“Vague,” she hissed at him. “Can’t you be more helpful?”
Muis gestured around him, as if to say his presence was help enough. Katty replied to him with an eye roll and, after dusting her cloak and adjusting her hair, began to walk confidently toward the front of the house.
She entered to a stiflingly hot press of bodies, all of them raucous. There was music in the next room, nearly drowned out by the loud guests. The tang of alcohol seemed to carry on every breath, blooming stronger with every merry laugh.
Katty’s eyes darted to the stairwell, draped with a garland. As if it were Christmas, it was hung with dried fruit and berries. There were few flowers to be had this time of year.
Katty sucked in a breath, then regretted it with the unpleasant odors of the crowd. Either time went byextremelyfast in fae lands, or Katrina had a hasty marriage.
This was a wedding reception.
Grateful for the rich cloth of the red dress her friend had chosen for her and hoping no one would look down at her muddy slippers, Katty wove through the celebrants, searching for a way to slip up the stairs, as well as for her parents’ faces. Her breath caught in her throat as she spotted Katrina de Vries standing beside her mother, dark circles beneath her eyes.
Immediately, Katty questioned the occasion, for Katrina looked nothing like a happy bride. Katty hadn’t looked that miserable on her own wedding night until the fae magic insulted her repeatedly, then forced her to dance until her feet burned. She certainly wasn’t miserable before that. Nervousness was an entirely different look.
Then it must be as she thought. Brom Bones proved a terrible choice of husband already.
As Katty made for the winding staircase, she froze. She had seen Katrina and her mother wear tiaras dozens of times before—almost a new one for every occasion. But this one—the way it glistened—Katty felt a pull in her gut. One that reminded her of Hollow Hall.
Katrina de Vries had a lost fae artifact perched on her unhappy brow. Katty had been right about her friend. She reallydidhave everything.
Plastering a smile that was half grimace on her face, Katty began to make her way toward the dejected bride. It took some time. Straightaway, she was rebuffed by an exuberant aunt who chose just then to approach, arms flailing and drink sloshing. With a huff, Katty stepped back and waited, mindful of the puddles left on the floor.
It was all she could do not to tap her foot or stretch or yell orsomething.The longer she stayed here, the more urgent the pull in her chest became.
Still, it gave her time to study her problem.Howwas she going to get that tiara off Katrina’s head?
At last, the pushy aunt moved along, grasping Mr. de Vries’ hand and complaining to him passionately about something. As the wagging feather in her hair passed, Katrina’s eyes fell to Katty and widened.
Before Katty could move, Katrina had stepped forward into the empty space, hands extending before her as though she would clasp Katty’s. Yet she did not reach much beyond her own body, and kept an unusually wide space between them. “Katty van der Vos,” she said.
All around them, heads began to turn. There was a sudden lull in the noise, filled in by the lively quartet in the next room. Katty thought of the fae music—ancient, rhythmic and full of joy—and then what it had done to her, and hid a shiver.
“It’s Katty Braam now,” Katty said, nervously turning her ring. Was it her imagination, or was the usually frigid silver of her ring much warmer now?
“Oh?” Katrina’s eyebrows lifted, although her mouth remained an unerringly grim line. “We’ve had no word from you for so long. I’m surprised to see you tonight.”
“Yes, well—I was busy. I was only married yesterday myself.”
“Really? Is he here?” Katrina looked around, her dubious expression mirrored by her mother behind her, who was clearly eavesdropping. Anger grew in Katty as she thought of how kindly Mrs. de Vries had always been to her. How quickly they turned on someone to whom they’d always been charitable. And that’s what it had been. Charity.
“He couldn’t accompany me tonight,” Katty said, turning the ring again to draw attention to it. It was just as she feared. Her time away had damned her in society’s eyes. If a girl’s whereabouts could not be accounted for, neither could her virtue.
Mrs. de Vries stepped forward, a meaningless smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Katty—you’ve always been such a good companion to my Katrina. But I’m afraid you can’t be here. It wouldn’t do for her to associate with a girl who eloped in such an infamous matter.”
Katrina laughed bitterly at that, glancing at her mother. When she turned back to Katty, her expression had soured. “She’s right. You’ve been gone a month and only married yesterday? How could you, Katty? Did you even consider your parents’ reputation? Or mine?”
A month.Katty’s mind reeled at the word, so that she was slow to respond. “I stayed with a friend until the marriage—one who took me in when I was lost in the woods.”
Though Mrs. de Vries’ countenance remained almost sympathetic, she said, “I’m sorry Katty, but this is Katrina’s day. If you wish to discuss it some other time, it can be arranged after the honeymoon.”After they find the groom,Katty swore she heard muttered under one of the nearby celebrant’s breath. “I think that would be best.”
Eyes darting to Katrina’s tiara—a thing of silver and gleaming crystal—frustration filled Katty. The tiara’s magic pulsed faintly here, but something told Katty it had unseen depths. Making as if to turn away, Katty paused, a soft, compliant smile ghosting her lips. “Before I go,” she said, holding Katrina’s gaze and pointedly not looking at the tiara, “tell me, are my parents here tonight?”
Katrina shifted uncomfortably. Her hands were knotted before her now as she glanced at her mother for help.All the years my father has run the de Vries’ gristmill, and they could not even invite my parents?Fury grew within Katty.
“We—I,” Katrina said, drawing herself up and raising her chin the way Katty so often did, “determined it was for the best not to invite them. We will send over some food later, of course.”
Katty looked at the haughty girl she’d called her friend for so long and felt she looked into a mirror—one that showed her past and, she prayed, not her present. She shuddered at the realization that her whole life, she had done exactly what her mother wanted. She’d emulated Katrina in every way.