Free Garnet's Story by Amy Ewing Page A

and deal with all the late-night calls. I might even be done already. Lucien said himself that he probably won’t be able to contact me again until she takes that serum, and really, what are the chances that I will be responsible for getting her to the morgue? This is Lucien. He plans things meticulously. I’m sure the serum will work just as he intended and then Violet will be out of the palace and out of my life.
    As Peri and I take shots of whiskey and laugh about my upcoming nuptials, everything feels like it’s shifted back to normal. Even my wedding is something to joke about tonight.
    I stay up late, and we continue the party at Jasper’s house and for the first time in a long time, I feel like myself again.

Eleven
    I WAKE UP IN THE AFTERNOON, TO C ORA THROWING OPEN my curtains.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” I demand. Cora hasn’t gotten me up since I was about seven.
    â€œYour mother is having a luncheon and you are expected to attend,” she says. “And I am the only one she trusts with getting you ready in time.”
    She throws off my covers and marches me into the bathroom. She even waits outside the door while I shower. The hot water feels good. My head is pounding.
    Cora is so much better than any footman. She has me looking and feeling impeccable in less than an hour. I’m even early to lunch, by one minute and thirty seconds. Imeet Father in the dining room by the bar.
    â€œWhat’s this one about?” I ask, pouring myself a large glass of whiskey.
    â€œHow should I know?” Father says, taking a long drink. His eyes are red. “I just come when I’m called.”
    It’s maybe the saddest thing I’ve ever heard him say. Then Aunt Iolite and Uncle Beryl arrive and he brightens up and goes to greet them. I wonder if Father actually hates being the Duke of the Lake. Maybe he would have preferred to stay in a second-tier House.
    Mother enters the dining room two seconds before Carnelian and her companion, and ignores everyone but Aunt Iolite.
    â€œDid you have a good time at the Winter Ball?” I ask Carnelian as she comes over to get a drink.
    â€œOh yes,” she says. “Ash told me my dancing has improved greatly. And the Lady of the Light’s son wasn’t too terrible. Not like some of the other boys she’s tried to foist me on.”
    But she glances up at the companion and I can tell she wishes he were an option. It’s so sad. As if Mother would ever allow her to marry a companion. As if companions were made for marrying at all. Six months in the Jewel and she still doesn’t get it.
    The companion himself keeps quiet, which is unusual—he’s always the one smoothing everything over. Maybe he drank too much last night, too.
    â€œThe Count and Countess of the Rose,” one of the footmen announces at the door. “And surrogate.”
    â€œAmetrine,” Mother calls, and she drags Father over togreet the Countess. Her surrogate has dark skin and long black hair that’s braided and done up on the crown of her head. She looks very thin, thinner than Violet. And sad. Or maybe angry. I find myself trying to decipher her expression.
    â€œWhat’s this luncheon all about anyway?” Carnelian asks.
    â€œNo idea,” I say. “Maybe she finally found you a husband.”
    Carnelian looks petrified.
    Then the footman announces Violet. There’s something different in the way she carries herself today, though I never would have noticed it if I hadn’t been watching her so much. A tightness in her jaw, a strange emotion in her eyes that I can’t quite read. When she sees me, I raise my glass to her. Carnelian huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.
    Mother and Aunt Iolite descend on her, the Countess of the Rose trailing behind, leaning heavily on her cane.
    I hear Mother say, “The doctor agrees we won’t have to wait so long until the next attempt.”
    My