"Eugh," Sonia mutters in wholehearted agreement, and she seems heartened somehow by that light touch to her hand. "Even Count Piotr and my sister haven't started yet -- I don't know how they could, with everything going on..."

Sonia blows a very un-Princess-like raspberry with her tongue and tucks her chin a little more closely against her arms. "Uncle Yuri," she sighs glumly with a long, slow roll of her eyes. "I think he's actually offended that I'm still not married at my age, but even if that weren't the case, I assure you, he has a long well of complaints for my father to dip into."