Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

Author:Margaret Owen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

CHAPTER TWENTY

SELF-EVIDENT

Emeric drops my hands like hot coals.

I try not to take that personally, craning around him to make sure Adalbrecht’s distracted. “If he asks, I—”

“Went to powder your nose, I know. Go.”

There’s a line at the privy closest to the ballroom, which we expected. I make a show of frowning and hurrying off, headed for a different privy farther away, just off the entrance hall.

No line. And Gisele is waiting for me inside.

You see, some of the musicians have assistants to carry their instruments, stage costumes, songbooks, and so on. Gisele might have been recognized at the ball, but no one, especially no one like Irmgard, will be looking at the servants.

She’s carrying the satchel I readied ahead of time and wearing the Reigenbach servant uniform we hid under her cloak. “Sorry, miss, just looking for my mistress’s earring,” she calls as I walk in, then double-takes. “Ugh. I’ll never get used to that.”

“You’d better,” I say tersely. I unclasp the pearls and hand them over. “Put those on last.”

We trade dresses, and then we both dig in the satchel, me for paste and gauze to cover my ruby teardrop, and her for face powders and the fake ruby. It wasn’t as hard as I expected to find a bit of red glass in the right shape, because my accessory has become a full-blown trend for anyone who can afford it. There are certainly no shortage of imitators tonight.

It doesn’t take Gisele long to replicate my cosmetics, and once she’s done, I use my pinkie to rub powder off a patch below her right eye. Then I drop a bead of glue on the red glass, hold her chin in one hand, and press the teardrop on with the other.

“Hold still,” I tell her. “It needs to set.”

Gisele closes her eyes, fingers knotting in the undone bodice laces; the seams will split if she tries to lace it before the pearls cut her down. I see a nervous flush rising up her neck. “How … how big is the crowd?”

“Hundred people, maybe? Half the wedding guests haven’t arrived yet. I already did most of the talking, you’ll just have to dance and smile and nod. Adalbrecht is being fussy about Emeric, but just laugh it off and he’ll settle down.”

She lets out a breath. “Then … I think I can do this for twenty-five minutes. Thirty at most.”

“If it takes longer than that, we’ve got bigger problems.” I let go of the false ruby, and it stays put. “There. Now put on the pearls. They help with the hair.”

I realize my mistake as soon as the pearls are on. The image they produce is the same no matter the wearer, but how they get her there is the opposite of me, narrowing Gisele’s shoulders, carving out curves instead of adding them, even taking an inch or two off her height. Dame von Falbirg must have asked for this specific form when she bought the enchantment. I never said anything to Gisele about it, but it’s eerily close to the older portraits of the dame as a younger woman.

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