The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court, #1)(66)

It ate at me in a way I hadn’t expected. Since leaving Osfrid, I’d seen him on a daily basis. His presence was a fixed part of my life now. A quip here, a knowing smile there. Without him, Wisteria Hollow seemed like an entirely different place. I felt like a different person. A very unhappy one.

He showed up that evening to play chaperone at a party being hosted for the top three girls: me, Mira, and Heloise. Heloise was the Swan Ridge girl who’d inherited the second spot. Like Mira, she’d originally had a slightly less precious stone, so they’d done a hasty upgrade from peridot to emerald, which allowed her to keep her green wardrobe. It was a painful reminder of Tamsin.

I tried striking up a conversation with him along the way, but he said no more than was absolutely necessary. He barely made eye contact. When we arrived at the home of one of Cape Triumph’s most prosperous merchants, he melted into the background, letting us claim the attention at the party while he simply supervised.

The house was impressive by Adorian standards, a large estate with many servants. This was among the top positions a Glittering Court girl might marry into, and I tried to imagine myself as mistress of such a place. There were few in Denham that could match it, except perhaps the governor’s home. Our merchant host was a pleasant, fairly attractive man who doted on all of us, but nothing special about him struck me. I smiled and made small talk but did little else to distinguish myself. If I were being mercenary and simply comparing men based on their resources, Warren still won handily—at least once he was established in Hadisen.

When we left, our host told us he’d be in touch, but it was obvious Heloise was his favorite. She beamed on the ride home, and I was happy for her.

“You three are going to the governor’s house tomorrow night,” Cedric told us. “For a private dinner. I won’t be able to escort you, but I believe my father will.”

Whatever Cedric might think of the governor and his son, he kept his face and manner perfectly businesslike. That ache in my chest intensified.



The rest of the girls were home from their engagements when we returned to the house. They were all still up, abuzz with the latest news from town—which was much more substantial than in previous days. Lorandian soldiers had been spotted near the northern borders of the Osfridian colonies. A man, drunk on too much wine, claimed he’d been rescued from thieves by two pirate vigilantes. To the west, Icori had been sighted on Osfridian lands, stirring up fears that they might march on us. Some even claimed the Icori were harassing the northern colonies. Back here, a merchant ship carrying sugar and spices had disappeared, meaning prices would rise. A pagan colony called Westhaven had received permission from the crown for settlement.

So much of the news was overly sensational that I had a hard time believing it was true. There was little fact to back it up. The only item I felt certain of was the news about Westhaven. I knew it was religiously tolerant, not exactly pagan, but for most people, those things were one and the same.

I went to bed, not interested in gossip. Mira stayed a little longer but soon followed me up. Yet, when I woke once in the middle of the night, I could see by the moonlight that her bed was empty. When morning came, she was back.

“Do you want to discuss what happened last night?” she asked as we got ready for the day.

“Are you talking about when you weren’t in your bed again?”

She shook her head. “I’m talking about you and Cedric refusing to make eye contact.”

“Oh.” I turned back to the mirror and pretended to be fixated on pinning back a curl. “We had a fight, that’s all.”

“That can’t be all, not if it’s bringing you both down so much. If you were mad at someone like Jasper or Charles, I’d say not to worry about it. It’s business. You don’t ever have to see them again. But with Cedric . . . I can tell it’s different. There’s a bond there, something I can’t quite put my finger on.”

“I owe him,” I said softly. “And that’s forced me to make some hard choices.” Like choosing him over Tamsin, I thought.

“Do you want to talk about them?”

“Yes. But I can’t.” She started to interrupt, and I held up a hand so I could continue. “I know, I know. I can tell you anything. But that doesn’t mean I should. Not yet, at least. Some things have to stay secret, like why you go out at night. I keep hoping it’s some romance with a dashing and wealthy man, but I doubt it. What I know is that you wouldn’t do it without good reason and that you wouldn’t keep it secret without good reason. That’s how it is with this. There are lots of things I wish I could tell you—”

Mira caught me in a hug. “You don’t have to tell me anything. I trust whatever you’re doing. But . . .” She pulled back and looked me in the eye. “You need to fix things with Cedric. You’re not yourself.”

Her words stayed with me, but I never had a chance to fix anything. Cedric was gone again that day, and the schedule much like the previous one, packed with appointments. Heloise received a marriage offer from the wealthy merchant, which she readily accepted, making her the first of us to seal a contract.

Without her, Clara was bumped up to the top three and accompanied us to the governor’s dinner. Jasper chaperoned us, as Cedric had mentioned, and told us that his son was out with friends. I wondered at that, since as far as I knew, Cedric didn’t have any friends in town. It seemed more likely that Jasper simply wanted the honor of bringing us to such an important event.