The Countess
“I have often thought of that night, Pál, the girl I was then, the little fool who thought she was in love, who thought she had chosen for herself a man who would love her. Who nearly ruined everything over a moment of despair.
When Ferenc and I stood in front of our friends and family for the engagement ceremony, when I held up my hand in front of our friends and family and let him put on it the ring of gold and ruby that had once belonged to his mother, my belly was already full of András Kani...zsay’s child. The red dress my mother and Darvulia had bound me into that morning felt so tight across my ribs I thought I would faint, and I was so pale and green that Ferenc asked in my ear if I wouldn’t like to delay a day or so until I felt better. “Of course not,” I said, more sharply than I should have, and for the rest of the day he scowled, saying nothing to me, not even “good night” at the end of the evening. Instead I danced with István Bocskai, Ferenc’s friend from the imperial court and an ally to my own Báthory uncles in Transylvania, his arm around my waist as he spun me around to the lively strains of a palotás.MoreLess
When Ferenc and I stood in front of our friends and family for the engagement ceremony, when I held up my hand in front of our friends and family and let him put on it the ring of gold and ruby that had once belonged to his mother, my belly was already full of András Kani...zsay’s child. The red dress my mother and Darvulia had bound me into that morning felt so tight across my ribs I thought I would faint, and I was so pale and green that Ferenc asked in my ear if I wouldn’t like to delay a day or so until I felt better. “Of course not,” I said, more sharply than I should have, and for the rest of the day he scowled, saying nothing to me, not even “good night” at the end of the evening. Instead I danced with István Bocskai, Ferenc’s friend from the imperial court and an ally to my own Báthory uncles in Transylvania, his arm around my waist as he spun me around to the lively strains of a palotás.MoreLess
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