Anybody But You

44

Chapter Forty-Four

Vibe: clearly by Grace VanderWaal

"Thank you for joining me this morning, Alice." The duke spoke warmly.

Alice nodded politely, sitting down across from him at the table. She had never had breakfast with her father before, the butterflies in her belly refusing to die despite how she chastised them.

"Have you been well? Missy is always raving about how hard you've been working on your studies." Her father continued despite her silence, taking a sip of coffee.

"Yes, thank you." She spoke, planning to leave it there until she saw the hopeful glimmer in her father's eyes. Alice didn't have it in her to see them dim as she continued to talk, "I've been very successful with magic and have been doing some rather tricky spells lately." She rambled, picking at a piece of toast, "Oh and I've finished my social etiquette class—if I do say so myself, when I want to be, I am quite the noblewoman." She giggled, thinking about how well she could turn it on and off while in public—it was a very useful ability. "I'm currently still working on politics and business—I'm not too sure if business is for me, however. Very tricky—but I do enjoy some elements to politics. It works well with social etiquettes." As she spoke, for the first time with her father she didn't think about anything except telling him everything that had been of interest to her as of late. It was something new and it thrilled her to the point of her mouth never ceasing to move as she spoke about Lucy and the capital and even the flowers she'd been buying every other day.

And he seemed to enjoy every word of it as he chuckled along, barely touching his food as she entranced him with the worlds she spoke of.

"My lord, you'll be late arriving in the north if you don't leave now." one of the servants spoke up—causing Alice to flush as she realized she'd just taken up his time with gibberish.

The duke sighed disappointedly as he placed his napkin down. "I apologize, Alice, I thought I would have longer." He spoke, standing up from the chair as it scraped back on the floor.

Alice quickly stood up to show respect, flushing from embarrassment, "I seemed to have taken up all your time, I'm sorry, father. Have a successful trip." Bowing her head, she gestured her goodbye.

The duke chuckled, speaking just before leaving the room,

"Don't be sorry, Alice. I rather enjoyed it."

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