I spent a week trying to get the prince alone. Now that I was suddenly trying, however, stealing a moment alone with him proved nearly impossible. With the panic among the debutantes that Harriet Smith had left with Martin Pendleton and freed up a new place in the Season, Andrew was monopolized every second of every day. No one knew who would be named in Harriet's place and rumours flew about some cousin of hers being brought in from the other side of the country. Her ladies-in-waiting attended few events and were as tight lipped as ever, a gauntlet of secrecy around whomever they would next attend to. I didn't much care who replaced Harriet, but the frenzy it caused among the debutantes frustrated me to no end.

"I've heard she's spectacularly beautiful and accomplished," Emily said on the morning of the first masquerade as we sat in the queen's salon doing our needlework. Ella was disinterested, but Maisie and Hattie, two of Penelope's ladies-in-waiting, drank up Emily's gossip.

"How can you possibly know that?" I snapped, at my wit's end from listening to the same idle chatter over and over again. The three of them looked over at me in distaste before continuing as if I hadn't spoken at all.

"Well I heard she's coming from Saint Mary's," Maisie said, "She's said to be impeccably mannered. Penelope is fit to be tied,"

"And what of Ella? Is she concerned at all?" Hattie asked. I snorted, but yet again was ignored.

"Ella feels quite secure in her place with the prince," Emily sniffed, enjoying this far too much. I threw down my embroidery and stalked over to the bookshelf if only to get away from their prattling. I read over the book spines without processing them, eventually reaching for one once I'd been standing there for too long. I flipped it open before flipping it hastily closed again. It was a guidebook on how to run a household.

"Perhaps you could try this one," Princess Anne said. Her voice was quiet as she handed me a book on birds. I looked down at it then back up at her. She wasn't smiling, but her eyes were dancing.

"It has the most spectacular illustrations," she said, "I do hope you enjoy it,"

She left my side to return to the queen, whose eyes were on me. I hastily dipped my head respectfully, which seemed to satisfy the queen enough for her to turn away.

It was the first time Anne and I had spoken since we'd returned from the ride with her brothers. I was under the impression that the princess had been told to stay away from me, for whenever we were in the same room, she made a great effort to avoid me. I looked down at the bird watching book, wondering why it was so important that she'd gone ahead and spoken to me in front of her mother to deliver it to me.

I opened it and started thumbing through the pages, appreciating the full-colour illustrations of birds that seemed to leap from the page. As I turned to that of the bluebird, a piece of paper slipped from the book. I slammed the book to my chest to prevent the paper from falling, looking around to see if I was being watched. Satisfied that everyone was too absorbed in gossiping about Harriet's replacement, I reached down and unfolded the note.

I know you've been trying to speak to me and I can only hope it's not so you can refuse. Please, come tonight.

I didn't need a signature to know whose writing it was. I crumpled the note up, my heart thundering in my chest as I shoved it up my sleeve. I was staring down at the illustration of a bluebird while I willed my nerves to calm. As I blinked myself back to reality, it dawned on me that the bird was nearly the same vivid blue as the dress that sat in Audra's workshop.

I hoped Andrew had come up with some way to sneak me out from under Rosanna and Emily's haughty noses. If he hadn't, the blue dress would be doomed to remain unworn in a workshop.

***

I felt sick with nerves as we got Ella prepared for the masquerade. She was going as an angel, wings and all. If I hadn't been feeling so on edge, I would have laughed at the dress my aunt had commissioned. The "halo", a golden circlet Rosanna had perched atop Ella's curls, looked very much like a crown while the bright white dress dripping with lace was a blatant approximation of a wedding dress. As if my aunt's intentions for my cousin weren't already clear, she'd gone and dressed her up as a princess bride. When we'd bedecked Ella with a family fortune's worth of jewels and tied a golden mask onto her face, Ella finally declared herself ready. Lord Amberly appeared not a moment too soon to whisk her away.

I didn't miss the way his eyes took in my day dress, apparently satisfied that I would be stuck up here all night in a decidedly homely dress.

Once the excitement had abated, Emily and Rosanna sat down for a game of backgammon while I did my best not to pace. I could feel the night slipping away as I racked my brain for some excuse to leave the room. I couldn't pretend to go to sleep and slip out because they'd notice if I wasn't in my bed. They would never believe it if I pretended that I'd been sent for to bring something to Ella. I could feign illness and pretend to go to the infirmary, but one of them would surely accompany me...

When the clock struck eight, I was about to give up on making it to the masquerade at all when there was a knock at the door. I froze where I'd been pacing in front of the fireplace, all three sets of eyes in the room going to the door.

"Well what are you waiting for? Answer it!" Emily snapped, returning to her game. Rosanna kept her eyes on me, frowning. I did my best to keep my expression neutral as I opened the door, blinking as I took in the person standing before me.

"It seems we're both missing out on all the fun," Princess Anne said, Miss Claridge hovering a few paces behind her, "I'd hoped you'd join me in my library to read or perhaps play cards?"

I made a split second decision that it would be much easier to sneak away from the princess and her governess than it would be to get myself out of Ella's suite unnoticed. I was halfway through the door when Rosanna came up behind me, grabbing my arm. Determined not to let her ruin my night, I dropped a curtsey to the princess, forcing Rosanna to do the same.

"I don't suppose I'll be needed until curfew. I'd be delighted to join you," I said, disentangling myself from Rosanna's grip before she could say anything else.

"Oh splendid! You'll be happy to know you can hear the music if we leave the window open," Anne gushed, "It's almost as if we're really there!"

Rosanna was speechless as I closed the door behind me, allowing the princess to pull me down the hallway.

"I'm sorry we're late!" Anne whispered once we'd made it a safe distance from the door, "Mother wanted to see me before she made her entrance to the ball!"

"Late?" I asked. Anne shook her head with a grin.

"Andrew seems to think you're clever and yet you can't recognize a jailbreak when you're part of one," Anne mused, as we crossed the upper level of the entrance hall to the narrow second floor corridor towards the old palace.

"But...aren't we going to the library?" I asked. Anne shot a sidelong grin at me.

"Of course not, we're going to the seamstress," she said slyly. I looked around at Miss Claridge, who was calmly following us as if nothing was amiss.

"Anne, you-" I started, but the princess had grabbed my hand again as we paused in front of a rather unremarkable wall. Anne leaned her shoulder into it and the wall popped open to reveal a set of service stairs.

"You should know something about Andrew," she said, as she pulled the secret door open the rest of the way, "He always has a plan, a backup plan, and a backup to the backup plan,"

"So is this the plan or the backup plan?" I asked, following her as she took the stairs almost two at a time.

"The plan had been to summon you down to the seamstress for a fitting while your cousin was getting dressed. Clearly Ella ignored those summons, so I was his backup plan," Anne said, leading me down a thoroughly unfamiliar corridor, "Which is fortunate since I know my way around here so much better than anyone else,"

She leaned against another wall and another secret door sprang open.

Audra gave a little shriek, staggering backwards into her worktable as we emerged behind the changing screen in her workshop.

"My word! I just lost a year off my life!" Audra exclaimed, curtseying in greeting to the princess, "His Highness said you'd be showing up, but I hadn't thought you'd use the service door!"

"Sorry for the surprise, but we have our work cut out for us. Let's get started," Anne said, pushing me towards where a mirror had been set up at the edge of Audra's worktable, "Remove that dreadful dress and let's get to working on your hair,"

I didn't have a second to ask any questions because already Miss Claridge had started unbraiding my hair while Aura started unbuttoning my day dress. Once they'd gotten me down to my corset and bloomers, Audra started tying on petticoat after petticoat before Anne pushed me down into the chair in front of the mirror.

"Before you protest, you must trust me," Anne said, as she pulled out a rather exotic container of black liquid. I blinked up at her, helpless as Miss Claridge tugged my hair into braids that lay flat against my head while Audra fussed with the wig on the stand before me.

"Trust you?" I repeated, looking down at the words I couldn't read on the container.

"It's the latest thing from India," Anne said, "And I've been taught how to apply it properly, so please trust me,"

I was watching her warily as she approached my eyes with a delicate looking brush.

"What is it and where exactly do you intend to put that?" I demanded, backing away as Miss Claridge clucked at my movement.

"It's to darken your eyelashes, silly! You can't have fair lashes and a dark wig!" Anne said, grabbing hold of my chin, "Look up,"

I did as she said as she swept something that smelled like burning candles and elderberries along my eyelashes, using a little to darken my eyebrows as well. When she was finished, I turned my gaze back towards the mirror and took in how much darker and longer my lashes looked with the paint on them.

"Do you like it?" Anne asked, watching for my reaction in the mirror.

"It's...different," I said slowly.

I already looked like a completely different person, especially with the extravagantly styled brunette wig Miss Claridge had settled onto my head. She'd braided my own auburn hair into tight coils and tucked them under a lace cap so the wig would settle naturally against my head. The brown hair was already curled and pinned and I wondered how long it had taken to style it.

"If she's ready, we should get her into the dress. It's nearly nine!" Audra said, pacing as she waited for the princess and her governess to finish with me. Anne gave my bare shoulders a squeeze before Audra drew me away to dress me.

Much as it had been the first time I'd worn it, the dress rendered me speechless again. With my wig and what Anne had done to darken my features, I looked nothing like Libby Marks-Whelan. Audra produced a spectacular mask bedecked with blue, black, and pale pink feathers - the same as the bird from the book Anne had given me earlier that day. The mask glittered with gold thread along the edges, covering my eyes and nose before swirling up into a spray of feathers that tilted back over my ears. When Audra tied the mask onto my face, I was utterly unrecognizable.

The three other women stared at me as I stared at myself in the mirror. I looked regal, refined, and like everything my mother had ever hoped I'd be. My stomach was turning somersaults as reality came crashing down upon me.

I was about to attend a ball and dance with a prince wearing the finest dress I'd ever laid eyes on.

"Do you have your invitation?" Anne asked finally, breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over us.

"Yes," I replied a little breathlessly, slipping it out from where it was still hidden in my bodice.

"Then all you need is this," Anne said.

She'd produced a black velvet bag from a pocket in her dress, slipping something glittering out of it. She came around behind me, draping the magnificent sapphire and pink diamond necklace around my neck.

"It's too much," I said, reaching up to touch it as it sat heavily around my neck. The golden chain was studded with blue and pink stones, a diamond-encrusted sapphire pendant lying just above my décolletage. I couldn't help but think that selling that necklace alone could pay my living expenses for a year.

"And my brother would very much like for you to keep it," Anne smiled next to me, "Now let's get you to the masquerade."