If You Leave, I Leave novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Night Before

Aveline's POV

"Not the grey," Tilda said. "Grey is what you wear to a funeral or a tax audit."

Her two hired models stood on either side of the bed in the west wing, each holding up a gown on a hanger.

One was green and one was a deep wine red.

"Neither," I said. "I'm wearing the brown wool."

"To a Gala?"

"It's mine. Everything else in this palace was lent to me."

Tilda looked at the wool dress on the chair for a long moment, and then at me.

"Fine," she said. "But you'll wear the red coat over it, and you'll look like a woman who owns the building."

"It's the night before, Tilda. I'm not planning to own anything."

"That's why you're going to need the coat."

For seventeen nights, I had gone to the grate at the top of the cell stair.

I had talked to Corwin through the iron until the guard cleared his throat, and I had never once been allowed to touch him.

Tonight, the door of the west wing opened without a knock.

Piers came in with a small iron key in his hand.

"I stole it from the steward's coat," he said. "I practised pickpocketing for a film. It was the only thing I ever learned from a director."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"In the orangery. I walked him up the back stair myself. You have until the guards change at dawn." He swallowed. "Please don't tell my father I did something brave."

Tilda stood and kissed his cheek, hard.

"Terms still stand," she said.

"I'm carrying the bags."

"You're a good boy. Go."

She turned and held the wine gown against my shoulder, one last time.

"I owe you a second model," she told me. "A promise is a promise. But the one you got is excellent."

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