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“No, my lady.” She didn’t even flinch. “We have only minutes.”
I raised an eyebrow, looking at the Boy who I couldn’t be sure was looking at me or not. No one had called me ‘my lady’ in years. It sounded as though I was being scolded like I had when I was little. Which I would be even more when I arrived in yet another cotton dress smudged with mud. Just like the rest of me. I looked at my hands, there was no salvaging that.
“Well, lead the way.”
She nodded her head, leading me out of the gardens as the Boy and my mother’s Catalyst followed from behind. Everyone’s heads turned as we left, eyes wide before snapping back to the foliage and the courtyard beyond.
I felt like a prisoner, being led to the gallows. Maybe I was, this event was huge and the first big step in Batian’s wedding, and this was how I was arriving. Not only would I make a fool of myself, but I would make a fool of the rest of them. As Mother always said I did.
This would not do. This was my chance to get back into Batian’s wedding. By the Goddess, I could not show up like this.
“Actually, I think it would be better if I change. Better dressed properly and late than to arrive like this.” I made to turn down a side corridor, but Batian's Catalyst cut me off, her lips pulled into a line as she prepared to haul me back.
“As I said we have been looking–”
“What do you think, Boy?” I turned, ready to get him on my side, but he wasn’t even paying attention.
His focus was on my mother’s Catalyst, both his and hers hands flying through the air as if in a dance.I stopped in place, the two of them running into me before they turned, their hands dropping to their sides.
“You can talk?” I whispered, unsure of the word choice as I glanced from the Boy to my mother’s Catalyst. Her one visible eye was an absolutely stunning shade of green, like the sun when it shines through bottle glass right before it sets.
“You can talk?” I asked again, trying to move my hands as they did to explain what I meant. Talk really wasn’t the right word. Neither of them moved, their hands still plastered to their sides.
“We don’t have time!” Batian’s Catalyst cut in with a near shriek, pulling my arm around with such force that she was clearly intent on dragging me there. “We must hurry.”
She was already trying to work her way into a run when I pulled away.
“I understand that, but I have time. I have to change.” Late and dressed was better than showing up like this, especially if I wanted to even have a chance to attend anything else.
I gave her a sympathetic smile before I turned again, this time running down the hall before she could stop me.
“My lady!”
“I haven’t even heard the gates yet!” I yelled as I bolted down the hall, yelling back to her right before I turned the corner. “Go tell him I’m coming!”
I ran, only vaguely aware the Boy and my mother’s Catalyst were following behind me. This was it, my one chance. I could not mess this up.
The sound of shoes echoed everywhere as I took one corner, then another. Even with my mother’s Catalyst following I took the chance and wound my way up the hidden spiral staircase I had used for years to escape the prison of my room. One curling flight of stairs later and we emerged in the sitting area.
I was well aware I may have lost that escape route forever with her in tow, but this would be worth it. Batian had found a way to get me there, and if I wanted to stay there, I needed to look the part. Well, as much as I could anyway.
I didn’t have time to find my way into one of the fancy dresses, but a clean dress was better than no dress at all.
I had just shimmied out of my dirty gray dress when the sound of the horns at the Runturin gate echoed from the courtyard below. I grabbed my last clean dress, the yellow cotton, only to have a hand press over mine, the soft, warm skin of my mothers’ Catalyst freezing me in place as she strode by me, grabbing the bright green dress from the ‘princess side’ of my closet.
“I don’t have time,” I moaned, going back for the yellow cotton.
She gestured from her to the dress to me, continuing to pull it off the hanger as she stepped out of the closet and worked to bunch up the massive length of fabric that made up the skirt. I hesitated only a second, she hadn’t grabbed the silk petticoats or the torturous corset, only the dress, which I guessed worked just as well seeing as that’s what everyone would see anyway.
She slid it over my head, smoothing out the skirts as I slipped my arms into place, all of the fabric falling right where it was supposed to even without all the fancy underpinnings.
The color was a deep emerald, embroidery and jewelry lining each seam and falling from the waist like a rainstorm of glittering perfection. It was obviously expensive. It was also beautiful, made more so against the wild curls of my hair. I flattened the soft fabric down, the callouses and dirty patches on my hands catching on the expensive silk.
Perhaps I should not touch anything and try not to show anyone my hands. Or my shoes, which my big toe was currently trying to break free from. I could only hope the dress was ostentatious enough that no one would look anywhere else.
She gestured toward the door, the Boy already holding open the hidden staircase as we ran back down, racing through the hallways as my mother’s Catalyst buttoned and tied and secured every fastener of the dress into place.
The horns had ended, the loud booming voice of presentation was already fading away into wild applause as I burst through the double doors in the courtyard, the Boy plowing ahead as he broke through the crowd of the court men and ladies who had come to welcome Aeinya and her family.
