I was aching to look through it all, discover just what we had, but she told me to go to the reception, and so I would. She was right, of course; we had to be visible.

Scarlet’s trunk was old, and it took several attempts to get the key in properly. When I finally did, I buried the letters, wrapped in a set of stockings, at the very bottom before locking it again. And then, as if it would somehow be safer, I shoved it under the bed.

I took a deep breath and straightened my gown. It was time to celebrate a wedding.

Twenty-Four

THE GREAT ROOM HAD BEEN made over for the reception. Everything was decked in white. Tapestries, flowers, ribbons, the whole lot was clean and clear and pure. The tables were arranged again for dancing, and the newly wedded couple were already sitting at the head table, nodding at those who looked their way.

“Feeling better, Hollis?” Mother asked pointedly. I didn’t know who was watching, but I played along.

“Yes. I was bit warm back at the temple, but I’m much better now.”

“Have something to drink,” Etan insisted, standing so I could take his seat.

“Thank you.”

“I am going to eat sweets until I’m sick,” Scarlet declared.

“Excellent plan.” I turned to survey the festivities. For the first time, I stopped taking in the room as a whole and saw it was very easy to break the crowd down into two sets of people: those who were smiling and those who weren’t.

There were some who politely forced a happy face when someone approached them, but more often than not, it looked like people were not as delighted as they were expected to be with this arrangement.

Were people now balancing on a tipping point with Silas killed at Quinten’s orders? If we could show them proof, would the majority of this room rally behind Uncle Reid?

I thought of the trunk under my bed, aching to know what those letters said, hoping more than I could say that something was finally falling in our favor.

Etan bent down to my ear, his breath tickling me as he spoke. “Did Valentina deliver?”

He hadn’t said anything about last night, hadn’t said he wanted to kiss me again, hadn’t said he regretted the entire thing. All I knew was that him being this close to me made my skin wake up, hoping that he might touch me. I knew I’d already committed his scent to memory, deciding overnight that if the wind had a smell, it was embedded in him. I knew that if he pulled me into a corner and kissed me now, I’d welcome it.

I simply nodded, and he smiled as he stood back up.

The music changed, and I saw the space in the middle of the floor clear.

“Oh, Hollis,” Uncle Reid called. “Could you please accompany Etan in the first dance?”