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I tilt my head back, my throat exposed to the warm light of the lamp, my breath struggling to find its order. I need a moment.

Just one.

Before something inside me starts playing again.

The knock at the door is light, but it cuts through me like a crack. Before I even have time to truly straighten up, the handle turns and the door opens without the slightest courtesy.

My mother enters.

I stiffen, trying to compose myself, but my posture likely betrays me.

My valet arrives immediately after, still breathless from running; he stops short upon seeing her already in the room. He bows hastily, a hand to his chest.

“Viscountess.”

She pierces him with a sharp look.

She never liked Étienne. Too loyal to me for her taste.

“Étienne,” I say, keeping my eyes on her, “wait outside.”

“Yes, Viscount.” He withdraws in silence, closing the door softly behind him.

My mother’s gaze slides downward. It settles on my bare feet; my toes, sensing the chill, instinctively curl against the rug.

“You are indecent.”

The blood rushes to my ears. I move behind the desk, creating a distance that softens nothing.

“I was playing.”

“I do not recall,” she retorts, stepping forward, “Maestro Steiner instructing you in such modalities.”

“Forgive me, Mother.”

She stops before the desk.

“What brings you here?”

“Your negligence.”

I feel a spot in my back stiffen, as if someone had pressed a nail into it.

“To what are you refer—”

“I find it unseemly,” she interrupts, “to have to receive complaints from Count Nádasdy because you persist in refusing his hospitality. It is an insult, Evander.”

I set my jaw, then pull down my shirt sleeves, smoothing them with a slow gesture.

“I met him a few days ago. I already informed him that pressing engagements prevented me from attending his evenings.”

“Evidently, you were not persuasive enough.” She tilts her head. “Given that this morning he took the trouble to come here in person.”

Damned Nádasdy. What the hell does he want from me?

The rug beneath my feet becomes warm, almost sticky.

“You must go, Evander. Even if it does not please you, even if the matter weighs on you. Do you imagine I always do as I wish? Our image cannot waver.”