Free The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

little detail. One slip, and both our lives will be ruined. You’ll give yourself away in ways you don’t even realize.”
    At those words, I had a sudden flash of how I’d already messed up in the last twenty-four hours. The carriage door. The tart. The cosmetics lecture. And yes, the hair.
    You’ll give yourself away in ways you don’t even realize.
    â€œI won’t,” I said fiercely. “I’ll do this—you’ll see. I’ll do all the right things. I’ll get a dozen Adorian offers and land you the biggest commission of them all.”
    â€œNo—don’t stand out.” He paused, and a hint of that earlier flirty smile resurfaced. “Well, as much as you can help it.”
    â€œYou said you’ve got a lot depending on this. What is there? More than the commission?”
    He grew sober again. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just get to Adoria without being discovered, and we both might survive this.” He glanced around. “We need to go. We’re going to be missed.”
    I thought about the harsh way Jasper had spoken to him, the wayhe’d dismissed Cedric’s efforts. A wise part of me knew better than to comment on that. Instead I asked, “Any other words of wisdom before you leave?”
    He turned back, looking me over in that way that felt oddly personal. But it didn’t unsettle me as much this time. Neither did our proximity. “Yes,” he said. He reached forward and wound one of my curls around his fingers, inadvertently brushing my cheek in the process. “Do something about this hair. Mess it up. Tie it back. Anything to make you a little more disheveled and less like you’re being presented at court.”
    I lifted my chin. “First, this isn’t a court style—which you’d know, if you’d spent any time with the
old
nobility. And second, I can mess up as many etiquette lessons as you like . . . but disheveled? I don’t know if I can do that.”
    The smile returned, warmer and wider than before. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.” He sketched me a bow, almost a caricature of the one he’d given at our first meeting. “Until next time, my—Adelaide.”
    He turned and, after a quick check around the corner, walked back down the great hall. I waited an appropriate amount of time and did the same. I’d hoped to catch a glimpse of him, but he was already out of sight. It was just as well. Putting him from my mind, I climbed the staircase up to my new life in the Glittering Court.

Chapter 5
    I returned to my room, not entirely sure what to expect. I was still shaking from the encounter with Cedric, how close I’d been to everything falling apart around me. Taking a deep breath, I threw my shoulders back and pushed the door open.
    Calm and silence met me. My two roommates were each sitting on their respective beds. Mira’s knees were drawn up to her, creating a makeshift desk as she read a battered book. Tamsin sat cross-legged, furiously writing what looked like a letter. Seeing me, she quickly folded the paper up. I didn’t know if it was coincidence or not, but the beds they’d chosen were opposite each other in the room.
    â€œI hope you don’t mind the bed by the window,” Mira said. “Tamsin was worried it’d be bad for her complexion.”
    Tamsin lightly touched her cheek. “You have no idea what sunlight can do to freckles. But that doesn’t matter right now. What happened downstairs? They didn’t kick you out, did they?”
    I sat down on the edge of the bed between theirs, the one that agitated freckles. “Not yet.” I nearly said that Mistress Masterson hadn’t chastised me at all but then thought better of it, lest I have to explain what I’d really been doing. “Just a, uh, stern talking-to.”
    â€œWell, you’re lucky,” said Tamsin. “But this kind of