They were going back to the hotel for the afternoon. Marian could have hugged the High Lord for saying the morning had tired him and he needed to rest. Days spent doing heavy cleaning were less exhausting than a shopping trip with Jaenelle Angelline, and she welcomed the chance to get off her feet. They would have their midday meal at the hotel, and then—

“This evening I’ll take you two ladies to dinner,” the High Lord said as they waited patiently for a horse-drawn cab that would take them back to the hotel.

Marian’s heart sank. They’d made it easy for her to forget she was a servant, that the social status between them was as wide a difference as her Purple Dusk Jewels were to the Black. But those differences would become painfully apparent even before they left the hotel, and she didn’t want him to feel ashamed of being seen with her.

“You don’t have to include me,” Marian said. “I’m sure you and Lady Angelline—”

“You don’t want to join us?” His words were gently spoken, but there was an undercurrent she didn’t understand. “Why?”

She had an odd feeling that it wasn’t their acceptance of her but her acceptance of them that was really being questioned. So she told the truth and hoped he was one of those males who understood female vanity. “I don’t have anything suitable to wear.” Which was true. She was wearing the skirt and tunic Jaenelle had given her, and they were the best clothes she owned—far nicer than the things Luthvian had handed down to her—but they weren’t appropriate for dining out.

The High Lord froze, and Jaenelle, who had been watching the street for a cab, slowly pivoted to face her. The chilly anger in the High Lord’s eyes made her nervous, but it was the cold fury in the Queen’s eyes that scared her.

The next thing she knew, a cab pulled up, she was bundled into it, and the High Lord was giving instructions to take them to the clothing shops.

Not sure what she’d done to upset both of them, she hunched in her seat, her wings curved around her body since that was the only way she could sit in a cab that wasn’t designed for winged passengers. She didn’t dare mention that the High Lord had wanted to rest or that she didn’t think she could afford a dress from any shop he would choose to patronize. She stayed quiet to avoid having that chilling anger focused on her.