"You're not supposed to see me before the ball!"
"That's weddings, not balls."
"Still!"
"You're beautiful. No...you're amazing. Aunt Bethany won't know what hit her."
The afternoon was spent in final preparations. A hairdresser arrived to arrange Marianne's hair in an elaborate style that somehow managed to tame her usually rebellious locks. Jewelryappeared—not excessive, just a simple necklace and earrings that Alaric said had been his mother's.
"I can't wear these," Marianne protested. "They're too precious."
"They're perfect. She would have wanted you to wear them."
"How do you know?"
"Because she would have loved you. Because you're everything she wanted me to find; someone who could make me laugh, make me real, make me better."
Epilogue
Finally, it was time. Marianne stood at the top of the stairs, terrified to descend. The dress suddenly felt too fine, the jewels too heavy, the whole situation too impossible.
"Breathe," Alaric said, appearing beside her in his evening clothes, looking every inch the duke. "I'm right here."
"You look very duke-ish."
"Duke-ish?"
"Intimidating. Proper. Nothing like the man who falls off ladders and burns bread."
"I'm still that man. Just in better clothes."
"Much better clothes."
"The clothes don't matter. What matters is that we're together."
The carriage ride to the Winterbourne mansion was both too long and too short. Marianne watched London pass by the windows—buildings lit with thousands of candles, carriages heading to various entertainments, the city alive with evening energy.
"Tell me about the people who'll be there," she said, needing information to combat anxiety.
"Well, there's Lord Browne, who breeds roses and will talk about nothing else if given the chance. Lady Carmichael, who gossips professionally but is actually quite kind beneath the chatter. The Drummond twins, who are identical and enjoy confusing people by switching places. Sir Robert Robert, who's supposed to be courting the eldest Waverly girl but is obviously in love with her younger sister."
"How do you know all this?"
"Observation. It's the only way to survive these events—watch, catalog, remember. Knowledge is protection in society."
"And your former... interests? Will they be there?"
Alaric shifted uncomfortably. "Possibly. Probably. Lady Sarah Harrington will definitely be there; her mother is Aunt Bethany's closest friend."
"Tell me about her."
"Sarah? She's... persistent. Her mother has been trying to match us since we were children. Sarah herself is beautiful, accomplished, everything a duchess should be."
"Then why didn't you marry her?"
"Because she's also cold, calculating, and views marriage as a business transaction. She doesn't want me...she wants the title, the position, the prestige."
"And you're sure she'll be there?"
