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That little slip-up with the bishop had been a serious mistake, and Muriel wasn’t going to let her forget it. Elwyn honestly hadn’t been trying to cause trouble. But they had been going on and on about people she didn’t know, and her mind had wandered, as it so often did now, to Lily. She had been sitting there, remembering that kiss and how Lily’s hands had felt on her, when the bishop had interrupted her thoughts to ask how she felt about Young Broderick. And she had been so startled that she had answered him with complete honesty.
Now it was Friday, and Muriel had come up to fetch her for the party personally, wearing an expression that would have frozen a whistling tea kettle. “I expect you to make more of an effort this time,” the baroness said, walking around her and examining the new red silk dress. “No pouting, no grumbling, no eye-rolling. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” sighed Elwyn.
“And no sighing, either, unless it’s a sigh of love for your fiancé. Remember, I’m going to be watching.”
They went down to the party, and Muriel handed her off to Young Broderick, who wore a tunic and trousers in the exact same bright red color as her dress. Muriel’s idea for the party was that everyone had to wear elaborate masks, studded with feathers or covered in sequins, and of course his mask and Elwyn’s matched perfectly. Elwyn thought they looked ridiculous together, and judging by his apologetic grimace when he bowed and said hello, he agreed.
When they were out of earshot of Muriel, he whispered, “I’m sorry to say my mother has given me a list of people we’re supposed to talk to tonight. Oh, and we’re being followed, if you haven’t already noticed.” He turned slightly, nodding over his shoulder.
Elwyn waited a few steps. Then she turned and saw Squire Kevin and Lady Karlina Selberssen about ten paces behind them. Their masks did nothing to hide Karlina’s bored slouch, or Kevin’s general awkwardness. Seeing her looking at them, they both hurriedly turned to examine one of the potted ferns.
“Oh, Earstien, how stupid,” she said.
“Maybe we should have a drink first,” he suggested.
She had two glasses of wine in rapid succession, and would have had a third if she hadn’t suspected Muriel would give her a lecture about it later. As the alcohol hit her, she relaxed, and she decided she might be able to get through the evening. She was ready to go and do her duty, and was reaching out to take her fiancé’s arm, when she spotted Lily and Senator Pellus moving through the crowd.
Lily had on a white mask and a close-fitting white dress with a belt of silver medallions, and the bodice was cut a few inches lower than Elwyn would ever have dared. Her dark hair was twisted up on her head with silver pins, revealing her long, graceful neck. It was like an invitation, like she was waiting for someone to come up behind her and lean in to nibble there.
“Oh, dear,” said Elwyn, turning to Young Broderick. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have had that much to drink on an empty stomach. You’ll have to excuse me for a few minutes.”
He probably said something polite in response, but she barely heard him. She left the drinks table and hurried off to follow Lily. This was stupid and careless—she knew that. But she honestly couldn’t stop herself. She felt like she was being dragged along by a strong current, pulled down so she could hardly breathe. She had never felt this way about someone before. And indeed, she had never imagined it was possible to feel this way.
At the door to Queen Maud’s Garden, she turned around and saw Karlina Selberssen following her. Then, a few yards farther on, she chanced to see Sir Robert Tynsdale loitering about, and she ran up to him. She told him about Karlina and said, “I don’t suppose you could stall her or distract her or something, could you?”
“With pleasure, my lady,” he said, bowing. Half a minute later, when she turned around again, she saw he had stopped Karlina and appeared to be tempting her with plates of pastries. Grinning, Elwyn slipped around the corner of the hedges.
Lily and Pellus stood with a group of other foreign diplomats and expatriates. Elwyn recognized the Tartuvian ambassador and a wealthy Sahasran silk merchant who lived in town. Lily was chatting and laughing with them all, but Elwyn walked straight up to her, not even caring if she seemed rude.
“I don’t suppose I could see you for a moment, could I?” she asked.
Lily tipped back her mask, and the expression on her face, wide-eyed with pure joy, made Elwyn want to melt on the spot. “Of course. I’d love to.” Turning to Pellus, she said, “Excuse me for a few minutes. The princess and I have some very important things we need to discuss.”
“Wedding planning,” Elwyn suggested, with a sudden burst of inspiration.
“Exactly,” said Lily. “We have to look at fabric swatches and things like that.”
They walked off, side by side, around the hedges and under the arbor. Elwyn reached out, searching for Lily’s hand. After a second, she felt Lily’s fingertips brush against her own, and she looked down to see that Lily had been doing the same thing—reaching for her. They clasped hands, and Elwyn brought Lily’s hand up so she could kiss it.
“Where are we going?” asked Lily.
“I don’t know,” Elwyn admitted, with a nervous giggle. “I just wanted to be alone with you.”
Past the end of the arbor, near the outer wall, the lines of paper lanterns ended, and almost no moonlight penetrated the spreading willows. The girls stepped through the curtain of trailing branches and then, almost instantly, Elwyn threw herself into Lily’s arms.
They kissed, and Elwyn felt like she could have devoured Lily on the spot. She went down that long neck, kissing and sucking at the warm, smooth flesh, while Lily moaned softly. Then Lily drew her in close, and ran her hands all over her hips and backside, until Elwyn was squirming and gasping, longing for Lily to put her hand up her dress.
Lily stopped and took a step back. “No. No, no, no. We can’t do this. We really shouldn’t.” Her face was flushed, and her eyes were squeezed shut, like she was trying to block out temptation.
“Why not?” Elwyn asked, stepping up and taking Lily’s hands in hers.
“Because I told you I’d help you and your family. And if we keep doing this...and if we do more than this...it will make everything so very much more complicated.”
“If you want to help me,” said Elwyn, leaning in and nuzzling against the tops of Lily’s breasts, “then this will help me more than anything. I need you.”
“Oh, gods,” whispered Lily. “I was really going to try to be good. But fuck it.” She lifted Elwyn’s chin and kissed her again, over and over. “We need...to go...somewhere...more private,” she said, in between kisses.
Elwyn thought the space under the willow was good enough, but then again, anyone at court could walk around the corner at any time. She thought about all the places in the castle they could go, all the storerooms and the guest rooms, and the glass chambers high atop the four towers. But then she realized the perfect solution was also the simplest.
“Come up to my room,” she said.
“Your room? Won’t people see us there?”
“No. We can go up there through the servants’ stairways. No one will pay us any attention—they’ll be too busy moving things here and there for the party. Once we’re up there, the children will have gone to bed. My mother’s room is on the other side of the nursery. And Phoebe is at a different party at her aunt’s house in town. We’ll be completely alone.”
At a clearer-headed, less frantic moment, Elwyn would surely have dismissed her own idea as absurdly risky, but right there and then, with Lily’s lips on her neck, and Lily’s chest heaving against her own, she couldn’t see why this wasn’t a brilliant plan.
And apparently neither could Lily. “Lead the way,” she whispered.
Elwyn took her along the wall, then circled around by the Royal Chapel, where they dashed from archway to archway, laughing and holding hands. Near the side door of the chapel, Lily pulled Elwyn in for another kiss.
“Oh, this is so wrong,” Elwyn thought. She had gone to church on the other side of that door for years, and now she would never be able to walk through this little portico without remembering the feel of Lily’s hands on her.
They slipped in the side door of the palace with a line of servants carrying huge silver plates of food from the kitchen. If any of them knew it was the princess in that red mask, they said nothing. This was her party, after all. If she found it amusing to show her friend the servants’ corridors, then who could tell her not to?
Halfway up the servants’ stairway, they reached a darkened corner, and Elwyn paused, hoping Lily would come up behind and touch her. And she did, sliding a hand up the back of Elwyn’s thigh and around in between. Elwyn let out a little gasp, and she would have fallen over if she hadn’t kept a hand on the railing. She moved her hips, pushing against Lily’s hand, but then they heard servants coming down the stairs from above, and they had to step apart again.
She took Lily through one of the low-vaulted interstitial floors, where dark storerooms beckoned on either side. But having come this far, it seemed silly not to continue on to her apartment, with its soft, spacious bed and a beautiful view over the city.
They kissed again in the last stairwell, and Elwyn only realized at that moment she hadn’t seen a single soldier on guard, anywhere in the servants’ corridors below. That was very odd. Maybe Colonel Rath thought his men had better things to do. Maybe the soldiers had been given the night off. Whatever the reason, it didn’t interest Elwyn. She pulled Lily into her room, shut the door to the servants’ stairs, and started tugging at the laces of her bodice.
“Oh, gods, yes,” said Lily. “Just...be careful not to pull too hard. We both have to go back downstairs eventually.”
“If I rip anything, you can borrow one of my dresses,” said Elwyn.
She got the bodice open, and she pulled down Lily’s shift, revealing her round, full breasts. She took a hard little nipple in her mouth, licking and sucking, then nibbling. Lily let out a little shriek that might have been either pleasure or pain. Or possibly both.
Elwyn looked up. “I’m sorry. I really have no idea what I’m doing. That didn’t hurt, did it?”
“It did,” moaned Lily, “and it was perfect. Do it again.”