Greta nods, unperturbed by the other girl’s scorn like always. She flourishes a hand. “I’m an actress.”
“Are you fae at all?” I lift a brow, my curiosity piqued. It’s enough to override my irritation at the sight of the rest of the contestants crowding around my open door. Briony enters and leans against my wall.
Greta winks at me with a starlet’s smile. How did I not recognize the look of a performer when I first saw her? “I will neither confirm nor deny these allegations.”
Vanessa throws her hands in the air with a frustrated groan. Her chaperone, likely realizing her efforts to control her charge are fruitless, slowly backs out of the room. “Am I the only one taking this contest seriously? Am I the only one who truly wants to marry him?”
“I do,” Agnes says in a quiet voice from my doorway. I think it’s the first time I’ve heard her speak. It’s also the first time I noticed she has pointed ears peeking beneath her pale hair coiled in a tight bun at the base of her neck. “My parents joined human society when the isle was unified, but they haven’t much money or status. I have no dowry, so winning a bridal pageant is my only chance at securing a favorable match.”
Josie raises her hand. “I just want to marry anyone. I’m twenty-six, the oldest of four half-fae daughters, and the only one unmarried. I would be honored to find a match in Brother Dorian.”
“Well, I don’t want to marry a damn soul,” Franny says, pushing past the other two girls to fully enter my room. “My parents want me settled down with a man and won’t hear a word against it.”
“Then why are you here?” barks Vanessa.
Franny shrugs. “Hopefully not for long.”
With another groan, Vanessa rounds on Greta again. “And why areyouhere? You’re an actress who’s clearly wealthy.”
Greta lets out a tittering laugh. “No, I’m quite poor.”
“You have two servants!”
“Servants? Oh, you mean my companions? No, they go to school with me. They thought this would be a fun part to play. All my clothes are from the costume department.”
For the first time, I see Greta as a bit of a kindred spirit. Our personalities are different, but we do have something in common. I don’t admit it, though. It’s not like I came here to make friends.
“What school do you attend?” Agnes asks.
“The Borealis School of the Arts,” Greta says. “You know, the performing arts university at the south end of the city. It’s an expensive school and has all but bankrupted my poor mother. Which is why I must marry rich!”
Vanessa burns her with a glare, then slides her gaze to Briony. “And you?”
“I live in a convent. It’s boring. This sounded like more fun.”
“Fun! This is not fun. This is about our futures and matrimony.” Vanessa returns her attention to me, and I pin her with a glare. “Don’t even get me started on you. If you really were a princess, you wouldn’t be here in your shabby clothes trying to marry a human of the brotherhood. You’d be married to a prince, wouldn’t you?”
“Oh, I’d love a prince,” Greta says.
Vanessa ignores the comment. “I don’t believe for a moment that you’re fae or a princess or that you rescued Brother Dorian.”
I cross my arms and lean against the foot of my bed. “Believe whatever you want, it makes no difference to me.”
“Just admit it isn’t true. I know it isn’t! Otherwise, you would have said so. If you truly are fae, then you can state no lie. If you can’t admit you rescued him, then that means it’s untrue.”
I shrug. “You’re already convinced I’m not fae, so what does it matter if I say it or not?”
Briony pushes off from the wall and takes a few steps closer. “I can think of another reason she wouldn’t confess such a thing.”
Vanessa huffs. “Confess? You say it like she’d be punished. If he’s a citizen, it’s not likely to happen, especially considering she’s supposedly a princess.”
“Oh, but I thought you said I wasn’t?” I say with a smirk.
“Ooor,” Briony says, drawing out the word with a note of intrigue, “perhaps heisn’ta citizen.”
Vanessa blinks a few times, her conviction faltering. Still, she lifts her chin and faces the other girl. “He was coming from a mission trip in Isola.”
“Did he ever say that?” Briony asks.
