“Adelaide,” I corrected. “If we’re going to pull this off, you must call me that. No more titles.”
“Well, then, Adelaide, let me give you some advice. Don’t be too good at anything—you don’t want to attract extra attention. Think twice before you correct someone, even if it’s Clara.” His tone as he said her name made me think he hadn’t actually minded my putting her in her place. “And above all, watch the other girls. Watch their mannerisms. Listen to the way they talk. Every little detail. One slip, and both our lives will be ruined. You’ll give yourself away in ways you don’t even realize.”
At those words, I had a sudden flash of how I’d already messed up in the last twenty-four hours. The carriage door. The tart. The cosmetics lecture. And yes, the hair.
You’ll give yourself away in ways you don’t even realize.
“I won’t,” I said fiercely. “I’ll do this—you’ll see. I’ll do all the right things. I’ll get a dozen Adorian offers and land you the biggest commission of them all.”
“No—don’t stand out.” He paused, and a hint of that earlier flirty smile resurfaced. “Well, as much as you can help it.”
“You said you’ve got a lot depending on this. What is there? More than the commission?”
He grew sober again. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just get to Adoria without being discovered, and we both might survive this.” He glanced around. “We need to go. We’re going to be missed.”
I thought about the harsh way Jasper had spoken to him, the way he’d dismissed Cedric’s efforts. A wise part of me knew better than to comment on that. Instead I asked, “Any other words of wisdom before you leave?”
He turned back, looking me over in that way that felt oddly personal. But it didn’t unsettle me as much this time. Neither did our proximity. “Yes,” he said. He reached forward and wound one of my curls around his fingers, inadvertently brushing my cheek in the process. “Do something about this hair. Mess it up. Tie it back. Anything to make you a little more disheveled and less like you’re being presented at court.”
I lifted my chin. “First, this isn’t a court style—which you’d know, if you’d spent any time with the old nobility. And second, I can mess up as many etiquette lessons as you like . . . but disheveled? I don’t know if I can do that.”
The smile returned, warmer and wider than before. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.” He sketched me a bow, almost a caricature of the one he’d given at our first meeting. “Until next time, my—Adelaide.”
He turned and, after a quick check around the corner, walked back down the great hall. I waited an appropriate amount of time and did the same. I’d hoped to catch a glimpse of him, but he was already out of sight. It was just as well. Putting him from my mind, I climbed the staircase up to my new life in the Glittering Court.
Chapter 5
I returned to my room, not entirely sure what to expect. I was still shaking from the encounter with Cedric, how close I’d been to everything falling apart around me. Taking a deep breath, I threw my shoulders back and pushed the door open.
Calm and silence met me. My two roommates were each sitting on their respective beds. Mira’s knees were drawn up to her, creating a makeshift desk as she read a battered book. Tamsin sat cross-legged, furiously writing what looked like a letter. Seeing me, she quickly folded the paper up. I didn’t know if it was coincidence or not, but the beds they’d chosen were opposite each other in the room.
“I hope you don’t mind the bed by the window,” Mira said. “Tamsin was worried it’d be bad for her complexion.”
Tamsin lightly touched her cheek. “You have no idea what sunlight can do to freckles. But that doesn’t matter right now. What happened downstairs? They didn’t kick you out, did they?”
I sat down on the edge of the bed between theirs, the one that agitated freckles. “Not yet.” I nearly said that Mistress Masterson hadn’t chastised me at all but then thought better of it, lest I have to explain what I’d really been doing. “Just a, uh, stern talking-to.”
“Well, you’re lucky,” said Tamsin. “But this kind of changes everything. I’m not sure what to do about you now.”
It took me a moment to follow. “Are you chastising me too?”
“No. I mean, yes. I don’t know. But I’m not sure if being associated with two troublemakers is going to help me around here.”
Mira looked startled. “What did I do?”
“Nothing yet.” Tamsin almost seemed chagrined. “But you saw how it was down there after just five minutes. People like Clara aren’t going to let up on you.”
“So you want to be associated with someone like Clara?” I asked.
“Hell no. But I’ve got to plan my strategy here. I can’t fail.” There was the slightest tremor in her voice at that last part—vulnerability, more than arrogance. Mira caught it too.