Fifty Words for Rain(93)

Nori smoothed out the skirt of her lavender gown. It was the simplest thing she’d been able to find in Alice’s closet.

“Just on my travels,” she said simply.

Jane nodded vigorously. “I see, I see, and will you go back to China soon? Or will you be staying?”

Nori felt a ripple of irritation.

“Japan, actually. I’ve never been to China.”

Jane waved a hand as if it really made no difference whether it was one savage Eastern country or the other.

“Yes, yes. And you’re planning on staying here?”

“Alice has asked that I do, yes.”

Jane stretched her thin lips over her teeth in a pained smile.

“I see. And you have no family of your own? Nothing to speak of? No money? You’re just going to live with my sister and eat her food, then?”

Nori flushed.

“And I see that’s her gown as well,” Jane continued. Her blue eyes were sharp. “Though in fairness you fill it out much better. But still, Miss Noriko, I do wonder what you hope to gain from all of this.”

Nori felt something she had not felt in a long time. It was just a spark, but it was there: pride.

“My family is kin to the royal house of my country,” she said quietly. “And as a result I have a great deal of money.”

This was still partially true. She still had most of the money she’d inherited. A combination of frugal living and the occasional odd job knitting sweaters or embroidering curtains meant that she was still a wealthy woman in her own right.

Jane raised an overplucked eyebrow. “I see, I see. But you’re not married?”

“No.”

“And are you on the market, then?” Jane spit, her polite facade finally dropped. “Is that your plan? To trick my sister into getting you a rich Englishman to marry?”

Nori blinked at her. “Why would I be remotely interested in that?”

“Because that’s what your kind always wants,” Jane snapped. “Grasping social climbers. New money, or old money with no name attached. D’you suppose we’re all as stupid as she is? You come here, with your exotic charms—”

“I have no interest in any men.”

“So you are unnatural, then? The rumors are true?”

“What? No, I—”

“It’s obvious that you’re half-caste,” she said, lowering her voice to a chilling whisper. “At best. You’re not fooling anyone, with that horrible Negro hair of yours. I see you for what you are. I know you’re not some pretty little Eastern blossom. You’re a weed.”

And with that, she stalked off into the crowd.

Nori stood there, with the champagne glass shaking in her hand.

Jane had found, with perfect precision, the weak spot in her armor.

She put the glass down and left the room.

By this point in the evening, she was hoping everyone would be too drunk to notice that the guest of honor was gone.

She slipped through the corridor and down the back stairs. There was only one place she could go to put her fractured pieces back together.

The air was sticky and humid, but Nori didn’t care. She walked out into the English-style garden and hid behind a hedge manicured to look like a cherub.

There was an old willow tree in front of her. She wondered if it was possible to climb it in a designer gown.

It would take some concentration to erase this new memory. But she knew she could do it. And then she would slip back beneath the surface, into the place where the lights danced above but never touched her.

She caught a flurry of motion out of the corner of her eye. Before she could even blink, William had pulled her into his arms.

“I knew it was you,” he whispered into her hair. “I knew you’d come back to me eventually.”

She sighed. She’d known it was only a matter of time before she’d have to face him.

“William. How did you get in?” she asked quietly. “Alice went through a great deal of trouble to keep your name off the list.”

William pulled back to look into her face, and his sapphire eyes were sparkling with triumph.

“I bribed a servant to let me into the back gardens. I knew you’d come.”

Nori sighed again. Somehow, it was not jarring to see William again. It was as if she’d seen him only yesterday.

“Am I so predictable?”

William grinned widely, but then it faded. He looked down.

“I was deeply sorry to hear about Akira.”

“I know,” she said, and it was true.

“But you survived.”

Nori turned her face away. “In a manner of speaking.”

William hesitated for the first time. “Are you . . . are you all right?”

She nodded. “Your cousin Jane . . .”

His face darkened. “What did she say to you?”

She waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter.”

He took her hand and guided her over to the willow tree. “And has it been very difficult for you?”

She stared at him. He turned scarlet, realizing too late what a stupid question this was.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have . . . I mean . . . You’re even more beautiful, Nori. You look so well. I just wondered if you . . . if you’ve suffered all these years. Or if you’ve managed to find some level of peace.”