The knocking on her door was a welcome reprieve from staring at herself in the dress.

Less welcome was the door opening before she could call for it and Sybella spilling into her room in a much more sedate pink dress.

“Did you get my present? Did you?!”

The girl squealed with reckless abandon when Lili turned to her, holding up the dress.

Lili found herself startled into silence. Of course it wasn’t the Duke who left the dress.

Like he would know anything about the cut of a lady’s dress.

Like he’d have bothered.

Not that it bothered her at all.

But she had thought—

“It’s lovely Sybella, thank you.” She gestured for Sybella to close the door.

“There’s a bath for you first in the attached suite.” The girl threw herself onto the chaise lounge and kicked her slippers off, stretching luxuriously. “You don’t know how happy I am that you’re coming to the banquet tonight! It was going to be so dull and boring with just the Duke’s men there. No conversation at all!”

Lili weathered an entire report about the men in the Duke’s castle while she bathed with a scrub that smelled like wildflowers in summer, in water that was actually kept warm somehow, in a large marble tub. Lili’s own modest clawfoot tub at home was never warm enough, since it was so far up the tower. And even with Sybella’s reports of who snuck snacks from the kitchen, which of the men cared about the flower beds, who to ask for merchant recommendations and who definitely not to ask—Lili enjoyed the bath.

She luxuriated in it a bit, letting Sybella’s endless commentary on the goings-on of Neilsland set the backdrop.

It wasn’t a total loss, though. Lili learned that the men ate together in the grand hall at communal tables, but Sybella was too young and had to sit alone.

“And the Duke, you know, doesn’t eat with the men at all! He’s so ridiculous.” Sybella leaned her head back to look through the open door at Lili as she emerged in a fluffy red towel. “He doesn’t even have any friends who aren’t his soldiers.”

She grinned and Lili smiled back, charmed. Before Lili could get to work on the dress, Sybella was up and cheerily getting her ready. Lili conceded to letting Sybella brush and plait her hair.

“He sounds dull,” Lili admitted as they walked together toward the great hall. Sybell’s taste in dresses had also extended to shoes, and Lili was both comfortable and very, very well outfitted for her evening with matching slippers.

“You are annoyingly pretty,” Sybella sighed dreamily, skipping back a few steps to get a good look at Lili.

“Well, I’m not annoyed at all by your beauty. It’s my honor to witness it.” Lili threaded her arm with Sybella’s and the girl laughed happily, hugging her close for a moment.

“I am so happy you’re here. It’s not that the Duke is dull, he’s actually smart and nice when he’s not crying over art and music. I should tell you! He’s such a crybaby!”

Lili, who was a bit bowled over by that bombshell, barely had the presence of mind to say “Indeed!” before she was blown away again by the Grand Hall.

The banquet was, as promised, laid out on communal tables, with one set aside for the ladies, of whom there were now two.

Poor Sybella, Lili would have thought, if she hadn’t been too busy pulling her jaw off the floor.

Whoever had designed Castle Neilsland had made it with Lili in mind. She couldn’t accept any other explanation for how the high, vaulted ceilings raised the eye up, opening the room instead of pressing down on the white marble floors. How the massive windows streamed light in, even in the twilight. The chandeliers threw shadows onto the walls, but none were spidery or frightening. Even the flow of their light had been considered by the architect.

There was a shocking lack of gargoyles and cauldrons of green fire.

Lili, who had definitely expected there to be a dais with a throne made of bones or swords on it, was facing a happy dining room full of men socializing and kitchen staff running about delivering food and drink to the tables.

“You were telling me that the Duke cries over music?” Lili managed, clinging to her don’t die and don’t let Tresterville be invaded plan with everything she had, the only constant in the whole of the last few days.

“Lady Sybella!”

The throng of conversation quieted for a moment, Amedeo stomping his way through the tables with his attention now on the ladies to stand in front of them. “What are you telling her exactly?” he demanded.

“Oh, just the truth. This is Amedeo, Aurora. He’s the Duke’s best friend.”

“I am his Second in Command,” Amedeo corrected, glaring at Lili as he said so.

“Oh, stop it, Amedeo! Aurora is my guest tonight!” Sybella held onto Lili’s arm tightly. Pointedly.

Amedeo, who clearly couldn’t believe Lili wasn’t in chains and thrown in the dungeon—where they probably kept the gargoyles and green flame—frowned at Lili, but nodded once.

“Of course she is. We are so very honored to have her with us.”

What he meant was get out of my house, you spy, which translated perfectly.

“Thank you,” she replied coolly, which meant I’m not a spy and mind your business.

From the way he turned away without bowing, she assumed he’d gotten the message.

“I’ll be dining with the ladies tonight,” Amedeo said loudly enough so that the whole room could hear it. He grabbed his plate in one hand and whirled around to them. “I’ll show you to your table.” Which meant I’m watching you again, but louder.

I’ll tell you all the good stuff later, Sybella mouthed as Amedeo led them to their table.