The Season (Season Series #1)

Chapter 21: Secret Preparations

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I felt sick with nerves as we got Ella prepared for the masquerade. She was going as an angel, wings and all. If I hadn't been feeling so on edge, I would have laughed at the dress my aunt had commissioned. The "halo", a golden circlet Rosanna had perched atop Ella's curls, looked very much like a crown while the bright white dress dripping with lace was a blatant approximation of a wedding dress. As if my aunt's intentions for my cousin weren't already clear, she'd gone and dressed her up as a princess bride. When we'd bedecked Ella with a family fortune's worth of jewels and tied a golden mask onto her face, Ella finally declared herself ready. Lord Amberly appeared not a moment too soon to whisk her away.

I didn't miss the way his eyes took in my day dress, apparently satisfied that I would be stuck up here all night in a decidedly homely dress.

Once the excitement had abated, Emily and Rosanna sat down for a game of backgammon while I did my best not to pace. I could feel the night slipping away as I racked my brain for some excuse to leave the room. I couldn't pretend to go to sleep and slip out because they'd notice if I wasn't in my bed. They would never believe it if I pretended that I'd been sent for to bring something to Ella. I could feign illness and pretend to go to the infirmary, but one of them would surely accompany me...

When the clock struck eight, I was about to give up on making it to the masquerade at all when there was a knock at the door. I froze where I'd been pacing in front of the fireplace, all three sets of eyes in the room going to the door.

"Well what are you waiting for? Answer it!" Emily snapped, returning to her game. Rosanna kept her eyes on me, frowning. I did my best to keep my expression neutral as I opened the door, blinking as I took in the person standing before me.

"It seems we're both missing out on all the fun," Princess Anne said, Miss Claridge hovering a few paces behind her, "I'd hoped you'd join me in my library to read or perhaps play cards?"

I made a split second decision that it would be much easier to sneak away from the princess and her governess than it would be to get myself out of Ella's suite unnoticed. I was halfway through the door when Rosanna came up behind me, grabbing my arm. Determined not to let her ruin my night, I dropped a curtsey to the princess, forcing Rosanna to do the same.

"I don't suppose I'll be needed until curfew. I'd be delighted to join you," I said, disentangling myself from Rosanna's grip before she could say anything else.

"Oh splendid! You'll be happy to know you can hear the music if we leave the window open," Anne gushed, "It's almost as if we're really there!"

Rosanna was speechless as I closed the door behind me, allowing the princess to pull me down the hallway.

"I'm sorry we're late!" Anne whispered once we'd made it a safe distance from the door, "Mother wanted to see me before she made her entrance to the ball!"

"Late?" I asked. Anne shook her head with a grin.

"Andrew seems to think you're clever and yet you can't recognize a jailbreak when you're part of one," Anne mused, as we crossed the upper level of the entrance hall to the narrow second floor corridor towards the old palace.

"But...aren't we going to the library?" I asked. Anne shot a sidelong grin at me.

"Of course not, we're going to the seamstress," she said slyly. I looked around at Miss Claridge, who was calmly following us as if nothing was amiss.

"Anne, you-" I started, but the princess had grabbed my hand again as we paused in front of a rather unremarkable wall. Anne leaned her shoulder into it and the wall popped open to reveal a set of service stairs.