“She does indeed,” he responds. He looks past Dawna, scoping out the crowd for someone more important to speak with.

“Actually,” I say, plastering a smile on my face, “Cormac planned the entire event.”

“But Cormac, you have to let the bride plan these things. It is her wedding after all.” Dawna tut-tuts at the end for emphasis.

Me plan the big day? Not if either of us has anything to say about it.

“Would you like that, Adelice?” Cormac says, and he shoots me a look that says, Two can play this game. He can fake the doting fiancé bit, too.

“I wouldn’t dare dream of questioning your wishes.” I push the words out of gritted teeth, never once letting my smile slip from my face.

“I see how she landed you,” Dawna says, smacking me a bit too hard on the shoulder. “Such a lucky girl.”

“Aren’t I, though?” I murmur, smoothing a wrinkle from my long satin glove.

“These are darling.” Dawna brushes her hand over my wrist. “Are gloves coming back in fashion?”

My eyes flicker to Cormac, but he’s busy searching the crowd. “So I’m told.”

“Then I must get myself a pair,” she says.

“Pardon us, I see Minister—” Cormac doesn’t even bother to finish his excuse before he pulls us from her clutches. As soon as we’re a safe distance away, he twists my wrist. “Stop telling everyone you don’t want to marry me.”

I pull against his grip but fail to extricate myself. “I didn’t say that to anyone, and we’ve only spoken to one person so far. Stop being dramatic, darling.”

“We need the four sectors focused on the wedding—”

“Three,” I remind him softly. “There are three sectors now.”

“Of course,” he snaps. He tugs at his bow tie, but I bat his hand away.

“Don’t undo that. Everyone will assume you’re drunk already and then they’ll think you don’t want to marry me.”

“It’s tricky, isn’t it?” Cormac asks.

“What?”

“Pretending you want to marry someone. Stressful even.”

Before we can break up at our engagement gala, a group of men approach.

“Shut up and smile,” he orders.

Thanks for the reminder. This is already turning out worse than I feared.

I lose track of who is who and who runs what, and eventually give up on keeping each new person straight. Enora quizzed me on this once, I realize with a pang, but so much has happened since then. And she’s not around to help me now. I turn my attention to the crowd instead. In the two years that I’ve been away from Arras, it looks like Cormac’s been cleaning house. I spot Alixandra watching me out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t get away from Cormac now if I tried.

I consider going over to her. She’s the only person I recognize here. Although, after nearly a week under her protection, I’ve discovered that Alixandra is not a talker. She dresses like a Spinster when we’re together and the official story is she’s my personal assistant. But everyone knows she’s my security detail. She broods even in a ball gown—though I’m still not buying the story that Cormac is worried about my safety. She’s not my bodyguard.

She’s my chaperone.

Alixandra is petite with long blond hair and a button nose. It’s not going to be hard for her to stay undercover, but I still can’t imagine she’d actually be able to fight if it came to it. But looks can be deceiving. If Cormac trusts her, she has to be deadly. I know little else about her.

The afternoon we met her eyes swept over me, sizing me up with a cool disinterest. I had the distinct impression I’d failed whatever test she’d administered.

“I’m Adelice,” I finally said, as she continued to watch me. I stuck my hand out, feeling it was proper.

Alixandra didn’t shake my hand. She circled around me.

“So you escaped the Guild,” she said in a cold voice.

“I’m not interested in discussing my history with you.” If she wanted to dredge up the past, I didn’t have to participate, but even so, my fingers traced my techprint for comfort.

“I’m not interested in your smart mouth,” she said, her voice never rising above the same steady tone. “You ran off with two boys.”

“Two brothers as a matter of fact,” I said. I had no idea why she was insisting on talking about that.

“Yes, I know.” Alixandra stopped in front of me. We were about the same height, but something fierce in her eyes made me shrink back. “I’m surprised Cormac is marrying you.”

“Join the club,” I said, biting my lip. Most people were nice to my face. But I knew most of Arras must disapprove of Cormac marrying someone as young as me. Alixandra was the first person to show it.

“I mean, he can’t believe that you kept purity standards while you ran around down there, can he?”

“He can,” I retort, tilting my chin up defiantly, “because I did.”

“Is that true?” she asked.

“It is.”

“I’ve seen those boys. I’m surprised.” Nothing about the conversation was friendly. I wasn’t sure if she believed me about the purity standards, and I definitely wasn’t sure why she would even care.

“It’s important that you realize I’m not your friend, Adelice,” Alixandra told me. “My job is to keep you secure and to keep you out of trouble.”