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“How are you holding up, or in as the case may be? Any black specks or weakness of the limbs?”
“I’m conscious enough to be terrified.”
“Perfect. Here we are.” We pulled up at an enormous gate with five muscled men in suits with ear coms who were blocking the way.
I swallowed hard. “Are we invisible yet?”
“No.”
“How are we getting through? You said that you’d provide the magic.” I turned to him and tried to breathe, but my heart was racing, and I couldn’t get enough air.
He put his hand over mine and winked, pulling a document out of the inside pocket of his suit. “The first magic trick: an invitation.”
“You can do magical forgery? How good are you? Are you sure that they won’t—” I stopped talking abruptly when Percy rolled down his window and handed the invitation over with the confidence of someone who had been invited to things in the past. I hadn’t gotten an invitation once in my whole life, which was fine, because there was no way I’d ever want to go to a party that didn’t involve pizza or loofas, and those didn’t require gilded, hand-embossed invites.
The biggest guard with the most solid jowls handed back the invitation and a card along with it. “Mr. Marigold and company, please proceed up the drive to the door where someone will take your car. Enjoy your evening.”
Percival rolled up the window and went forward without so much as a smirk of victory. He must be really confident in his forgery skills. I picked up the invitation and turned it over. I looked so official and important. There was Percival’s name, and mine, ‘company,’ which was better than escort or partner.
The winding drive with breathtaking views of the house, ocean, and woods became just the house and garden as we approached the door, a massive structure that could host giants. There were so many guards, or car parkers, either way, and people were wandering around looking glamorous and glittering with glasses of sparkling liquid and furs and jewels that put my own simple white roses and baby’s breath to shame.
Actually, it was a relief to see so many people looking so much more gorgeous than me, because I didn’t need any attention on myself.
“Are you sure another dress wasn’t supposed to go over this one?” I asked as I examined the gowns, all colored gorgeously with enormous skirts and doubtless countless slips beneath.
“For your first party, you should keep it simple,” he said, which wasn’t an absolute, but what did he really know about what a girl should wear to an elite party of the Gray Society’s inner circle? Probably nothing, but here I was, trusting him with my life. I swallowed hard and then we were there, at the front door with their glorious carving, and the valet opening the door for Percival, but not for me. The dress urged me to stay there, but what if the valet took off with me in the car? I itched to leap out after Percival, but the dress knew how to do parties, theoretically, so I stayed where I was and felt like a stupid doll until Percy opened the door for me and helped me out exactly according to the dress’s specs.
I smiled at him sweetly as I emerged and he smiled back, a soft smile with a tinge of fondness that he’d never shown me before in his life. It was deeply disturbing, and I wished I had a jar of bugs to put down the back of his tuxedo, but I only put my hand on his arm and walked with him towards that grand door.
“It’s a pleasant evening,” I said in dulcet tones.
“I am beside the most beautiful woman in the world. It’s far better than pleasant,” he replied in a low voice like you’d use to urge a feral cat to come closer. Yeah. I was feeling pretty feral beneath all the fluttering loveliness. Of course, he had to take what I said and contradict it, even if it was supposed to be a compliment; it felt like a condescending correction.
What was this role I was supposed to be playing, a super rich princess who was Percival Marigold’s betrothed? I leaned against his side and fluttered my lashes up at him. “If we were alone together, then it would eclipse all my past experiences of bliss, but alas, where others may interfere with my utter devotion, it can only be pleasant.” I gave my smile the slightest tinge of smugness before I straightened up and continued as before. His blank face was quickly covered with an unsettled expression that filled me with deep satisfaction. Making him squirm was one of my favorite things. Maybe this party wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Just inside the door was a massive hall surrounded by doors and alcoves, because who doesn’t want a private chat where everyone can see who you’re privately chatting with? I tightened my grip on Percy’s arm when I started noticing the looks people gave me, him, us, calculating, dissecting, judging, but coming to no absolute decision. Percival and I were a puzzle that every nosy person there wanted to unravel.
“Percival, my darling child, you’ve deigned to honor us with your presence!” A gorgeous woman softer than was fashionable and wearing a green satin dress rushed towards us, hands clasped to her chest while she beamed at my escort.
He muttered under his breath, “Run while you can. I’ll make excuses for you,” and with that, he let me loose with a subtle shove that probably looked more like me tripping on my own delicate loveliness than him setting me adrift to face the first obstacle of this evening alone.
I moved as quickly as I could towards the far doors, aware of those curious glances, but not meeting any of them. I was a pretty white rose, suitable for looking faint and not much else. My heart was pounding when I made it through those doors, and then I got to try not to gape at the ballroom. It was sunken with a surrounding walkway where those who weren’t dancing could stay out of the way, with several sets of stairs cutting down to the enormous floor. The arched ceiling was painted with murals in line with baroque angels between the large skylights that let in the dusky twilight sky. The people were even more jaw-droppingly gorgeous than the scenery, countless handsome men in tuxedos with beautiful women in glamorous dresses, and none of them were white.
There were hundreds of people dancing below or walking in groups, laughing and talking like flighty jeweled butterflies among the flowers. There were so many flowers, and all of them would be thrown away tomorrow after this one big burst of pointless expense.
I stood there, slightly stunned, when a gentleman came up to me with a slight smile on his handsome face. I stared at him for a beat too long before I remembered that I needed to look down. Or was I supposed to look down after he said something to me? Was my dress trying to communicate with me, because I was getting a big fat nothing?
“Would you care to dance?” he said, holding out his hand where I could see it because I was staring down at the toes of my lovely hand-beaded slippers.
I stayed looking down for a long time before the dress told me that I needed to look up. “No, I’m looking for my, um, father.” I stumbled over the unfamiliar words with my tangled tongue.
“Perhaps I can help you find him. Who is your father?” The gleam in his eyes was so dangerous that I almost turned and ran.
“My betrothed, Percival Marigold, will help me find him,” I said, sounding frosty instead of terrified. Was I going to throw up or faint? I turned and walked away from him, keeping my head high, because that’s what the dress was thinking, that the man needed a firm set-down for not backing off as soon as I mentioned my protector, my father.
Ha! As if I had an actual protector, much less a father figure of any kind. Pot-bellied Earl was the closest thing I had to a dad, and he always smelled like mushrooms. Not that there was anything wrong with mushrooms, but he wasn’t a romantic figure. My mom had high standards, and the men she liked had an even higher standard, so it wasn’t ever going to work out for her, which was fine, because who wanted to date some pompous idiot when they could have a stone-fleshed monster-faced flying dance partner? Not that he was here, or maybe he was here, because who could tell which of these people were gargoyle and which were human? Not me. I couldn’t even tell which were waiters and which were guests most of the time.
I was walking on the balcony on the right side of the doors, almost halfway to the far end, when another man stepped in front of me, blocking my excellent progress. Somehow, I had in my head that if I could make it all the way around the ballroom without anyone noticing that I didn’t belong, the quest would be won, and I could go home and burn the dress.
