Penelope held onto her father’s arm after she exited the carriage.
Lady Linda Quinn was a close friend of the duchess as well as the queen. Lady Linda had ties to the palace army since it was the men in her family who led most of the king’s army.
Strangely, it would be safer here than it was in the palace since the Hensons, Linda’s family, were overprotective of her and her children.
Penelope clung to her father’s arm, using him as support while her siblings gathered around their mother.
Everyone entering the gathering took notice of the Collins family since it was the first time they had seen the family together since the latest scandal.
Penelope ignored the stares and chatter from those around her. She could never escape it, but luckily, she had grown accustomed to it to ignore it.
"It doesn’t seem like the royals have arrived. The king would have taken notice of you arriving and rushed to your side. When that happens, I’m afraid I will have to abandon you and go to my mother’s side," said Penelope.
Sometimes, she could only take the king in small doses.
"You will be taking me with you," Edgar replied.
"Father, no," Penelope whispered, in need of her father’s help to send away a young man approaching her.
"Find something better to do with your time before it is cut short with me," Edgar said, watching as the young man bowed his head before leaving.
Penelope let out a breath of relief. "Thank you. He is one of the group of men whose hands fall dangerously low when dancing with ladies, and he jokes that it was only an accident. He is quite indecent with other things."
Penelope didn’t want to be involved with anyone who groped women who only sought to dance.
Edgar studied the face of the young man who went back to a group of his peers. "Has he done it to you?" He asked.
"No, I am lucky that I was always too busy to accept his offers to dance, but Lily wasn’t so fortunate. She stepped on his shoe the second she felt his hand. Now all the other ladies have been warned and are trying to avoid him," said Penelope.
Penelope knew her father’s silence meant he would deal with the matter, and she was not going to stop him. It would only be successfully stopped if a man stepped in.
"I don’t enjoy all the courting. The men here are all from wealthy families, have some title, or great connections, so they are a bit smug. They only want to talk about themselves. They don’t listen," Penelope said.
Only when she mentioned wanting to live a quiet life out of Lockwood did these men hear her. They could not fathom the thought of wanting to move away from the luxurious Lockwood.
Penelope looked around to see who was in attendance. She first noticed where Linda was and then spotted a familiar face, which kept popping up.
"That is the man whose carriage ran into our carriage. I think I also saw him at the ball, and now he is here," Penelope said, finding it strange.
Everyone present was given a special invitation. Penelope was surrounded by men and women who either had money, power, or were connected to someone who had one of those.
The man from a few days ago could not be ordinary.
Penelope tried to sneak glances to get a better look at the stranger. Before the ball, she had never seen him around the town, but this was nothing to be alarmed by. Even Penelope mostly lived outside of Lockwood.
"Which one was it?" Edgar asked, wanting to see the face of the man Reed mentioned.
Nothing was a coincidence concerning his family these days. Anyone who appeared the faintest bit suspicious needed to be watched.
Edgar had been here before during his younger days with his wife, looking around for who their enemy was.
"He is the one wearing white and standing by the cherry tree, speaking to the man from the court. Do you know who he is?" Penelope asked.
"I do not," Edgar replied, but it wouldn’t be long before he did. "Stay away from him until I know what his intentions are."
"I did not think of getting close to him. I did not like how he reacted to his carriage crashing into our carriage. He seemed delighted to know that it belonged to you," Penelope shared.
She didn’t like the feeling she got when looking at him.
"The king and queen, Hazel and Tobias Castro!" A servant announced.
Penelope looked away from the man she was curious about, unlucky to miss his gaze on her. She turned, just as the crowd did, to welcome the royals. It was her first time seeing Tyrion since the night he helped her home, and she was still curious why he had not written to her.
Had he finally given up?
’It is about time,’ Penelope thought, still watching as Tyrion entered alongside his siblings.
Edgar noticed Penelope’s interest in the Castros. "If that is where your heart goes, I will not get in your way. However, if I notice any harm done to you, I cannot promise that a peaceful talk will calm me."
"Thank you, but I truly do not want to end up in the palace. There are too many rules if I were to go there. I already feel that I lack freedom, so going there will make me a prisoner. I mean it when I say that I don’t want to be queen," Penelope assured her father.
It was only disappointing that it meant she couldn’t be with the one man who understood her. It was a great sacrifice to make to keep her happiness.
"Penelope Collins," Hazel said, greeting the young woman who had her son distracted. "You look so much like a doll today. There must be something good waiting to happen since you are glowing so much today."
Penelope curtsied, greeting the royals. "You flatter me, Queen Hazel. I think it is the dress which is creating the glow. It is splendid, so I give all credit to the dressmaker."
"The dress can only do so much for you. It is your beauty which stands out, and I am not the only one who noticed it. Duke Collins," Hazel greeted Edgar. She tried not to smile at the way Edgar guarded Penelope.
Many years ago, it was Edgar who was sought out by many, and now it was his children.
’Oh, how it has changed,’ Hazel thought.