In a fitted black dress, Lovisa stepped behind the cover of a gaggle of academy boys who apparently found themselves hilarious. Reaching into the collar of her dress, she touched the string on which hung the attic room key she’d had made in one of the ambles. It scratched against her skin, for the woman who’d crafted it had inexplicably added a fake red gemstone, made of cheap glass, to its top. “Turns it into something special,” she’d said, with a crooked-toothed smile. Lovisa had been embarrassed for her.

From her hidden position, Lovisa looked around. She spotted her father pretty quickly on a staircase, raised above the crowd like an actor on a stage, conversing with the chief of the Ledra Magistry. Then Ta Varana walked by, radiant in a deep pink dress. Could Ta be her decoy? They’d kissed once. It had been fine, except that Ta had kept talking, and talking, and talking. Even the memory was tiresome.

A fox scurried past, racing up to the second-story gallery that stretched around the perimeter of the entrance hall. Sighing, Lovisa saw herself spending most of the night chasing foxes into corners, then struggling to decide if they were the one she was looking for. She watched her mother join her father, then descend with him to Arni and Mara Devret, Mari’s parents. Ferla’s mouth smiled stiffly and Lovisa wondered if she herself looked like that when she smiled. Like it hurt her face.

Nearby, Lovisa spotted Mari with a few of his friends, including Ta. As she approached, she was surprised to notice that Nev was among them. Her surprise faded as she got close enough to overhear the conversation.

“What do you want, Nev?” said Pari Parnin.

Nev shrugged. “You spoke to me first. You said, ‘Nice party,’ so I said, ‘Yes.’”

“I didn’t,” said Pari.

“Okay. You’re right. I just announced the word yes to the air for no reason.”

“Didn’t you used to scream that a lot?” said Pari. “When you were with Mari?”

Nev paused for a beat, looking into Pari’s smirking, self-congratulatory face. “Mari is a nice person,” she said flatly. “I don’t think he’d tell you, or anyone, anything about what we used to do. Or what he does with anyone.” She shrugged again. “And maybe he doesn’t like you suggesting he would.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Pari with a nasty smile.

Nev rested her eyes on Mari, who was frowning at the floor in misery and embarrassment. She glanced at the others in the group, who were twisting their mouths and tittering. Nev’s eyes, cold and scornful, raked sharply across Lovisa, then she turned and walked away. She held her injured fox kit in one arm, tightly enough that she was squirming. The squirming fox was the only evidence that Nev was more upset than she pretended.