Even though I had given the burgundy dress an ornate flair, the dress was dark enough and the design was simple enough that I could disappear into the crowd. Hopefully I would blend in so well that my half-giant husband would notfind me.
The maids quickly dressed me. Mother had sent the last of the family jewels—an amethyst pendant on a silver chain and a black choker inlaid with a large onyx. Grateful for another choker, I tied it around my neck to hide the purple marks still onmy skin.
I glanced at my reflection in a mirror and my face fell. All the work I had put into the dress still did not give me the elegant, noble glow I had ached to achieve. I might have wanted to look plain, but I did not want tofeelplain. Disappointment seeped down my body likea disease.
The maids led me from the dressing room through the labyrinthine palace to a grand dining room where Annalisa sat at the head of the table.
Annalisa looked down her nose at me, but I cooly brushed her off. Her invitation to dinner with the rest of the girls in our class was a silent agreement to never speak of our scuffle before the Presentation, and I was happyto oblige.
Annalisa wore a long-sleeved silver dress—the closest color to Thornebow grey she could possibly bear—the same sparkling diamond tiara she wore to the Presentation, and a thick bejeweled choker. I suppressed a smile as soon as I saw the choker, knowing Annalisa was likely hiding a “bee sting” just likeI was.
Dinah in Amberfield yellow and Camille in Pebblebrooke sky blue sat on either side of her, each wearing glittering headpiecesand bracelets.
Annalisa examined my simple outfit with a scowl as I sat down next to sparkling Camille. Her disapproval was cutting, but a good sign. If Annalisa thought I was plain as a peasant, I was unremarkable enough to hide inthe crowd.
Brietta entered the dining room. Her loose auburn waves glowed in the candlelight. She wore a simple but elegant sapphire tiara in her hair and a matching pendant necklace that rested on top of her large, half-exposed bosom. Her rich, deep blue dress signaled she was indeed a Hyton, at least for the nextfew weeks.
“Stand up when Lady Hyton enters the room!” Annalisa ordered as she rose from the table. The rest of us followed. “I swear, had I not gone to school with all of you, I would think you had noetiquette training!”
Brietta crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I do not want you to standfor me.”
Annalisa rolled her eyes and took her seat. “It is not aboutyou,it is about respect for the Houseof Hyton.”
Brietta took her seat next to Dinah, sitting across the table from me. The servants entered the room and filled our goblets with wine and served us plates ofsteaming beef.
“So we all know I had a successful first night,” Annalisa said smugly before taking a sip from her goblet. “What aboutyou Camille?”
“Oh,” Camille said, looking down at her plate, “I did not have the courage to be, um,intimatelast night. Sir Pebblebrooke went to sleep, but I stayed awake until very early this morning because I wasso nervous.”
“Too bad,” Annalisa said, her voice dripping with wicked pride. “What aboutyou, Dinah?”
Dinah swallowed her gulp of wine. “I would have been fine with intimacy, it was poor Sir Amberfield who had trouble. He started crying as soon as he unlaced my bodice and did not stop foran hour!”
“Oh my,” Annalisa said in a mock-caring voice. “I guess he was too afraid to perform. He was so clumsy at the Suitors’ Ball, I could not imagine how inept he is inthe bedroom.”
“Well, he had better figure it out,” Dinah grumbled. She took another sip of wine. “I am not bearing the shame of an annulment just because he is nervousaround women!”
Brietta and I glanced at each other. The beef was drier than normal in my throat as I tried to swallow, but Brietta gave me a reassuring look. What a shame that she would never marry again after her annulment. I suddenly lost my appetite at the thought. I hated that Riyan selected me and ruinedBrietta’s life.
Annalisa leaned onto her folded hands and flashed a feline smile. “We know nothing happened between you and my brother, Brietta. I am sure we will never hear the end of it when it does happen, but I must thank you for sparing me at least one day of thatdisgusting drivel.”
Brietta narrowed her brown eyes at the Duke’s daughter. “You arequite welcome.”
Annalisa turned to me. “And, Sera, I am certainly glad you avoided the clutches of the half-giant, at least for now. I hope he does not end up breaking youin half.”
“Thank you, Anna,” I said dryly. I rolled my eyes and tipped back my wine goblet, finishing up the contents ofthe cup.
After she finished interrogating the table about our lack of sex, Annalisa went into detail about her first night. I lost myself in the metallic world of my goblet as she spun her tale. The words “passionate” and “could not help himself” hit my ears, but I focused on putting as much wine past my lips as I could. The only silver lining to my chaotic day was that I could have all the wine I wanted now that I was outof Ashmore.
Maybe the wine would flush out the memory of bloody Derrick on the floor and the Duke’scruel threats.
As the wine disappeared down my throat, my shoulders eased and my throat unclenched. Annalisa prattled on as I floated on my fluffy cloud of bliss, getting a taste of peaceat last.
We all sat on blue and purple couches in the same sitting room we were held in after the Presentation as we waited for our husbands to arrive. We raised our empty goblets to servants who dutifully ensured we never thirsted for more thana second.
I lazily traced the rim of my goblet as I sat half-melted next to Brietta on a couch. Dinah and Camille chatted brightly about their new husbands as they drank. Annalisa interjected into their conversation over and over, asserting that her new husband was the best catchof all.
Brietta rolled her eyes as soon as Annalisa began regaling her own version of her war-hero husband’s victorious battle. She swirled her goblet and made a small vortex inside the deep red wine. “You know, I have never had a full goblet of wine before tonight, and now I am on my third and starting to feel a little brave. I have half a mind to go over there and smack Annalisa myself if she does not shut upabout Grigory.”
