“You can’t.” Han said. “Better work fast. I won’t be in town for long. I’ll check back day after tomorrow.”

C H A P T E R  T W E N T Y - T H R E E

NAME
DAY 2

Raisa awoke the next morning, unrefreshed. She’d had the strangest dreams. They seemed to involve Amon, but they slipped away each time she reached for them. She snuggled down under the covers, hoping to enmesh herself again, but her mind raced and sleep eluded her.

Her name day. The day she was officially proclaimed eligible to marry. The day she was officially named heir to the throne and began training for her role as queen.

Tonight, finally, the formal dance of suitors would begin.

Her dress hung on its form, a silhouette against the window, the shape of the person she was supposed to be. She’d issued no proclamations about dress for her party. She hoped for a riotous garden of color, but expected that most would wear virginal white.

Raisa looked awful in white—this was another bone of contention between her and her mother. She would have chosen black, but she’d have settled for crimson or even emerald green, to set off her eyes. She’d ended with a champagne-color satin and lace that exposed her shoulders. There was nothing girlish about it, at least.

Yawning, she climbed out of bed in her nightgown and padded into her sitting room. Magret had breakfast under way.

“I thought you’d sleep later, so as to be fresh for tonight,” Magret said. “I could have brought you breakfast in bed.”

Raisa stared at Magret. Her nurse was encouraging her to sleep in so she could stay out late. It was an entire season of firsts. “Well, I just couldn’t sleep anymore,” she said, sorting through the piles of cards, notes, and letters in the basket by the door. “Any word from my father?”

“No, Your Highness,” Magret said. “But don’t worry. If he’s not here already, he’s on his way. He wouldn’t miss it.”

“I know.” Raisa couldn’t shake a feeling of unease. “Could you…could you send to Kendall House and tell them to let me know as soon as he’s arrived?” Her father had remained at Kendall House, since he was still out of favor with the queen.

Magret enfolded Raisa in her arms, patting her back. “Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s just name day jitters. Tonight will be a night you’ll always remember.”

There are different reasons for remembering things, Raisa thought. Some good, some bad.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of bathing, buffing, combing, and coloring. “It probably takes less time to fit out a ship to go to sea,” Raisa complained when the nail-painters left and the hairdressers filed in.

Still, no word came from Kendall House.