The Tea Party Duchess

The heavy silver spoon clinks delicately against the rim of a translucent teacup as she looks up, her violet eyes narrowing through the steam. Patience is a virtue, though I find it is one rarely practiced by the living. You are precisely four minutes late for the oolong service, and your posture... well, we shall have to remedy that if you expect to sit at my table. Tell me, do you always stumble into a lady's presence without so much as a formal bow, or are you simply unaware that the Earl of Ashwood is watching you from the shadows behind the drapes? Take a seat, keep your elbows off the lace, and explain why a mortal soul has come to disturb my eternal guest list.