Seven for a Secret by Elizabeth Bear

Author:Elizabeth Bear
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Vampires, London (England), Fantasy, SteamPunk, Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Historical, Occult & Supernatural
ISBN: 9781596062337
Publisher: Subterranean
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

4.

The afternoon drill ended with forty-five minutes of catechism in the rights and duties of Prussian officers and Prussian women, which Ruth had memorized to the point of dreaming it. Which was a lucky thing, because she could barely keep her eyes open for the duration of the lesson. The question-and-response seemed endless, chants like a litany, and she knew she would hear it echoing in her head for hours afterwards.

By dinnertime, it appeared all was forgiven. Or expunged in Ruth and Adele’s hard work and suffering. They took their places among the other girls without remark, though Ruth caught the littlest ones whispering at the bottom of the table. Their own agemates—Beatrice Small, Joan Mapes, Katherine Ressler, and Jessamyn Johnson—simply kept their eyes lowered and their hands folded, waiting for Herr Professor to take his place at the head of the table. It was Jessamyn’s turn to sit in the hostess’s place at the foot of the table, for which Ruth was grateful. She did not think that she could manage to support a spirited conversation among the youngest students today.

It was all Ruth’s willpower not to fall on the bread and butter like a starving wolf while they waited, but poor table courtesy was another way to earn demerits, so—even though her stomach was rumbling loudly enough that Beatrice shot her a sidelong smile—she folded her hands in the lap of her dress and bowed her head while Herr Professor said Grace. When the bread was passed, she broke it into dainty pieces dabbed with butter, eating in small ladylike bites.

This was part of the discipline, too. Ruth felt Herr Professor’s gaze upon her every time she lowered her eyes to her plate, and so extended herself in courtesy to the girls sitting across from and beside her. Manners, decorum, strength, courage, loyalty.

The virtues of a mastiff dog.

She owed it to her family—to the world—to excel. Adele would understand, when it was done. Adele would forgive her.

Practice occasioned another costume change. Pleated knee-length skirts and tennis shoes were at least quick to slip into, and Adele was the best in the class at braiding hair. When she did it, the process might bring tears to sting Ruth’s eyes, but the braid stayed put.

Ruth smoothed her blouse over her wolfskin in the mirror, frowning critically at her reflection. She needed larger shirts. Adele came up beside her, pushing her braid aside to kiss the side of her neck, and Ruth slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her close. She felt the prickle of Adele’s wolfskin through her blouse, too, and leaned her head on Adele’s shoulder.

Adele kissed her ear. „Do you think anyone will do it tonight?”

Ruth shrugged, and let her arm slide free as she turned to the door. „There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

Downstairs in the long high-walled garden, the class shivered under a striped awning that kept off the rain but not the chill. Ruth and Adele were not the last to come down, though, and even Katherine, who was, still arrived four minutes early.

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