No one knew about Derrick and I’s letters other than Brietta. I trusted her as my best friend, even though she was from the obscenely wealthy Houseof Elvar.
Unlike every other girl who had arrived at Ashmore by carriage, Brietta came to Hyton in the House of Elvar’s grandest ship bearing their emblem—the mighty sea serpent. She entered Ashmore like a goddess from the legends—robed in the richest purple fabrics and dripping with jewels as she towered over the other students. Even though Headmistress Blackiston forced every girl into the school uniform with no familial adornments allowed, Brietta had already made her mark as a rival to the riches of the House of Hyton. Annalisa was threatened by a rival of any kind, so she cut at Brietta’s self-worth as soon asclasses started.
Annalisa’s jealous ire combined with Brietta’s extremely large stature had made my best friend an instant target of unwanted attention. As the only person in my class who had the nerve to stand up to Annalisa, I had protected Brietta from her cruelty as often asI could.
In exchange, Brietta had helped me with my letters to Derrick. I had sharpened my charming skills to an art in our conversations, but my heart was still too damn stone-cold to return Derrick’s warm and fuzzy prose. Brietta was a swooning romantic, so she whispered lines of her poems in my ear and fluffed up my words asI wrote.
I was too mean and jaded to be romantic and Brietta was too soft and timid to defend herself. We made aperfect pair.
Most importantly, Brietta kept my secret safe. If anyone found out about our forbidden letters, I would be expelled from Ashmore and immediately ineligible to marry under the Duke’s law. My cunning and Brietta’s tight lips were the only defenses preventing me from becoming the property of Duke Hyton if I were kicked outof school.
I had played a dangerous game for the last seven years, but I wasstill careful.
Derrick and I used code names in case anyone intercepted our messages, so he bared the depths of his heart unencumbered by his title. I pretended to do the same, keeping the ugliest parts of myself in an iron cage that he wouldnever unlock.
I kept him as close to me as I could without seeing him. I did not get a single glimpse of him, or any other noble young man, since Derrick left Ravenwood Manor sevenyears ago.
Ashmore was both in theory and presentation an elite institution for the proper upbringing of future wives, but in practice, it was a prison. We were rarely allowed outside of the stone walls unless we were performing chores. If we earned a walk in the sunshine, matrons and guards flanked us with every step.
Derrick’s school was not as strict. The boys of Heaston were even allowed to go home for a summer holiday, but the girls of Ashmore had nosuch privilege.
Mother had mentioned Ashmore used to not be so harsh, but must have cracked down some time after her graduation. Headmistress Blackiston had made clear when we first entered Ashmore, and then branded into our minds by the school matrons, that our chastity was our most valued asset and the Ashmore rules were put in place to keep us pure forour husbands.
The marriage on Selection Night that the men of Heaston and princes around the world paid fortunes for was a bond of magic, forged by Fraleigh, the Great Sorceress of Nordingaard. The magical bond joined the blood and hearts of a man and a woman together for life, keeping both parties free from disease and able to only produce children with one another. The magical blood bond was so strong that when one half of the marriage died, so did the other. The matrons had told us the bond was so special because both suitors and brides had to be chaste at the time of the bond, keeping their blood pure forthe magic.
The answer to keeping both parties pure from intimate knowledge of each other, apparently, was placing only the women under lock-and-key forseven years.
Since the virginity prison we were housed in never allowed us to go home, our families visited us on select days. The three girls eligible to become the next Duchess waited anxiously for the entire royal family to visit Annalisa, but we had to stifle our disappointment when only the Duchess showed up each time. Derrick had told me his father forbade him from taking trips to Ashmore, but I foolishly got my hopes up whenever Annalisa mentioned afamily visit.
Even though I had dreamed of those beautiful blue eyes for seven years, my stomach clenched at the thought of seeing him again. Derrick had made clear that he carried a deep affection for me in his letters, but he had not seen me since I had grown intoa woman.
He would be disappointed that I had not grown any taller. Not only was I the smallest of all the Seniors, I was even shorter than the teenage first-years. Although I was the same size as a child, no one could mistake me for one—my cheekbones were sharp as a knife’s edge, my nose was long and pointed, and my eyes were intimidating instead of pretty. I was not classically beautiful like Annalisa nor did I have a warm and gentle face like Brietta. I looked, as Annalisa had pointed out while we were embroidering, like a “tiny troll.”
“Brie,” I whispered, “what if he thinks I am ugly and chooses Dinahor Camille?”
Brietta scrunched up her nose. “Why would he think youare ugly?”
I clenched my fists. “What if he is expecting someone not as scrawny or small? What if he has been picturing a Serafina with rounder cheeks, a smaller nose, fuller lips,and larger—”
“Sera, stop!” Brietta interjected, placing both her hands on my shoulders. “Look, I understand why you are nervous. Even though the suitors get reports of our accomplishments and skill proficiencies, they really choose us based on how we look at the Suitors’ Ball andthe Presentation.”
My mouth went dry. The Suitors’ Ball was the next day—when suitors and brides were supposed to meet for the first time before Selection Night. I had practiced my dance steps for weeks to make sure my dance with Derrick would be perfect, but nothing could prepare me for the Presentation.
I picked at the sleeve of my nightgown as I pictured entering the Duke’s ballroom, arm-in-arm with Father, and promenading in front of all the suitors and all the nobility of Lycaster. The Presentation was the grandest and most important two minutes of my life, but it was still just the opening of an auction. If Derrick did not select me after he saw me at the Presentation, the other three suitors would fight for what was left ofmy dignity.
Brietta’s thumbs stroked my shoulders and she lowered her head so her big brown eyes met mine. “You should not worry about how you look. I have read Lord Hyton’s words over the years. He is in lovewith you.”
My heart thumped with a little triumph, but I was not convinced. Brietta was the one sprinkling romance in my letters like rose petals, maybe she was imagining a faerie tale that did not exist. “How canyou tell?”
“Come on, Sera,” she said with a smile. “He tells you that you are all he thinks about, he asks you about your studies, hell, he even mentioned you as the future Duchess a few times! When you hold a parchment with his words, you have his whole heart in your hands. The mere fact that he paid the school guards to deliver and receive letters in secret all these years isproof enough!”
Half of me wanted to believe that my plan had worked and Derrick was in love with me, but the other half remained cynical. He could very well pretend to show love in his letters because I had pretended with him all along. I had lied, but I had to become Duchess and secure Ravenwood. Nomatter what.
Brietta playfully shoved my arm. “Besides, you are too critical of your looks. Trust me, men want to marry a small woman they can pick up and twirl on the dance floor with ease. You have dainty hands, the sun’s rays in your eyes, and sleek hair. You may be small, but you have such strong features that no one would ever think youwere weak.”
I looked down at my supposedly dainty hands and smiled softly. Brietta was much too kind for a place like Hyton where everyone only looked outfor themselves.
Brietta smiled back. “Frankly,heshould worry about seeingyou.Do you remember what his father looks like? Lord Hyton could also have ruddy cheeks and a belly full of liquor for allyou know.”
