Chapter 6: The Uninvited Apology

The apology reception had three possible entrances and no possible recipient.

Cyralise had declined.

Belsienne had declined.

Darian had invited everyone else to witness Maerielle's generosity anyway.

She stood in the doorway while the first guests admired the flowers.

Her cousin had placed the vase where its buttered stem couldn't be seen.

It was the most considerate thing he'd done for her that day.

She wished it had been useful.

"There isn't an apology reception," she told the room.

Darian turned toward her, still smiling.

"Naturally, we needn't call it that."

"We needn't hold it."

The guests looked at the arranged chairs.

One woman had already taken off her gloves.

Another had found the cakes.

Maerielle felt responsible for their inconvenience.

That didn't make the absent women's refusal less real.

"My cousin invited you without asking me," she said.

"The people concerned have declined to attend."

Darian held out a hand toward the nearest empty chair.

"We can honor their feelings in their absence."

Maerielle pictured Cyralise hearing that phrase repeated around the court.

She put her hand on the chair back and moved it away from the little platform.

"We won't," she said.

Her cousin took her elbow.

She removed his hand.

The guests saw both movements.

She was glad they'd seen them, even though she hated the heat in her face.

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