Slayer in Lace_The Beginning by D. D. Miers & Jessica Soucy

Author:D. D. Miers & Jessica Soucy [Miers, D. D. & Soucy, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

By sheer luck, a new carriage was delivered in time for Emma to attend the masquerade ball. It was the one event of the year in which she could attend without her father’s escort, and seated in the carriage alone, she questioned her decisions.

Often women planned their costumed ball gowns for such an event months in advance. Seamstresses were hounded, costumers were left without sleep, and weary fathers begged for their wallet’s respite. All Emma had wanted was a gown to give her the freedom to move if she were forced into a fight.

The world’s socialites always looked to Paris for the latest in fashion, and while bustles were popular, they went against everything she needed. She’d wanted something slimmer and unencumbered, even if that meant less places to hide weapons on her person.

She wore the opposite of what she wanted. Her corset, while annoying, slimmed her thin waist while her silk skirt fell with barely any petticoats beneath it. Above the tapered sleeves of her dress was no jacket, leaving much of her arms and shoulders bare.

She was dressed as the Madame of a French brothel, swathed in red and adorned with a pair of devil horns atop her head. It would surely be a costume to turn heads, which wasn’t entirely her goal, but the broad, scrolled mask would also keep her identity safely concealed.

As the carriage jerked to a stop and the door swung open, mortification slammed into her and she thought death a better option than going inside. Still, she had work to do, and with the aid of a deep breath, she took the footman’s offered hand and left the safety of her carriage.

What would Frederick think of me now?

It wasn’t a question she often asked herself. Surely, he would have been shocked.

Twice before Emma had attended a masquerade ball, but nothing compared to the splendor she found inside the grand ballroom. The pristine marbled floors and mahogany-lined walls glittered with the light of thousands of candles. Only the most perfect of wide, white roses filled vast vases in every corner, while the doorways looked like an arbor transporting the guests into a fairy-tale garden extravaganza.

Even the trays of food Emma saw drifting past on the hands of servers were touched by creativity and grandeur, leaving her to question whether the sandwiches were cakes or the cakes were sandwiches.

“Madame,” a single male, broad of shoulders and beaming with a pearly white grin greeted her.

Apparently, her costume worked.

“Sir,” she offered simply with a nod of her head as she continued on. She noticed the disappointment in his eyes as she’d walked off.

She settled herself farther into the ballroom, off to one side where she could easily observe the crowd. Somewhere among the masked women were Henrietta and Victoria. But no matter how much she focused her eyes in puzzlement, she couldn’t find either one of them. No one looked familiar, and she wondered if Callom had stood her up.

Not that they’d agreed to attend together.

With

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