To hide how flustered I was, I reached out and put my hands over Cookie’s ears, whispering, “Not in front of the child.”

Elle laughed, a sound that made my knees go just as weak as her words, and gently set Cookie down on the floor before swinging her feet over the edge as well. “Let’s get ready then. We still have to see Mrs. Whitworth before the banquet.”

I yawned one more time before I followed her into the bathroom. We got ready in comfortable silence, for the most part—at least until I reached for my foundation to cover the faint splatter of freckles on my nose.

“Don’t.” Elle lightly clasped my wrist. “I love all eighteen of them.”

All it took were seven words from her to render me completely useless. I stared at her, my hands frozen halfway to my face and my mouth agape, until she leaned forward to press a kiss to the tip of my nose. “Time is ticking, love.”

Mental note: find out if I can buy smel ing salts online.

We stepped out into the corridor a few minutes later. Elle didn’t lock the door; instead, she left it slightly ajar so that Cookie could wander around the castle if she felt like it.

Mrs. Whitworth’s office was in one of the towers, overseeing the premises. I climbed the stairs in front of Elle—while I was wearing a knee-length, light pink dress, she had slipped into a tight-fitting, sparkly red evening gown that she had to gather in her hands so as not to step on it.

Jasper and Seth were waiting in front of the door, both dressed in suits. Whereas Seth was wearing a classic black-and-white three-piece, Jasper had gone for a more extravagant suit in a wine-red color.

“Salut,” he said when we stopped in front of them. “You two look beautiful.”

I gestured at Jasper’s fingernails, which for once, weren’t painted black or silver but the color of his suit, “You too! I love the nails.”

“Thanks, princesse. Seth painted them.”

“He only had to use half a bottle of nail polish remover to clean them up afterward,” Seth laughed.

Jasper only smiled.

“What has you grinning like that, Frenchie?” Elle asked, poking his arm. “Do you have something to tell?”

“Welll. . .” he said, clearing his throat. “I had a phone call with my parents earlier. I finally came out to them.”

Elle and I gasped in unison. “That’s amazing!” she said, getting onto her tiptoes to pull him into a hug. “Did they understand the whole pansexuality thing?”

“Not at all,” he laughed. “But they understood that I have a boyfriend, so that’s something.”

“They invited us to come to Marseilles in spring,” Seth threw in, a broad grin on his face.

Elle finally let go of Jasper. “That’s awesome. I’m so proud of you, Jas, honestly.”

“Aw,” Jasper cooed, patting her head. “Soft Ashley is here to stay, huh?”

That was another thing that had changed. Since our return to the castle, Elle had stripped off her alias and reclaimed her real name. When I had asked her what she wanted me to call her, she told me to keep calling her by the nickname I had given her; Noelle represented the years of hiding and living in fear, but Elle was something else, a reminder that there had been light even during the darkest time in her life that was only reserved for the two of us.