kind of man must appear before you finally decide he is worthy of her?”
Zephyr sipped his tea with practiced calm and changed the subject. “The imperial government has ordered every regional lord to disband excess troops and turn their attention to farming. What is your opinion, Mr. Campbell?”
Only a single lattice window separated the garden from the study.
Lillian pressed both hands to her chest, utterly smitten by Sadie’s dazzling command of the shuttlecock.
“Sadie, will you accept me as your apprentice?”
Startled, Sadie hurried to pull her up. “Please, Miss Lillian! You mustn’t kneel to me.”
The Duke of Hanshire’s daughter was nobility through and through; she could not go dropping to her knees whenever the mood struck.
The two girls were just about to discuss the finer points of footwork when a timid voice drifted
from
the steps.
“May I join you?”
Chapter 69 Kitten And Shuttlecock
It was Daisy.
Lillian puffed her cheeks in displeasure and whispered to Sadie, “Why is your sister still here?”
Daisy, ignoring the annoyance written across their faces, lifted her skirts and descended the steps. “Sadic. I wish to learn as well. Teaching one or two makes no difference, so include me.”
Lillian rolled her eyes. “Copycat!”
Sadie did her best to teach them both the more elaborate kicks.
Lillian managed well enough, brimming with endless vitality.
However, Daisy lasted only a few attempts before she complained of fatigue, clutching a fan while she leaned against the flowerbed, a delicate reed swaying in the breeze.
“Your health isn’t suited to this, Daisy. Please go back. If you injure yourself, your brothers will blame me again.”
Clutching her chest, Daisy let tears gather in her eyes. “Is it that you simply don’t wish to teach me?”
Sadie kept silent, turned away, and continued the lesson.
Lillian had just mastered a single–loop flourish and was kicking with fervor when Daisy suddenly let out a cry and collapsed.
She clutched her knee where blood seeped through the silk and burst into loud sobs.
The weeping soon roused everyone inside.
Charlie pushed aside the window and looked into the courtyard. “What is happening out there?”
Daisy was positioned directly opposite the window.
“Miss Lillian and I were learning the shuttlecock, from Sadie,” she said in a trembling voice. “But Sadie forgot to give us any protection. I slipped, twisted my ankle, and tore the skin on my knee.”
Large tears rolled down her cheeks one after another.
Her voice melted into a plaintive whisper. “Mr. Campbell, it hurts so terribly.”
Charlie was a woman as well, though the world believed her a man, and she had long cultivated a chivalrous habit of shielding every delicate lady she met.
She slipped through the casement with catlike ease. “Let me see,” she said.
Charlie knelt beside Daisy, rolled the hem of her gown and the linen trousers beneath, and found the girl’s knee scraped raw, bright drops of blood already welling.
“Luckily, I keep a healing salve with me,” Charlie murmured as she rinsed away the grit, then dabbed gold- tinted powder across the cut. “Brace yourself. It will sting.”
Daisy lifted a fingertip still stained with rouge and clung to Charlie’s sleeve in helpless reliance. ricase, Mr. Campbell, a little more gently.”
Sadie bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Her sister had no idea Charlie was, in truth, a
Chapter 69 Kitten And Shuttlecock
woman.
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