“I-I’m speaking,” I muttered.
“Come again?” He cocked his head.
“I’m speaking. You said speak now or forever hold my peace.”
“What?”
“I do not wish to ride with you. Good night, Mr. Evergreen,” I said, retreating into the foyer. “I wish you well.”
He asked me to wait, but there was no power in the world to stop me from my flight. The moment I turned the corner, I ran.
“Cyrus Evergreen,”I muttered. “What astupidname!”
Chapter 20
Islept horrifically, and when morning arrived, it was without relief from my sour air. I had been but a second away from agreeing to ride all summer with Mr. Evergreen, but he was an absolute scoundrel, and I refused to let myself forget my ignorance. I promised to avoid him for the rest of my life.
Yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he tended to me after the rain. I wandered through a fantasy or two of his hands in my hair— the way they’d cleared the dampness of my despair and?—
“Ugh!” I cried, slamming the middle drawer of my desk shut.
“Miss?” Josie asked. Her eyes were wide, but she withheld from furthering the question.
“Where are my ribbons?” I asked.
She touched the hood of my jewelry box. “Ser Willoughby placed them here.”
“Of course he did. See? This. This is exactly why I don’t like him. People are so…frustrating! Assuming. Rude. Ridiculouslyhandsome, and-!”
“You think Ser Willoughby is ridiculously handsome?” she asked.
“Ew, what?”
“You just said you didn’t like Ser Willoughby because people are ridiculously handsome,” she said. “Do you think Ser Willoughby is handsome?”
“No,” I said, cringing. I opened the box and pulled loose the cord I wanted, fastening it into my braid. “That was not what I said.”
“Did you notinstructhim to place them there, Your Highness?” she asked.
“Place what, where?”
Josie paused. “Are you alright?”
I paced from the mirror to the other side of the room, then back. “I’m perfectly fine, thanks,” I said.
Ser Elías was at the door.
“Are you well, Svana?” he asked, tracking me as I traveled a third time. He closed the door. “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for my shoes,” I told him. “What? Are you co-writing a book?” I asked.
They shared a look.
“Really,” I told them. “I’m sure I left them by the bed.”
“Are you speaking of the ivory ones?” Josie asked.
I nodded, and she retrieved them from the bottom of the armoire.
