“What’s this?” I asked.
“Open.” She glanced at the small screen in her hand where a million messages, images, and announcements for the gathering buzzed, flickered, and chattered.
I lifted the lid on the box and pushed aside the soft, thin paper there.
“Boots,” I said. “They’re . . .”
“Magnificent,” Elwa provided. “Yes, they are. Put them on. Go.”
I pulled one up out of the box and could not argue with her. They were magnificent, made of a sturdy leatherlike material, gray, with grommets and buckles and a second zippered layer that all came together in a graceful symmetry. But under all the good looks was a sturdy heel that was not too high, and the waffled sole of a work boot.
I slipped them on and one of Elwa’s assistants laced them up.
“Stand, and let’s see what you have become,” she said.
The cluster of people around me all took a simultaneous step backward, leaving me room to stand, and clearing a pathway to the full-length mirror.
I had insisted I wear the scarf. For hours. Undaunted, Elwa had reknotted and wrapped the scarf across my shoulders so that it actually looked stylish, then pinned it in place with a fist-sized pendant set with a smoky gray stone that probably cost half a year’s wage.
“See now, here is the pride of House Gray,” Elwa said from where she stood at my elbow.
I finally glanced in the mirror.
I didn’t know how they’d managed it, but somehow I didn’t look like I was wearing a layer or two of makeup and a coating of hair products. My hair was pulled back away from my face to show all the angles of my features, then wrapped into a loose bun.
The feminine cut of the dress was offset by the hard slashes of my stitches, the slit in the skirt kicked open to show boots I could wear into battle. Put a gun or sword into my hands, and I looked like someone who could wade into the fray and come out stylish on the other side.
“Is that even me?” I asked.
Elwa squeezed my arm gently, her gaze holding mine in the mirror. “This is you. This has always been you. But there is no more hiding, no more fear. You are House Gray. You are immortal. Strength. Protection. Wisdom. Warrior.”
And when she said it, I almost believe her. But she’d left out one word that described me:vengeance.
Because once I had my brother back safe, and once I knew I could keep Grandma away from the manipulation of other Houses, I was going to make someone pay for all this.
I was going to make Slater Orange of House Orange pay.
Elwa waved hands and barked orders, clearing out all the people and their equipment. It gave me just enough time to smuggle my knife into my boot.
As soon as she shut the door behind them, she strode over and dropped a small electronic device into my hand.
“Place over your ear, and you will be in the loop for the entire event. You will hear the public commentary and you will hear my instructions. It is like having a tiny Elwa on your shoulder. Nothing will go wrong.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thank me tomorrow morning when all this is done. We will beexhausted, darling. Come. It is time.”
She hustled me toward the door as I affixed the earpiece to my left ear, where it settled in snugly. “What about Abraham?”
We made our way to the private car and private tube that would take us to the gathering.
“Do not worry,” she said. “Everything will be fine.”
And since that wasn’t much of an answer, I figured that no, he hadn’t checked in.
Three soft chimes rang out in my earpiece, and suddenly a flood of music and noise and voices poured out as clearly as if I were standing right in front of them.
I was shuttled, ushered, and hustled into lifts, moving walkways, and a car. Finally, I was left alone in a small private room attached above the arena, waiting for my cue to walk out into the main gathering.
