Chapter 8: Scissors

The Linden Studio fitting room was the size of a closet, and there were fourteen people in it.

I stood on a box in the Queen of Spring gown while two seamstresses worked on the hem.

It was ivory silk, cut low in the back, with a train that took four people to carry.

Tobias had called it the gown that would close the show.

My head wasn't in the room at all.

I had spent a night and a day trying to make Hettie tell me what Honoria meant, and she had only said she needed to find something first.

I hadn't slept. I could barely hear the pins.

"Hold still, please," a seamstress murmured.

"Sorry."

The door opened without a knock.

Monique Merrick walked in.

She wore a long camel coat, sunglasses on her head, and a bright, wide smile.

"Hello, everyone! Don't mind me."

Tobias came around the rack. "Ms. Merrick, this is a closed fitting."

"Oh, I'm not here as a model. I'm a guest of the Hallworth house."

She looked at the gown. "It's gorgeous. Silk shows everything, doesn't it?"

"Leave, please."

"In a moment. I'd love to touch the train."

She stepped behind me.

I couldn't see her, only the mirror in front of us, and in it, her hand slid into her coat pocket.

Something silver flashed.

The seamstress at my hem frowned.

"Ma'am, don't."

I looked down over my shoulder.

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