My Marionette Lover novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Gala

Three hundred people sat in the great hall of Redfern Hall, under the dark beams, in black tie and long gowns.

The candles in the iron stands were all lit.

At the far end, where the fireplace was, Birdie had built a stage of black platforms with a curtain of heavy velvet.

I stood behind the curtain in my funeral dress with the Prince's bar in my hands and my heart in my teeth.

From the wings I could see the front row.

Augusta sat in the middle of it in gray silk, with the brooch at her throat and her hands crossed on her knee.

The board sat on either side of her.

Arlen sat on her left, in a black suit, as empty and pretty as a doll.

I had watched him cross the threshold at seven, still himself.

I had watched his face go blank at the first step into the hall.

The black net had come down over him in the doorway, a hundred lines at once.

I was too far from him to fight it, and I had promised myself I would not try.

Not yet.

Augusta rose and went to the little lectern at the foot of the stage.

She did not need the microphone.

"Friends," she said, and the hall went quiet. "Thank you for coming to honor my grandson."

"In six weeks he will be twenty-two."

"Tonight I have a happy announcement."

She held out her hand toward the second row.

"Miss Imogen Slaidburn, would you join Arlen?"

Imogen stood up.

She wore a long cream gown with one sleeve cut to hold her splint, and her blond hair fell loose to her shoulders.

Her right wrist was still bandaged.

Her left was bare.

She walked down the aisle, past three hundred faces, and stopped at the foot of the stage.

She did not go to Arlen.

"No," Imogen said.

Her voice was small, and every person in the hall heard it.

Augusta's smile did not move.

"I beg your pardon?"

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