Chapter 13 Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Chapter 13
Vivian
That afternoon, the dress arrived.

What the maid brought wasn’t just a garment. What Bess brought was a statement of intent. When Bess unveiled it, I stifled a gasp.

The gown was constructed of silver tissue, so fine that it seemed to shimmer with it’s own light. I’d never seen a material so reverent in my life.

The bodice was encrusted with tiny diamonds and seed pearls that caught the light of the sun. It was ethereal, beautiful and utterly suffocating.

“You will look like a goddess, Miss,” Bess beamed, that twinkle of surprise in her eyes. “There will not be a soul who shall take their eyes off you today.”

I took a step forward and felt the fabric, my hand travelling to the skirt region when my hand caught on something hidden beneath the folds of the skirt.

As I tried to pull it out, a small stiff piece of paper fell to the floor.

Bess was already curious at what I was looking for, so I took a conscious step forward, covering the piece of paper with the skirt of my dress before Bess could notice.

“I think I should like to rest before the fittings, Bess,” I said, wearing a small grimace. “The storm was… quite taxing.”

“Surely, Miss,” the maid responded and disappeared through the door.

I listened to the tick of the clock in the room for a moment, before I took a step back and picked the paper, turning over to see the message.

Unlike the formal invitation the butler brought earlier, this was written on scrap paper, the edges charred with burns.

“He knows you seek the mirror. He has moved it to the one place you cannot enter without his key. But the Duke is not the only master of this house. At the stroke of midnight, when the dancers are most blind, seek the woman in the red hood near the maze. She hold the thread to Madame Delacriox.”

The stakes looked visible now, and my heart raced.

Like a laid out hand of cards, Adrian played the part of the devoted protector, moving the mirror to keep me safe.

He may think that the shadow faction within the house, or perhaps within the village was moving against him.

For the next two days, I practiced my curtsies with the help of the tutor that Adrian invited until my back hurt and my knees ached.

The angry tutor, who seemed to be angry about something else other than tutoring me, taught me how to tilt my head just so, to fan myself with a languid indifference of a woman who had never beheld an internal combustion engine or a smartphone.

On some of the days, Adrian would come to watch, attentive, almost gallantly so, with that ducal indifference he had about him. This time, there was a new edge to his presence.

On some occasions, he would deliberately cut the training, causing the tutor to grunt.

I heard the grunt, but I wouldn’t reveal such, partly because I didn’t want the woman to incur Adrian’s anger according to the law.

Today was one of those unique days. He took me on a walk across the gardens, his hands stayed firmly on my elbow. When we dined, his conversations were a minefield of double meanings.

“You seem… contemplative, Miss Vivian,” he remarked. His voice was as usual, smooth as aged brandy. “One might think you are planning a grand performance for our guests.”

“I am merely nervous, Your Grace,” I replied, my eyes on my hands. “A masquerade is a daunting prospect for a simple woman from the colonies.”

“A simple woman,” he repeated, his eyes glinting.

“You have never been simple, Vivian. You are a chaotic distraction. A beautiful, chaotic tear in the fabric of my world. I find myself wondering… if the mask will hide you from me, or if it will finally show me what you’re truly hiding.”

He leaned in, that smell of lavender, this time with the faint musk of the wood surrounding me.

“Whatever you seek at the stroke of midnight, remember this. I am the master of these lands. There is no corner of this estate where my shadow does not reach.”

I stiffened, but I didn’t let him notice. He knew about the stroke of midnight.

Hell, he might even know about the note. I avoided his gaze.

My jaw clenched on instinct, a defiance I knew that no manner of Regency tutoring would erase setting in.

“It is a good thing then,” I started. “That shadows cannot exist without a light. And I suspect that tomorrow night, there will be enough light to reveal exactly who we both are.”

Adrian’s smile was extremely chilling. A baring of teeth that was almost a caress.

“We shall see, Miss Vivian. We shall see.”

I spent some more time in his company, and the regency tutor had to retire for the day.

When the day was finally over and I retired to my room that night, the ticking clock in the hall seemed to accelerate.

The Blood moon was coming. I knew that.

The masquerade was the gateway. That, I also knew.

I had my dress, my mask, a black twist with traces of silver and gold, and my secret.

My eyes landed on the mask on the table furthest away from me in my room. I frowned.

Then it hit me. My gaze darted back to the silver dress, hanging in the moonlight.

The revelation Adrian promised me might be the one I wasn’t prepared to face.

The truth was that a part of me never wanted to leave Adrian’s side at all. I sank back into the pillows, still staring at the dress, my heart beat seeming to increase, until I slept off.

When the next day came, I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping I never get to this point, but I have. I had to make a choice, and I had to make that choice fast.

Choosing Adrian, or choosing Elena and my career.