The ballroom glimmered with chandeliers and gold. Silk gowns swept the marble floors, lace fans fluttered, and the music from the string quartet wove through the air like smoke. Nobles whispered behind masks, laughing into their champagne flutes. The Duke’s masquerade was infamous. No one left without a secret.
She stood at the edge of the room, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. The dress he’d chosen for her was silk the color of blood, clinging to her body in ways that made her chest rise and fall too quickly. A thin black mask covered half her face. Everyone around her sparkled. She burned.
She felt him before she saw him.
The crowd seemed to part around him naturally, as though no one dared to stand too close. He wore a black mask, simple and sharp, and a suit cut to his for
