Devices Brightly Shining: A steampunk Christmas novella (Magnificent Devices Book 9) by Shelley Adina

Author:Shelley Adina [Unknown]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939087362
Publisher: Moonshell Books, Inc.
Published: 2015-10-15T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Twelfth Night

A lice Chalmers stood just outside the door of the sitting-room, where the entire Hanover Square party were gathered before the landaus were brought round to take them to the ball at Hatley House. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and stepped into the room.

Both Ian and his brother-in-law, Lord Blount, rose to their feet, and Ian, resplendent in his aeronaut’s regimentals, medals upon his chest, took her gloved hand and kissed it.

“I have never seen you look more beautiful, my love,” he said as the hot blood fanned into her cheeks. “Mother’s sapphires suit you as though you were born to them.”

They were rather a lot to live up to. But they lay upon her collarbones quite comfortably—far more comfortably than the tiara, which still rested in its case. “Claire sent Maggie over earlier to help with my hair,” she said.

“She is to be complimented, then.” He smiled into her eyes. “You look like a queen.”

Indeed, the unruly mass did rather resemble a crown, braided into a coronet and stuck with so many pins that if she strolled close to a magnet, she would be wrenched against it with a clang. Together, she and Maggie had decided that the family tiara would be unsuitable for a woman not yet married, and had settled for tucking the brooch from the parure into the back of the roll instead.

The leaf-green silk of the gown with its waterfall of lace over the bodice was not so pale as to look young, and not so dark as to look matronly. It was the only evening dress she possessed—a gift from her father the last time she’d seen him—but thankfully no one need know that. And no one would be looking at the dress anyway—not with these sapphires.

She greeted the family, kissing the air next to the ladies’ ears so that no one’s earrings were caught in anyone’s lace or hair. Even Lord Blount, whom she’d only seen in passing in the days since they’d arrived, complimented her on being “a fine-looking girl, a credit to the family.”

It was all she could do to stifle a laugh.

Frances accepted her kiss with a smile. “You look lovely, Alice—though it is a shame your modiste could not match the color of Grandmama’s jewels.”

Alice came within a breath of asking, “Is the dress supposed to match?” but she caught herself in time. “I suppose it’s only to be expected that modern fabrics would not match stones of such a great age,” she said instead. “And I do not concern myself with such trifles in any case, do you?”

While Frances might not have come up with a reply, Lillian was already armed and ready. She kissed Alice, and then whispered, “Your coiffure is already coming down at the back. Do go make some repairs at once. I shall hold off Mama. You know how she is.”

But when she reached her room, a worried glance in the mirror told her that Maggie’s handiwork was made of sterner stuff.

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