Elizabeth scanned the room, hanging back in the corner. The conversations were feeling exceedingly tedious that evening as every sidestepped around their realities for the sake of polite formality. She hated to treat the evening as a game, but perhaps strategy would be the only way for her to trudge through the evening. She had to make the right moves, block certain players until she got what she wanted, or the evening ended. And if it was the latter, she could play all over again tomorrow. She sighed as the thought weighed on her, drinking a long sip of her wine.
She turned to the person next to her, lifting her glass. “How many glasses until everyone actually gets around to saying something interesting, do you think?” She frowned at the liquid still in her glass. “I wonder if the estate could possibly ever have enough wine for that,” she laughed quietly to herself.
