Six Sentence Sunday—Owned by the Butler

This week’s offering for Six Sentence Sunday comes from Chapter 9 of my WIP, my third Russian historical novel, which spans 15 years and three continents. One of my favorite recurring secondary characters is Katrin’s butler Mr. Rhodes, one of the few people besides Katrin and her little sister Viktoriya who’s able to shut down quasi-antagonist Anastasiya and put her in her place.

In a previous Six Sentence Sunday, Mr. Rhodes stunned Anastasiya when he revealed that he could understand everything she said, because he’d picked up Russian after so many years in Katrin’s service. This week, she’s speaking in her native Estonian with Katrin, horrified that Katrin is entertaining a former prostitute (the stepcousin of main character Lyuba). She’s in for another shock if she thinks Mr. Rhodes can’t understand this language!

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Katrin’s butler Mr. Rhodes raises his eyebrow at her. “Morality aside, at least someone who works in a brothel is earning a living through that behavior.  She’s not the one who has a bastard son and goes to great lengths to hide her shame from the public.” He goes back to dusting. “You seem to forget that the butler sees and hears everything.  I know Estonian and Russian as well as my native English by this point.”