Verity didn’t know what Ava looked like. She was so little when she died.”
Hanna grabbed my shoulders, drawing me in, face to face. “You all look alike, love. A painting of any of your sisters in black and white could be mistaken for you. I think you’re seeing what you want to.”
My mouth fell open, hurt. “Why would I want to see that? They looked so horrible.” A shudder of revulsion swept over me as I remembered the awful angles of their bodies. “And she didn’t know Eulalie broke her neck.”
“The girl fell a hundred feet from the cliff walk. What else would her neck have done?”
A crash sounded in the kitchens, and Hanna used the moment to push me aside. “Annaleigh, child, you’re about to drive me batty. I can’t remember whether I’m supposed to be polishing the bedclothes or folding the silver. And Fisher is due any moment. You have plenty of preparations for yourself upstairs. We’ll talk about Verity later, I promise. Just please get out from underfoot.”
My mind, swirling with gruesome sketches and ghosts, stilled at her words. “Fisher is coming?” I broke into my first smile of the day.
She nodded, her face lighting up. “Your father invited him to the ball. Wants to introduce him to the captains and lords. He’s so proud.” She swatted at me. “Now scoot! I’ll be along soon to start on your hair.”
I took the back stairs, narrow and as tightly coiled as a nautilus shell, to avoid the foyer’s frenzy. Approaching the second floor, I could hear the triplets squabbling over the best mirrors and who stole whose lip color. As Rosalie shouted for a maid to help search for a pair of wayward hair combs, I hurried away.
Once in my room, I opened my bureau, intending to lay out my undergarments. A worn envelope pressed against the back of the drawer caught my eye.
It was a letter from Fisher, written years ago, after he’d begun his apprenticeship on Hesperus. I ran my fingertips over the familiar handwriting.
I really shouldn’t even be writing to you, since you made such a stink when Lord Thaumas chose me as the next Keeper of the Light, but Mother says I ought to take the high road. It’s pretty stupid, if you ask me. There aren’t any roads on Salten and certainly not on Hesperus.
It’s quiet here, and Silas wakes me up at all hours of the night to scrub Old Maude’s windows. I hate it. That should cheer you, at least. And if it doesn’t, no matter. I wrote you, as Mother said I should. So there.
But write me back, Minnow. I miss home more than I thought I would. You especially.
Sincerely,
The Terrible Traitor Formerly Known as Fisher
“Are you taking a bath or not?” Camille barged into my room, surprising me. I shoved the letter under a pair of wool tights. “I’ve been waiting all afternoon.”
Snatching up a pair of stockings, I ran my hand over the silk, as if checking for runs. “Go on, then.”
“Have you bathed?”
I tossed the stockings aside. “No. I’m not even sure I’m going to.”
She pulled a face. “Is this about Verity’s drawings? Elizabeth isn’t going to drown you in the tub, but I might if you make me late. Get in there before I dump you in myself.”
“Just take the bath, Camille.”
“I won’t have you looking anything less than your best tonight. We’re both finding suitors.” She grabbed my robe from a hook and threw it at me.
“I thought you said I just needed to be myself,” I muttered peevishly, trudging down the hall. Camille followed after me, presumably to make sure I actually went in.
“Your best, bathed self,” she clarified.
I shut the door in her face with a bit of satisfaction and quickly locked it before she could force her way in, issuing more orders. I faced the bathtub with trepidation. This was silly. I’d bathed here many times since Elizabeth died.
As I turned the brass handles, waiting for the water, the pipes creaked and rattled, like echoes of Eulalie’s screams when she discovered Elizabeth’s body.
After adding a sprinkle of soap, I stepped out of my day dress and studied myself in the full mirror. Dark spots edged along the beveled lines, clouding the reflection. Had drops of Elizabeth’s blood seeped into the glass, staining it forever?
I tried to let the hot water relax my tense muscles, but it was no use. My imagination was working overtime. Noises in the house