Chapter 16

Camille’s point of view

By four o’clock, my brain felt stuffed with French conjugations and pronunciation corrections. My third coffee of the day wasn’t helping the shaking in my hands.

Mrs. Harrington, the etiquette coach, noticed immediately. A lady never allows fatigue to show,” she reprimanded, straightening my already-

straight spine.

“Shoulders back. Chin parallel to the floor. Now, let’s review the proper handling of difficult dinner conversations.”

For two more hours, we practiced responding to inappropriate questions, managing awkward silences, and the subtle art of steering conversations toward or away from specific topics. All skills Victoria deemed When James finally drove me back to the mansion at six, I had exactly forty-