The Lady and the Wish by J. M. Stengl

The Lady and the Wish by J. M. Stengl

Author:J. M. Stengl [Stengl, J. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rooglewood Press
Published: 2019-04-25T04:00:00+00:00


“Hoo, it’s not supposed to be this cold,” I grumbled without losing a step. The garden paths were wet with rain but no ice, so I had snatched at this opportunity to run early in the morning.

I’d been awake anyway. Lady Beneventi had a restless night and insisted on having me, not Maria, read aloud to help her get back to sleep. Which made no sense, since her argument against Maria was that she read in a monotone. Wouldn’t that be more conducive to sleep than an animated voice?

Not that my reading had been particularly animated at four a.m.

Weeks had passed since the garden party, and the rich colors of autumn were more muted. It was always spooky to run at dawn or dusk; spookier than ever now that I knew the statues really watched me. Sometimes I nodded or waved like a crazy person at faces I recognized from the party. I still took Lady Beneventi for garden walks when weather permitted, and she always wanted to sit with Giano and chatter happily at him.

You know you’ve got issues when sitting beside an old sculpture is socially awkward.

As must be obvious from my ramblings above, nothing was happening on the Fidelio front. He was so busy that he neglected his Internet friends. I knew what he was doing only when other people posted photos with him in them.

“People” mostly being Raquel. My former BFF.

Beh.

What did I do when I wasn’t running or sneaking shy smiles at a hunk made of marble? You guessed it: I was bored out of my skull. Introspection has never been my thing, and I couldn’t seem to avoid it. I needed people and action!

Lady Beneventi made a few wishes, but nothing interesting. Arturo popped up at least once a week, which gave me some time to myself. But too much time to myself was worse than dragging one cranky old woman around to her geriatric parties. I would choose line-dancing with octogenarians any day over drumming my fingers on a windowsill and missing—

I missed having someone around to argue with. Conflict is stimulating to the mind.

Not that Lady Beneventi was mellowing. Listening to her bash her friends while we drove home from a social event made my stomach burn. She didn’t care about people, manipulated them for her own purposes, but then worried what they thought of her. What a mess!

One thing I knew for sure: I never wanted to be like Lady Catriona Beneventi.

I ended my morning run, allowing plenty of time for a shower . . . no, bath before breakfast. Lady Beneventi slept late anyway and woke in a very bad mood. I could hear her cussing out Maria as soon as I entered the suite with Bacio.

As luck would have it, Saturday was Maria’s day off, so immediately after dressing the mistress for the day, she left to visit her sister in a nearby village. I don’t imagine she gave the villa any lingering backward glances.

Lady Beneventi ate her breakfast without comment, then sat brooding over her coffee.



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