room glittered like the

in one corner. Two hundred guests moved across the marble floor in silk and diamond

rs as if it wer

a coat rack in the hotel's back hall. Her hair was pinned in a bun so severe it made her

pés. Her braid was coiled beneath a hairnet, and her smile wa

m f

hite as a

ine, P

rist once and disapp

her chin and

ctoria Ash

to miss. Her gown was the color of old pearls. Her posture was perfect. A single diamond hung at

d times in the lobby of the Ashford t

t, surprised. Under all that

eard, Victoria

met acros

brows, as if she had stepped on a loose stair. Her gloved hand rose slowly to her colla

irst. Her heart wa

she told herself. N

ed, and a hush rolle

raised for quiet. His voice was warm and practiced. "Thank you all for joini

ppled throu

potlight on the arm of

ted. She caught

and a train that pooled like honey on the marble. Diamonds glittered in her hair. She looked like a

ill he might have bee

His shoulders were stiff. His face was a polite mask. When Eden s

canning

n his gaze swept across the room, s

h

her chest. Across the polished floor, across two h

nly looked at her, steady and unreadab

his glass, "and Julian Whitmore. May thei

r!" the cr

ed Julian's cheek. Cameras flash

ne in her hands and tried

ite

rough the applau

of the stage, one gold-gloved hand r

'd love some champagne

, formidable woman in emerald silk, lifted o

Ella thought. She's had

a time. The tray was steady. Her face was calm. B

ord," she said, offering

" he sai

at him. She held out t

turned it slowly in h

ink the staff might be a bit nervous tonight. S

e laughter. Ella'

ctly stead

e y

n m

n accident. A heel caught the edge of the train. A body swayed. Eden's elbo

ountained i

littering arc, and across the front

le

ess, then up at Ella. Her face

" she

, I'm so sorry

rified hostess. "Oh, Margaret, how terrible! She's just a cleaner, she

d, and the word dripped with

said. "It was a

as imported

r it. I'll c

borrowed uniform, the pinned hair, the chapped hands

eck. She had been humiliated before, on playgrounds and in cafeterias and on he

mouth, and th

idn't

ud. It did no

him. He stopped between Ella and his mother, and fo

said sharply. "This

oice was level. "I saw what happened. T

h a light, tinkling laugh

m n

, but something b

e glistening spill, her trembling hands, and when he spoke ag

es. Are

of everyone. A murmur passed throug

hispered. "

oo

d set it on a nearby table with deliberate ca

an apology," he said

plete that Ella could hear the quart

yes slid to Ella, then back to Julian, and in them something hardened

this at home,"

ect we

from his arm. Her smile was still in pl

Ella as if she we

e crowd, Victoria A

d away by a hotel manager. Something about the girl's profile, the line of her jaw, the way she held

woman beside her.

he manager said quickly.

s her

a Am

thought. The na

that the room had just gotten colder, and that something she had lost long ago, someth