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Bessie takes the basket of fruit. She looks longingly at it. “How come them folk turned their backs on you, eh?”
The room feels close. Felicity and Ann avoid my eyes.
“They believe the Untouchables and I had something to do with Creostus’s murder.”
“That’s queer, innit?” Bessie stares at me. “How come they fink that?”
“Gemma’s been having secret talks with Circe,” Felicity announces.
“Oh, Gemma,” Pippa scolds. Her violet eyes flash, and in that moment they lose their color and become the milky blue-white of the Winterlands. The stare sends a chill down my spine.
“’Oo’s Circe?” Mae asks.
“The worst sort of villain,” Pippa explains. “She tried to kill Gemma. She would do anything to possess the magic of the Temple and rule the realms. She can’t be trusted.” Pippa glares at me. “And those who consort with her cannot be trusted either. For there is nothing worse than a deceiver who would betray her friends.”
“I didn’t betray anyone!” I shout, and the power I’ve silenced rumbles in me again, till I am forced to sit.
Felicity moves in beside Pippa, her arms folded. “Where were you earlier?” she asks in a low voice.
Pippa shrugs her off. “Gathering berries.”
“We looked for you in the forest.” Felicity presses.
“Not everywhere, it would seem.”
Bessie steps to Pippa’s side. She towers over Felicity by a good head. “Trouble, Miss Pippa?”
Pippa doesn’t rush to say Now, now, Bessie, don’t be silly, all is well. She lets the threat dangle for a moment, relishing the power in it. “No, thank you, Bessie.” Hands on her hips, she turns to Fee. “I might ask where you’ve been, but I suppose you’ve been busy with your life. Out there.”
“Pip…” Felicity tries to lace her fingers in Pippa’s but Pip won’t have it. She pulls away. “I brought you a gift,” Fee says, hopefully. She offers Pip a slim package wrapped in brown paper.
Pippa’s eyes light up as she opens it. For there are three ostrich feathers.
“So that you might have your coming out,” Felicity says softly.
“Oh. Oh, they are exquisite!” Pippa throws her arms around Felicity, who smiles at last. Bessie lumbers across the room with the basket of berries, nearly knocking over poor Mercy.
“Oh, do help me secure them,” Pip says.
Felicity fastens them to Pip’s hair at the back with the stem of a weed stolen from the altar.
“How do I look?” Pippa asks.
“Beautiful,” Felicity answers hoarsely.
“Oh, how enchanting! That is what we need to lift our spirits—a merry party. And every girl here shall make her debut. It will be a most magnificent ball—the grandest ever! Mae? Mercy? Who’s with me? Bessie, you’ll play, won’t you?”
The girls jump with excitement. Mae rips nightshade from the wall and tucks it behind her ear. A worm drops to the floor with a plop, and I cannot say whether it fell from the flower or her ear.
“Gemma?” Pip extends her hand. “Will you join our debut ball?”
Creostus’s death has cast a long shadow across my soul. For the first moment in a very long time, I do not care for a party. I do not want to forget my troubles or attempt to fill the holes deep inside us with fleeting illusions.
“I’m afraid I’m not in a festive mood. You’ll have to have your party without me.”
I expect an argument. Pouts and tears and begging for me to turn the castle into the Taj Mahal, our skirts into Parisian gowns. Instead, Pippa smiles brightly.
“Oh, Gemma, darling, you rest. I shall do it all.”
