When the orchestra commenced the first dance of the night, someone tapped my shoulder.
“I’m not dancing,” I said without turning around.
“I didn’t think you would.” Narcissa crossed her arms over the glittering bodice of her white ball gown. An elegant feathered mask covered a quarter of her face, which did little to conceal her stony stare.
“How did you recognize me?” I said, touching my mask again.
“You’re the only one hiding like a criminal,” she said. “And I saw you at the orchestra balcony. Could you be any more careless?”
My brows raised at her words. I hadn’t forgiven her for my time as her scullery maid, but I held back from saying something rude. “Do you have it?” I asked instead.
Narcissa thinned her lips. “No,” she said. “But I will.”
I felt for the flask of unfinished antidote Lana had given me that morning. It sat in the pocket of my dress, weighing as heavily as the duty on my shoulders. “Then hurry up,” I said. “I need it before the ceremony.”
Narcissa glanced at the grandfather clock on the other side of the ballroom. It read half past nine. Only thirty minutes before the Choosing Ceremony and one and a half hours before my disguise wore off. The duchess would not be fooled by a mask that barely covered half my face.
“I told you I will,” she said. “Don’t move too much lest I waste time looking for you.” With that, she swept off, and I was left with the familiar desire to box her face.
I stepped out from under the stairs into the light. The refreshments table was inches away. I took refuge behind the towers of puff pastries and candied pineapple. It was surprisingly crowded due to the attendance of older people whose empty stomachs mattered more to them than appearances.
A gentleman in a phoenix mask picked out a glazed pastry. The thick black hair gave his identity away easily enough, though he was also throwing frequent glances at me. When he eventually meandered next to me, I sighed.
“Yes, it’s me.”
Ash looked relieved. “I thought I was seeing things,” he confessed, scanning my face. “That is amazing!”
I would have gladly explained Ferdinand’s magic if there weren’t more pressing matters at hand. “Is everything ready?” I asked.
He nodded as he chewed on his pastry. “The mentors will make a toast soon—it’s Season tradition. I made sure the duchess’s goblet is coated in the truth potion.”
“Good,” I said, taking a puff pastry for myself. My stomach had been much too knotted for lunch despite Lana and Rowena’s urging to get me to eat something. Only now was I feeling the consequences. “Narcissa is getting the locket.”
Scanning the ballroom again, I spotted Genevieve dancing with Cedric. I smiled, glad that despite the circumstances, my stepsister was enjoying herself. But my survey brought no hint of Narcissa. A seed of doubt planted itself in my brain.
“Don’t worry,” Ash said, noticing my unease. “If she did decide to desert us we still have the truth potion. The duchess has no chance of leaving tonight unscathed.”
But Queen Cordelia’s life depended on that locket.
Minutes ticked by. The duchess was nowhere to be found and neither was Narcissa. I grew tense when the grandfather clock read five minutes to ten. The mentors had not yet gathered before the dais. Eventually, the herald came and whispered something into Ash’s ear.
“I have to go,” Ash said. “The ceremony is starting.”
He left for the dais before I could reply. When he took his seat, I spotted Tori coming toward the refreshments table.
“Tori!” I said when she was close enough. “It’s me.”
She looked up through a sapphire peacock mask. “Amarante?”
We ducked behind a fountain of chocolate. “Remember what you’re supposed to do,” I said in a low voice. “I’m counting on you.”
Tori nodded, sticking a strawberry into the chocolate and popping it into her mouth. “Don’t worry. I got it.”
She swept away just as Queen Cordelia stood.
“Thank you all for coming tonight,” the queen said. “This ball marks the end of the Season, which has been quite eventful, to say the least.” Murmurs went through the crowd as Her Majesty gave a grim smile. “But I hope to end the summer with positivity and hope, mainly, with the Choosing Ceremony.”
A glimpse of a feathery white dress drew my attention to the far archway. Narcissa had entered and oddly enough, with Misty in her arms.
“Many lucky debutantes will be paired with the dashing young gentlemen they have met during the course of these two months. They will be announced and intertwine their bells and ribbons per Olderean tradition...”
Narcissa scanned the crowd, her eyes settling on Duchess Wilhelmina who was standing with Madam Lucille and Lady Hortensia.
“By the end of the ceremony, my eldest son will reveal his choice of a possible bride among the debutantes...”
Cheers went through the ballroom. Narcissa set Misty on the floor.
“...before we commence the ceremony, our mentors would like to say a word about their experiences this Season.”
Narcissa paused and swept her skirts over her cat. I let go of the breath I was holding and looked over to Ash. He looked similarly relieved. I wished he would have remembered that the mentors spoke right before the Choosing Ceremony and not thirty minutes before.
Duchess Wilhelmina and the two other mentors stood before the dais and took the goblets offered to them. The white-blue glow around the duchess’s goblet confirmed that she had the truth potion. My stomach tensed in anticipation.
Lady Hortensia was the first to speak. She praised the debutantes for their beauty and wit and charms and commended the gentlemen as handsome and well-bred. She praised the queen, the duchess, and the courtiers’ generous donation that made
