Someone must have been thinking about our darlings

Part 5: link

Victorian London, circa 1890
Tassja_G

"I heard that she lived in a... house of ill-repute."

"No well-bred young woman would study such an instrument, and in France no less."

"Does she really think any self-respecting Englishman would marry her?"

Lord Arthur Pendragon swirled his wineglass, affecting disinterest at the feverish whispers of gossip. Vivian, the young Countess of Ridgewell, and her assortment of vain heiresses had cornered him soon after supper, though thus far they had failed to solicit his participation in their gleeful character assassination. His eyes flickered to the...

Part 2: link

There is a lot of Spanish in this one. The translations are at the end, in the same order in which they appear in the body of the text. I had to use a lot of Internet help for the Spanish (I only had 2 years in high school, which was forever ago), so if there are any fluent or native Spanish-speakers out there, I WELCOME corrections! -k.


The court of Queen Elizabeth I, 1565

Another rose. That’s five now, Lady Guinevere, lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, thinks as she picks up the deep red rose and its accompanying note.

She closes the door to her chambers and places the rose...

Part 1: link


Valley of Kashmir, Northern India, some 200 years before the reign of Elizabeth I

Tassja_g


“It began as a teardrop in Babylon. Where the sunlight came from Astarte, shameless goddess of the fecund feminine. The boteh. Stylized rendition of the date-palm shoot, tree of life, fertility symbol... Some historians claim it travelled to Mughal courts from Victorian England as the foliaged shape of a herbal. But a legend in Kashmir calls it the footprint of the goddess Parvati. As she ran through the Himalayas at the dawn of time.”
                        Shailja...