It seemed that Lord James Amberly was sufficiently obedient to follow Andrew's orders. I'd only just barely made it back to Ella's suite in time for them to return, throwing myself onto the love seat and picking up the first book I could find. James cast a suspicious glance over the room upon seeing me so relaxed, but still said nothing. Whatever had transpired during their walk had turned Ella as giddy as a schoolgirl, secret smiles blooming on her face all day long.

It was only upon collecting her messages the next morning that the puzzle pieces fit into place. Buried among the usual correspondence was a very familiar looking envelope. Checking that I was alone in the sitting room while Emily and Rosanna were dressing Ella for breakfast with the royal family, I slid the masquerade invitation out of the unsealed envelope.

Lord James Quentin Amberly

requests your presence at the

Midsummer Night's Masquerade

I bit my lips to keep the squeak of delight from escaping them as I slid the invitation back into its envelope. I jumbled it back in with the other messages and forced a yawn as I returned to Ella's room in an effort to conceal my excitement. I set the letters down on the dressing table for her, taking a seat on the edge of her bed to wait for her reaction. Rosanna was fussing in the closet once again while Emily pinned Ella's hair, my cousin reaching for the messages with a tired sigh. She sifted through them, only for her hands to still as they came upon the heavy cream invitation envelope.

"That looks important," Emily remarked, always looking over Ella's shoulder. Ella slid the invitation out, her wide blue eyes running over it before she lifted a shaky hand to her mouth.

"Well that is certainly something, an invitation from the prince's closest friend! Surely you are rising in Andrew's favour once more!" Emily gushed, barely able to stifle the grin on her face as she resumed pinning Ella's hair.

"He sent me his invitation," was all Ella breathed, her eyes still riveted on the lilting calligraphy..

"Who did?" Rosanna asked, coming out of the closet with a charming pink day dress for breakfast.

"Lord Amberly, the prince's closest friend," Emily said, "Isn't it marvellous?"

"Oh Ella, well done! Next to getting the prince's own invitation, that is the most coveted envelope in the entire kingdom!" Rosanna gushed. I shifted uncomfortably at her words, still watching Ella. If Rosanna was speaking the truth, the invitation I now carried around wedged between my bodice and corset for safekeeping was apparently the most sought after in the entire realm...

"I don't care who gets the prince's invitation," Ella breathed, pressing the paper to her chest as she closed her eyes, "This is the one that I wanted,"

She was met with stunned silence as Emily and Rosanna exchanged a look.

"Ella...you can't mean you've stopped pursuing the prince," Emily said, pausing in her hair pinning to stare at my cousin in the mirror. When Ella's blue eyes opened, she was ready to face the questions in Emily's.

"Every time I have a moment alone with the prince, I'm always acutely aware of all the other debutantes vying for his time and hovering around us. But when I'm with James, it's as if I'm the only woman in the entire ballroom. I'd much prefer a man who makes me feel that way rather than one who jumps from debutante to debutante with hardly a second to spare," she said, shooting a look at both Rosanna and Emily as if daring them to defy her. I wanted to whoop in agreement and congratulate my cousin, but the silence hung tensely in the air.

"But...the prince..." Emily said weakly, the hairpins scattering on the floor as they fell from her fingers.

"I suppose Lord Amberly is the next most desirable bachelor in the country," Rosanna said fairly, but she and Emily were visibly morose that their debutante had given up her pursuit of the prince.

"Well I think that's splendid news!" I said, clapping my hands as I rose from the bed. Instead of smiling, however, Ella shot me a wary look in the mirror as if preparing to fend me off as well.

"I think you're going to have a wonderful time with Ja...Lord Amberly. But a masquerade, whatever are we going to use for a costume?" I continued, staring at each of them in turn.

The question was enough to send Emily and Rosanna into a tizzy, as if it hadn't even dawned on them that Ella would need a costume in a few weeks' time. As they flitted around the room, collecting accessories and rummaging through dresses, Ella shot me a grateful look in the mirror. I smiled at her, hoping she would forgive me for the invitation I was hiding under my clothes.

***

That evening, Ella allowed me to attend the games night that had been arranged for the Season's participants. The ballroom had been filled with gaming tables for all manner of gambling, from dice to cards, but we were all under strict instructions that the only currency in play was that of the chips they'd handed out to us.

"I've always hated gambling," Georgina said, coming up beside me as I watched Ella play a game of whist, with Sarah as her partner against Mary and Ashley. Ashley laughed riotously as she chattered with Mary, her eyes wandering the room in search for the royals that hadn't arrived yet.

"Really? I think it's exciting!" I said, only for Georgina to pull a face that made ma laugh.

"Here, have my chips," she said, handing me the purse she'd been given to play. I shook it, deciding it was still just as full as mine.

"You're almost as much of a spoilsport as my brother," I said, pouring the contents of her purse into mine.

"Xavier?" Georgina asked, "He didn't seem like much of a spoilsport,"

"No, Edward's the spoilsport, but I think it's because he has terrible luck. Xavier loves cards. He has some tricky way of always winning," I said. Georgina hummed, looking down at the game before us as Ashley squealed with a win, collecting some of Ella and Sarah's chips.

"Let's go find something to do with all this fake money," I said, jingling my overstuffed purse at Georgina. She reluctantly followed as I wove my way between the tables, deciding what to play. The ballroom was packed, all of the ladies-in-waiting in attendance with their debutantes, as well as a number of young noble men in order to balance out the evening.

"Oh look, a Hazard table!" I said, grabbing Georgina by the arm, "Let's play!"

Georgina moaned as I dragged her to the rather vacant table, enthusiastically laying out some of my chips. The butler running the table sniffed and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. It was the same one I'd given my handkerchief to outside of the croquet garden. His face was fixed in a permanent sneer as if in disbelief that he was running a table game, but he pressed on with an explanation of the rules nonetheless.

"The rules of the game are simple, you take two dice-" he started, his voice drawling on as I snatched the dice from the table and interrupted him.

"Yes, yes. I call a main between 5 and 9 and the dice determine if I win or not," I said, "I call a six,"

I tossed the dice and they turned up a one and a three for a total of four. I was reaching for them again before the butler could explain.

"Well done miss, it appears you've thrown a chance," he said as I shook the dice in my hands again, "You may toss again until-"

I threw the dice before he could finish speaking, yelping with glee when it turned up a five and a two for a total of seven.

"Congratulations, you threw a second chance," the butler said with a definite lack of enthusiasm as he counted out the chips I'd won. I left them on the table, intent to play again.

"I don't understand at all. I thought you had to roll a six?" Georgina said.

"Don't worry about the rules, just keep up whatever you're doing that's bringing me luck!" I said, juggling the dice between my fingers.

"Gambling is so pointless," Georgina said eventually, when I'd won three rounds then lost it all in the fourth.

"But so much more entertaining than twiddling my thumbs stuck in Ella's suite," I said, handing over more of my chips to play again. I rolled, determined not to let the disinterested butler or the skeptical lady-in-waiting ruin my fun. When it hit on the eight that I'd called, I whooped once more, only to jump in fright when there was applause behind me.

"You certainly know your way around a dice table," Oliver Pendleton was saying, "I'm in the market for a partner for whist, if I can tear you away,"

"But I'm winning!" I protested.

"Which is precisely why you should quit now while you're ahead," Georgina said. I frowned at her, picking up the dice and rolling again, only to lose.

"If you insist on continuing this farce of a game, I'll play with Oliver. At least I can understand whist," Georgina sighed. Oliver offered her his elbow, the two of them leaving me alone with the sniffly butler.

"Roll again please, miss," he said, his boredom so infections that I nearly yawned myself. I did as he said and lost again, so I fished out more chips from the purse.

I continued my pattern of winning and losing until I'd exhausted the contents of my once plentiful purse. The butler gleefully informed me that the rules stated that he could only let those with chips remaining play. I resisted the urge to make a face at him as I turned away.

Across the room, a pair of green eyes were watching me. Standing behind where Ella and James were playing whist against Dorian and Sarah, Andrew was looking at me as Ashley simpered next to him. He nodded and smiled at what she had to say, but lifted his eyebrows as he looked at me. I shrugged, tipping my purse upside down to show that I'd lost it all. He grinned, which Ashley apparently took to mean he was smiling at her, so she batted his shoulder flirtatiously with her fan. That seemed to snap him out of his daze because he looked down at her as if only just noticing that she was there.

I chuckled as I shook my head at him, making my way out of the ballroom towards the little library. With no more fake currency left to play, I decided that spending the rest of the evening curled up with a good book was the more desirable alternative to watching others enjoy themselves.