Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(95)

Where did I even begin to explain what had happened to me? I kept my answer brief and vague. “Not that many in the way of, ah, official ones. But I feel optimistic about my future.”

Tamsin’s hard gaze swiveled to Adelaide, and I realized I had no idea what had occurred in her meeting. She stammered out a recap of what had happened between her and Cedric, as well as the judgment they’d received.

“Cedric and I can get married, with conditions. His father and uncle won’t advance us money to cover my contract—but Warren will. He says he doesn’t want someone who doesn’t love him in return and would rather cut his losses by recruiting upstanding citizens for his new colony. So we’re going with him to Hadisen next week. I’ll find a family to board me in exchange for housework and teaching their children. Cedric’s going to work a gold claim. He’ll get to keep some of the profit, and Warren gets the rest. When the contract’s paid off, we can get married and go somewhere else.”

Something in her tone made me suspect she was well aware of Cedric’s controversial faith and his plans to go to Westhaven Colony.

I didn’t know which was more outlandish: accepting help from the man she’d spurned or the thought of dapper Cedric working outside and panning for gold.

Tamsin, as usual, had no shortage of speech. “What were you thinking? You turned down a future governor for . . . what, an impoverished student?”

Adelaide looked at her feet. We were both beyond ecstatic to have Tamsin back, but feeling the full force of her personality again took a little adjustment. “Well, he dropped out of the university. And he’s not impoverished. He’s just . . . um, without assets. But I’m sure that will change.”

“This would have never happened if I’d been around to look after you.” Tamsin turned her chastisement toward me. “Mira, how could you have stood for this?”

“I had no idea,” I said honestly.

“You’re her roommate! How could you not?”

How indeed. I didn’t have a good answer and again berated myself for neglecting my friend. Adelaide looked guilty as well and probably thought it was her fault for not telling me. Between us and Tamsin’s reticence to talk, we were a circle full of secrets.




In the week that followed, I saw little of Adelaide. She and Cedric were swamped with preparations for a journey that other settlers had been planning for months. Tamsin, on the other hand, was a nearly constant companion. The arrival of twenty new girls had completely changed the way the Glittering Court functioned. Normally, the social season would be winding down. Instead, it was almost like they had to reset and start all over again.

“We’ll have to sponsor another great ball,” I overheard Jasper saying to Charles one afternoon. “It’ll be an expense we didn’t plan for, but we’ve also got a profit coming in that we’d written off. The sensationalism of this is already spreading. The Lost Girls. Missing at sea, surviving in the wilderness—but still here, beautiful and refined. This’ll renew interest from those who passed on the first batch and pull in men who weren’t even considering marriage. We should go back over the prices we’d settled for each one and consider raising them.”

“Jasper, I recognize the importance of recouping our losses. But by the Six, don’t start pushing these girls into parties right away, not after everything they’ve been through.”

“Of course I won’t. We need time to plan new events and get them outfitted first. All their original clothes were lost, but we can save money by altering the dresses of all the engaged girls. And,” Jasper added, “if any girls do want to jump right in, not even you can deny them that.”

Tamsin was one of those girls. Two nights after the Flower Festival, Governor Doyle hosted a party celebrating the anniversary of Cape Triumph’s settlement. I still had misgivings about the deal Adelaide and Cedric had gotten enmeshed in, made worse by the fact that Cedric—a secret heretic—was locked into a business contract with a self-proclaimed heretic hunter. But Adelaide and Cedric were also desperate. Whatever his beliefs on religion, Warren had given them fair terms in his deal. The two of them remained wary, but as long as they fulfilled their half, everything would hopefully work out.

“I’m so excited,” Tamsin told me as we prepared for the Doyle party. She’d required almost no alterations to fit into Heloise’s clothes and looked stunning in a celadon silk gown that bared her shoulders. “This must be old to you by now, but being able to wear something like this feels like a dream after those shabby things they put us in.”

For me, the dream was still just having her back. I’d often find myself watching her and wondering if I’d suddenly blink and find her gone again. More and more pieces of what had happened to them had leaked out from the other girls. Along with the Grashond settlers, they’d apparently encountered Icori, Lorandian traders, and Balanquans while waiting for warmer weather to travel in. Tamsin occasionally offered up tidbits but otherwise remained reticent about her adventures.

Her return was pretty much the only thing that could distract me from constantly moping over the fallout with Grant. I still did plenty of it, of course. He’d had such a central role in my life, and now, he was gone. And no matter how hard I tried to ignore them, little and unexpected things would remind me of him. Some weren’t so subtle, though. It was impossible not to think of him when I choked down a bitter herbal mixture twice a day that I’d “borrowed” from the stash Mistress Culpepper kept around for newly married girls. It was one of a number of concoctions our Female Studies book recommended for preventing pregnancy. It was also, from what I’d heard, the worst tasting, but that was a small price to pay in order to keep my life from becoming even more chaotic.