“Vanya, you’re the only one I talk to. If you haven’t told me, then I haven’t heard of it.”
She rolled her eyes and scooted toward me, pointing to the embossed symbol on the blank piece of paper. “See these? They’re twined roses. That’s the symbol for Thorn and Key. This is just a stamp, but in their real symbol, you can tell one rose is really a silver key.”
“How do you know all this?” I said.
Vanya blushed. “Being royalty has its advantages.”
I snorted. “I’m sure it does. So how do we know this is an invitation to some sort of race, and where did you get it?”
“It was inside my book in the common room, the one I’d left down there on the table last night. I left it there on purpose. Prescott’s older brother tipped me off that if I wanted an invitation, I should leave something of mine sitting around that was easy to access.”
“Did he now?” I said, hiding a small smile. Prescott’s brother was a second year, bonded to a gorgeous pearl-colored female we’d seen doing elaborate acrobatics over the training yard a couple of times.
“But I get to pick someone to come with me. And I pick you.”
“Thanks,” I said, setting the letter aside. “How do you know they’ll let you bring someone?”
“Flip it over.”
I flipped over the piece of paper. I still didn’t see any words. She held it up to the window, and there was a watermark on the paper that could only be seen when it was against the light.
Midnight tonightwas written with a watermark. Beneath it, the wordsBring a friend.“Watermarks? Really?”
“I'm telling you, the people here have no end to their resources.”
“So says the royal,” I retorted.
“So are you coming?”
I remembered Covington’s words. My body slumped slightly at the thought of another night without much rest. “Sleep is for the dead, right?”
Vanya squealed and clapped her hands. “Well, you’re not wearing that.”
“Why not?” I said, glancing down at my school uniform.
Vanya clicked her tongue and walked to her wardrobe, flinging it wide open.
“I have other clothes,” I grumbled.
Holding her wardrobe doors open, she glanced over her shoulder, one hip cocked to the side. “Honey, what you have are clothes. What you need is an outfit.” She dove into her wardrobe and came out holding a dark evening dress. “This one might fit you.” She held it toward me. “With a little tweaking.”
“It’s cold,” I said, eyeing the dress.
“Who cares if it’s cold?” She eyed me with an expression that saidI dare you to argue.
At eleven p.m., Vanya peeked out our door, glanced both ways down the hall, then ushered me out of our room. We tiptoed down the hall, down the flight of stairs, and slipped from the school into the chilly night. Vanya’s dark blue dress hadn’t fit, not even with some tweaking. She was shorter than me, her hips wider, and the bodice was simply too short for my long torso. Even with the more daring necklines of evening dresses, hers was not an option. So, despite her disappointment, I wore my only dinner dress, which was a few years out of fashion and much bulkier than Vanya’s.
“You look marvelous, dear,” she’d told me, but I didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on the high neckline, the poofy sleeves.
In my head, I chided Fairfax for overlooking my need for a proper dinner dress. I couldn't exactly tell him I needed one for an illegal night race.
Vanya had given me one of her long ruffled dusters, which I wrapped eagerly around my shoulders before we exited the common room into the school’s courtyard. It hid most of the dress, anyway.
“One of the things about the night races,” she said as we hurried across the courtyard, “is that if you’re caught by the police, you’re never invited again.”
“Makes sense,” I said with a shrug, “considering these are illegal.”
“You want to go, don't you?”
