Willa, on the other hand, had that snobby look as if she were simultaneously bored and pissed off. She was a waif of a girl with light brown waves that fell neatly down her back, and she wore an anklet covered in diamonds. When she shook my hand, I could tell that her smile was at least sincere, making me hate her a little less.
Now that they had arrived, we adjourned to the dining room for supper. Willa attempted to engage Tove in conversation as we walked into the other room, but he remained completely silent.
Finn pulled my chair out for me before I sat down, and I enjoyed it since I couldn’t remember a single time that anyone had ever done that for me. He waited until everyone was sitting before taking a seat himself, and this deference would be the standard for the evening.
As long as at least one person was standing, so would Finn. He was always the first to his feet, and even though the chef and a butler were on staff tonight, Finn would offer to get anyone anything they needed.
The dinner dragged on much more slowly than I had imagined it could. Since I wore white, I barely ate out of fear of spilling anything on my dress. I had never felt so judged in my entire life. I could feel Aurora and Elora waiting for me to screw up so they could pounce, but I wasn’t sure how either of them would benefit from my failure.
I could tell that on several occasions Garrett tried to lighten the mood, but his attempts were rebuffed by Aurora and Elora, who dominated the conversation. The rest of us rarely spoke.
Tove stirred his soup a lot, and I became mildly hypnotized by that. He’d let go of his spoon, but it kept swirling around the bowl, stirring the soup without any hand to guide it. I must have started to gape because I felt Finn gently kick me under the table, and I quickly dropped my eyes back to my own food.
“It is so nice to have you here,” Garrett told me at one point, changing the entire topic of conversation. “How do you like the palace so far?”
“Oh, it is not a palace, Garrett,” said Elora with a laugh. It wasn’t a real laugh, though. It was the kind of laugh rich people use whenever they talk about new money people. Aurora tittered right along with it, and that quieted Elora down somehow.
“You’re right. It’s better than a palace,” Garrett said, and Elora smiled demurely.
“I like it. It’s very nice.” I knew I was making bland conversation, but I was afraid to elaborate more.
“Are you adjusting here all right?” Garrett asked.
“Yes, I think so,” I said. “I haven’t been here that long, though.”
“It does take time.” Garrett looked at Willa with affectionate concern. His easy smile returned quickly and he nodded at Finn. “But you’ve got Finn there to help you. He’s an expert at helping the changelings acclimate.”
“I’m not an expert at anything,” Finn said quietly. “I just do my job the best I can.”
“Have you had a designer come over to make the dress yet?” Aurora asked Elora, taking a polite sip of wine. It had been a minute since she’d last spoken, so it was time for her to assert herself once more in the conversation. “That dress the Princess has on is very lovely, but I can’t imagine that it was made specifically for her.”
“No, it was not.” Elora gave her a plastic smile and cast a very small but very distinct glare at my dress. Until just that second it had felt like the most beautiful thing I had ever worn. “The tailor is set to come over early next week.”
“That is cutting it a bit short for next Saturday, isn’t it?” Aurora questioned, and I could see Elora bristling just below the surface of her perfect smile. “That’s just over a week away.”
“Not at all,” Elora said in an overly soothing tone, almost as if she were talking to a small child or a Pomeranian. “I am using Frederique Von Ellsin, the same one who designed Willa’s gown. He works very quickly, and his gowns are always impeccable.”
“My gown was divine,” Willa interjected.
“Ah, yes.” Aurora allowed herself to look impressed. “We have him on reserve for when our daughter comes home next spring. He’s much harder to get then, since that is the busy season for when the children return.”
There was something vaguely condescending in her voice, as if we had done something tacky by having me arrive here when I did. Elora kept on smiling, despite what I now realized was a steady stream of polite barbs from Aurora.
“That is one major benefit of having the Princess come home in the fall,” Aurora continued, her words only getting more patronizing as she spoke. “Everything will be so much easier to book. When Tove came home last season, it was so difficult to get everything just right. I suppose you’ll have everything you want on hand. That should make for a stunning ball.”
Several things were setting off alarms in my head. First, they were talking about both me and Tove as if we weren’t even there, although he didn’t seem to notice or care about anything going on around him.