30
When the first issueof the fashion magazineBlanchecame out, it was all the ladies in the streets below my room could talk about.
Wrapped in a threadbare blanket, I shuffled to my small window and peered down.A group of girls were gathered beneath pastel parasols frosted with white lace, resembling a collection of pastries.
“Have you seen this issue?They say this will be the design of Lady Narcissa’s wedding dress!”
“Oh, it is lovely!”another exclaimed.
“Do you think it’s true?I thought the royal seamstress was Jeraldine, not this Giselle Phula,” their companion said.
“It’s Blanche de Clare’s magazine.Surely it’s true!”
“Then I must have a gown made in this style immediately.It’ll be all the rage next Season, I’m sure of it!”
“Oh look!Here’s the announcement for Mr.Edmund de Clare and the heiress Miss Elizabeth Summer’s wedding.It’s set to be in April.A spring wedding!Must be the new fashion.”
“Good riddance, their engagement has lasted obscenely long!I’m surprised Miss Summers tolerated it.”
“As am I.A prolonged engagement is practically the equivalent of snubbing!”
“I’d tolerate a great deal if my fiancé were as handsome as Mr.Edmund de Clare.”
The ladies burst into an explosion of giggles.
I stuck my head out the window.“Hey!”
One of the ladies lowered her parasol and gaped up at me, the copy ofBlanchein her gloved hand.“Good heavens, what isthat?”she shrieked.
I scowled at her.I was well aware of the horrendously dark bags beneath my eyes, but still, there was no need to be rude.“Toss me up a copy, will you?”
She and her companions squealed and ran off in a flurry of lacey petticoats, dropping the magazine onto the sidewalk.Rolling my eyes, I reached a hand out, levitating the abandoned magazine with my magic.It sailed into my second story window.I grasped the papers, my heart sinking when I set my eyes on the illustration on the second spread.
It was my exact design for Narcissa’s wedding dress, from the silhouette down to the pattern on the crocheted lace.Beside it was an illustration of a jewelry set—the same set Crown Prince Bennett had ordered from Blanche de Clare specifically for the wedding!All of it, exposed before the bride could even wear it herself!Did Edmund mean to get back at me even if it meant humiliating the future crown princess?
Clenching my jaw, I turned the page.My interview was on it.He hadn’t tampered with that, at the very least, but I still cringed at my own words looking back at me, so cheery and optimistic.He didn’t need to change anything to humiliate me.
Beside it, in a little ornate box, was the wedding announcement.Mr.Edmund de Clare was to wed Miss Elizabeth Summers in five months after a year-long engagement.
He had been engaged all this time, yet he had stared at me with those eyes, had held my hands and asked me to dance, and even had the gall to offer a kiss!At this thought, all sorts of epithets came to mind, and I had the sudden urge to strangle something.
Instead, I hurled the magazine back out the window where it landed with a muted thump, ducking back inside to pace the cracked wooden floorboards of my cramped room, fuming.
Edmund had leaked my design in retaliation, no doubt.The spiteful man.I was very, very glad that Maddox had come with me the other night—and that I had the satisfaction of hearing Edmund’s perfect nose crunch and seeing him doubled over in agony just before Maddox and I fled down the stairs before he called for security.I reveled in this fiercely, then sank into my creaky bed as the righteous indignation drained from my limbs.
Even though Edmund had no association with The Crown, he had helped the rotten organization win in a significant way—by completely demoralizing a witch with aboveground business ventures and thoroughly humiliating her.My story would become a warning paranoid witches like Ma and Beatrice would use to discourage their children from leaving Witch Village, which was exactly what The Crown wanted.
Look!This is what becomes of witches who dare to dream in this kingdom.This is what becomes of witches who dare to reclaim their space aboveground.All that trouble!You had better stay in the village.
Moaning into my hands, I sprawled over my satchel.Narcissa would be expecting another wedding dress fitting, but now I had nothing to show her.My design was unusable.I had to start from scratch...again.
It was like I was never meant to sew this dress to begin with.
