“No one knows. Rumor has it that she is a minor Herrani aristocrat. Honestly, though, no one had even heard of Herran until she arrived. There have been a few travelers before, here and there, who have turned up on our shores, but no one like her. I think”—the woman’s voice lowered conspiratorially—“she has capitalized wonderfully on the air of mystery surrounding her. Questions are so much more desirable than answers.” She poured herself a cup of tea and sipped as she stood, the wafer-thin saucer on one palm, her gray eyes smiling at me over the glass cup’s brim. “Watch out, dear.”

“Why?” I felt heat rise to my cheeks. “What else is said about her?”

“That she is as bad as a boy.”

She drew me in front of a tall, scalloped mirror that I recognized as having been made by Terrin in the Ward. Madame Mere positioned me in front of the mirror and stood slightly behind me, looking over my shoulder at the two of us in the reflection. At first, I was too distracted by Madame Mere’s words to truly see myself. They warmed my skin. They reached deep inside me to tug at my heart.

And then I was distracted by the dressmaker’s wings, how they arched behind both of us as if they belonged to me, too.

But finally, my eyes settled on myself in the mirror.

Large eyes. Careful mouth. Wild hair. A nearly healed burn that would probably never go away completely. My dress looked like a sack.

Madame Merle plucked at the cloth, rubbing it between forefinger and thumb. “I’m not sure who dressed you,” she said, “but the look is impressively authentic.”

My gaze shifted to her face, to see if she suspected. But her face looked placid … too placid. Perfectly lineless, even. I turned from the mirror to look directly at her. The wrinkles I had seen earlier on her face had somehow smoothed away.

“Tell me what you want,” she said, “and I will make it happen.”

I want my liar, I thought.

I want her mouth.

I want her perfume to rub off on my skin like bruised grass.

A bubble of longing rose into my throat. “I want to be beautiful.”

“Of course,” the woman said. “Don’t we all?”

37