“Bossy as well as condescending,” he murmured. “Just as well I love your body.”
She snorted and lightly smacked the back of his head. As their footsteps disappeared down the walkway, I stripped off, stowed my blaster and knife in my locker, and then headed into the bathroom. But a long, hot shower did nothing to shake the certainty that something beyond my comprehension was happening. I felt like a pawn in a game of chess, one where the players were hidden and I had no idea who were the white pieces and who were black.
Sleep was slow in coming, and once again haunted by the wind, although if she trying to warn me about something, it remained unclear.
The following morning another courier intercepted my path back to the bunkhouse, although this time he was clad in dark green that was shot with gold. Not the Rossi but still a ruling house, I suspected.
“Neve March,” he said, with a slight bow. “I have a parcel for you.”
Said parcel was gorgeously wrapped in pale gold silk. I touched it, briefly and in awe, and then jerked my hand away lest the rough skin on my fingertips catch the material. “Are you sure it’s for me?”
“Yes.”
“But who would be sending me such a thing? What house wears these colors?”
“There’s a letter inside, Miss March. That’s all I am allowed to say.”
It was a statement that raised a whole lot more questions but I reluctantly accepted the parcel. The courier bowed again and walked off.
“For freedom’s sake, what is it this time?” April said, as I walked into our room.
“A present of some kind.” I stopped at my bunk and sat down.
Ava perched beside me and ran her fingers carefully across the top of it. “The material is as fine as I’ve ever seen. Who sent it? The Rossis?”
I shook my head. “It’s not their colors.”
“Then whose?”
“I don’t know.”
“And won’t until you open the thing,” April said, ever practical.
I hesitated, then flipped the parcel over and carefully undid the ties holding it together. The golden material fell away to reveal a dress—a dress that was pale lavender gray, the same color as my stains and had obviously been designed to blend with them. Underneath it was a mask in the same color but intricately patterned with a deep gold, and a silk belt that had the same colors, but ended in a knot of deep green. The same color, I thought, that the courier had worn.
“Oh my,” Ava whispered. “That’s beautiful.”
Yes, it was, and even as I placed the dress carefully to one side and picked up the note underneath the mask, I suspected who’d sent it.
From one reluctant participant to another, the note said. Your carriage will be waiting at seven tonight.
Ava frowned at the note. “That’s rather cryptic, isn’t it?”
“Not to the man who sent it.”
“Does that man have a name?” April asked. “Or are we expected to beg for such morsels?”
I screwed up the note and tossed it at him. “Idiot.”
“That is no answer but a fact,” Ava commented. “Give, sister.”
I drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “I believe the dress comes from Trey Stone.”
“My, my, you are walking in exalted circles these days, aren’t you?” April said. “Care to direct a little highfaluting tail my way sometime?”
“It’s not as if I’ve gotten any such tail, so it’s unlikely I’ll be able to cast any your way.”
“So, if you’re not getting any, why would the firstborn son of a ruling house be sending you a dress?”
Trey was the firstborn? Then why on earth was he at Blacklake, let alone its commander? “Because he’s the prime at Blacklake, and was involved in Saska’s recovery. If this note is to be believed, he’s been ordered to this shindig and is just as reluctant as me.”
“I can’t believe that,” April said. “Although it is rather odd for a firstborn son to be sent to an outpost in any capacity. Those in the upper class usually avoid real work like the plague.”
I placed the mask on the bed then rose and gingerly draped the dress against my body. It was an off-the-shoulder design, with a full sleeve to cover my stained and scarred left arm while leaving my right arm and shoulder exposed. The swooping material barely covered my breasts, and the left side of the long skirt was slit to my hip. Every move I made would reveal plenty of unstained leg while hiding the other. The silky soft, translucent material would skim my body beautifully, emphasizing my curves while—via discreetly placed panels—leaving me some modesty.
“They’ll think they’re in a presence of a goddess,” Ava murmured, eyes shining with appreciation.
“Only if you’re there with me.”
She snorted. “If you don’t come away with a generous patron after this, I’ll eat my helmet.”
“I don’t want a patron, in any capacity.”
She smacked my leg. “Don’t be an idiot. You can’t be a Nightwatch forever. What are you going to do when retirement beckons?”
I thought of the bracelet in my locker and smiled. “Buy myself a small allotment far away from Winterborne. I might even invite you two along, if you promise to behave.”
“I’ll certainly visit if you do achieve such an aim,” Ava said, “but I, for one, intend to end my days living a higher lifestyle.”
“Which is why you’re currently fooling around with a cook on your days off,” April commented. “That makes perfectly good sense.”
Ava shot him a look that would have put a lesser man well and truly in his place. April merely grinned.
“That cook is about to take up a position in the Fisk house as junior patissier,” she said with a sweetness that belied the ice in her eyes. “As his current bedmate, I will be given visiting access into the Lower Reaches and therefore be in full view of the non-ruling houses who inhabit that place. How hard do you think it’ll be to attract their attention once I set my mind to it?”
“You, my dear, are a schemer,” April said. “It makes me so proud.”
She snorted. “Yes, because you have such a long history of successful schemes behind you.”
“You cannot win if you do not first lose, my sweet.”
Ava blinked. “That sounded almost… philosophical.”
He grinned. “I know. Amazing, right?”
She shook her head and then returned her gaze to me—or rather, to my hair. “What are you going to do with this?” She brushed her fingers through the short, wavy strands, her expression thoughtful.
I shrugged. “There’s nothing that can be done with it.”
“You could get some of those color fudges the unlit teenagers in state care have been using of late,” April said. “A streak or two of gold would look quite pretty.”
“That,” Ava said, glancing at him incredulously, “is a damn good idea. Off you go.”
“What about sleep? And sex?”
“The former can happen after we’ve got the supplies to gussy up our girl for tonight,” she said. “As for the latter, I’ll book a double period for the coupling room for us tomorrow morning.”
“Ha! Done deal.” He departed, whistling cheerfully.
“Whoever that man eventually falls for is going to be one lucky person,” Ava murmured. Her gaze returned to mine, and the amusement in her dark eyes faded. “Are you okay?”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I’m scared out of my tiny little mind—not so much by the thought that I’ll be treated as some sort of novelty or freak, but by whatever is coming.”
She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and hugged me gently. “It is not as if the wind has often spoken truly to you,” she said. “It is more than likely she merely teases now.”
“I know.” Just as I knew she wasn’t teasing, and that her fears were as real as mine.
“Then stop with this nonsense, ignore the wind, and try to get some sleep today.” She pulled back and brushed some stray strands of hair from my eyes. “You can’t be having shadows under your eyes at such a fancy shindig.”
A smile teased my lips. “It doesn’t matter if I do, because they won’t see them thanks to the mask.”