She went for Aunt Ivy mixed with Aunt Evelyn. She dropped her mother’s personality – no help from that here – and reached for someone different. The men of the card room were, in Rue’s experience, much easier to handle. She had been raised by a great number of men – some of them the type to confine themselves to card rooms at private balls, some of them the type to be in the thick of the dancing, plying eyelashes and gossip in measures to match the ladies. Rue was not, as many of her age and station might have been, overset by the presence of a great number of men. “Lady Prudence, what are you doing in here?” The chamber, decorated without fuss in brown leather, sage, and gold, seemed to house a great many snuff boxes. She looked about the interior, narrowing in on the many snuff boxes scattered around the room.

Rue was met by a cloud of cigar smoke and the raucous laughter of men without women. The footman was not one to resist so firm an order, even if it came from an unattached young lady. “The door, my good man,” insisted Rue, her voice a little deeper and more commanding. “But, miss, you can’t!” The man trembled in his knee britches. Thus when Rue nodded at the footman to open the card room door it was with the austere expression of a bossy matron three times her age. As it stands, we’ll have to make shift in less public venues.” “Were you anyone else’s daughter,” he once said, “I should encourage you to tread the boards, Puggle dearest. Personalities, like supernatural shapes, came easily to Rue. She paused at the refreshment table, collecting four glasses of bubbly and concocting a plan.Īt the card room door, Rue reached for a measure of her dear mother’s personality, sweeping it about herself like a satin capelet. He always made her feel pretty and… tall.

Her hair was piled high atop her head and was crowned by a wreath of pink roses – Uncle Rabiffano’s work from earlier that evening. She hadn’t Prim’s elegance, but she could make a good impression if she tried. Sometimes it was awfully challenging to be the daughter of an Alpha werewolf.ĭeciding she’d better act before Uncle Rabiffano changed his mind on her father’s behalf, Rue glided away, a purposeful waft of pale pink and black lace.

“Convinced of that, are you?” Rabiffano tilted his head eloquently. “Very well, if you persist in meddling, go meddle.”

Rabiffano turned towards her, grateful for the interruption. Prim wouldn’t notice but Uncle Rabiffano would most certainly hear.

Prudence by Gail Carriger