A servant approached with a silver tray of tea.
Aurelian reached for a cup, remembered Echo’s lessons, and stopped halfway.
The servant waited.
Aurelian waited.
Echo leaned toward him.
“You may take one.”
“Thank you.”
Relieved, he selected the nearest cup.
Evelyne made a small sound.
“Oh.”
Aurelian froze.
“What did I do?”
Echo’s hand twitched at her side.
Evelyne spoke as if rushed “That cup was placed for Lady Lockwood.”
Aurelian looked at the tea.
Then at the servant.
“Oh no.”
Across the garden, an older countess in a silver-gray gown was already approaching.
Her eyes went directly to the cup in Aurelian’s hand.
Then to him.
Everyone nearby suddenly found reasons to remain close enough to listen.
Aurelian bowed.
“Lady Lockwood, I owe you an apology.”
The countess stopped before him.
“Do you?”
“Yes.
I believe I have taken your tea.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Aurelian continued before Echo could rescue him.
“I was so worried about taking the wrong cup that I took the wrong cup.” Heat climbed into his face.
“I am sorry.
Please allow me to return it.”
He offered it with both hands.
Lady Lockwood stared at him.
“Did you drink from it?”
“No.”
“Add sugar?”
“No.”
“Milk?”
“No, my lady.”
“Then it is still perfectly good tea.”
Aurelian blinked.
She accepted the cup and studied him over the rim.
“Bellafonte, you said?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Southern territory?”
“Yes.”
“Tea country?”
That, at least, Aurelian knew how to discuss.
“Among other things.
We harvest tea in the lower fields where the soil holds the morning heat.
My father says the best leaves are the stubborn ones.
They keep their flavor even when the weather turns unfriendly.”
Lady Lockwood lowered the cup.
“Is that so?”
Aurelian nodded.
“I would not claim to be an expert, but I know the scent of good leaves.
This one is delicate.
It was prepared carefully.”
The servant beside them looked startled.
Aurelian turned to him.
“Forgive me if I am mistaken.”
“You are not mistaken, my lord.”
Lady Lockwood’s attention shifted between them.
“You thanked him.”
Aurelian frowned.
“Should I not have?”
“No.” She finally took a sip.
“You should have.”
Her approval was so dry that it took him a moment to recognize it.
Varian leaned toward Echo.
“Did he just win over Lady Lockwood by stealing her tea?”
“Apparently.”
Lady Lockwood gestured toward an empty chair at the nearest table.
“Sit, Baron Bellafonte.
I would like to hear more about southern tea.”
Aurelian looked at Echo.
Echo looked back.
This had not been in the lessons.
Within minutes, Evelyne and Varian had joined them, followed by several others whose sudden fascination with agriculture seemed suspiciously new.
Aurelian answered their questions as honestly as he could.
He spoke of tea, coffee, sunflowers, water wagons, and the problem of crops growing too quickly beneath Bellafonte’s constant warmth.
When Varian asked whether the territory’s trade had made the Bellafonte family wealthy, Aurelian considered the question.
“We are comfortable,” he said.
“Our people work harder than we do.
I would feel strange boasting about the profit as though I earned it alone.”
The table quieted.
Aurelian immediately wondered whether he had made another mistake.
Evelyne looked down at her folded hands.
“That is rare to hear.”
“What is?”
“Most lords would describe the size of their coffers before mentioning the people who fill them.”
“I would not have coffers without them.”
Lady Lockwood made a thoughtful sound into her tea.
Beside him, Echo had gone strangely quiet.
Aurelian leaned closer.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That is the face you make when it is not nothing.”
“It is not nothing,” she admitted.
“I simply have not decided what it is yet.”