Masquerade ✔

Chapter 2

Fortunately for Clara, Araminta's parents were too busy tittering to each other about the excitement of the ball to pay her much attention. Clara herself couldn't even focus on what they were saying, despite the small cabin of the transport. Her mind was too preoccupied, split between thinking of what had just transpired and trying to figure out how she could get back to Araminta's chambers and switch places with her without anyone figuring out what the two had done.

The journey seemed to take hours despite being barely quarter of an hour, and as Clara and Lord and Lady Llewellyn stepped back into the Llewelyn manor, Clara bade Araminta's parents a quick good night with an obvious yawn and hurried back to Araminta's chambers.

Clara breathed a sigh of relief as she slipped through the doors and saw that Araminta still had her candles lit. As Clara let the door clang shut, Araminta, who had been lounging on her bed, sat straight up. "Well?" she demanded.

Clara leaned back against the door and let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. "No one suspected anything," she told her mistress. "We pulled it off, it seems."

Araminta got off her bed and beckoned Clara to come farther into the room. Clara eyed the other woman, who she could now see better in the light. Araminta wasn't dressed for bed, but instead wore trousers and a dark red corset over a loose, white shirt. Clara had never seen her wear anything like it, but didn't dare ask what was going on.

"Sit," Araminta ordered, pointing at the same chair she had done Clara's hair in just a few hours earlier. "We have to turn you back into a servant before the sun comes up."

Clara sank into the chair, thankful to get off of her feet and relieve her body of some of the weight of the elaborate costume. She tried not to complain as Araminta roughly pulled out the pins in her hair that helped hold the mask in place. When the last pin had come out and the last ribbon untied, a literal weight came off of Clara as Araminta lifted the mask off of her. She blinked hard and stretched out her cheeks, relieved to finally be able to move her face again.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Araminta chastised her as she saw Clara's face stretching. "They're not that bad."

"Yes, my lady," Clara said quietly. She did her best to sit as still and as quiet as possible as Araminta undid Clara's complicated hairstyle.

"Those should make taking of the makeup easy," Araminta said, pointing to a small packet of wipes on the vanity. "Just don't use more than one, they're expensive."

Clara seriously doubted that Araminta had any idea what the actual price of the wipes were, but, as she pulled one out, Clara could see that it was nothing she would ever be able to get. And worked so well that she only needed one.

Finally, Clara get out of the heavy costume dress and slipped back into her own maid's clothing. She had just finished fastening her gold and brown corset over her dark purple skirt and white blouse when Araminta started speaking again.

"So, the story is that you weren't feeling well, and you had to go home," she instructed. "But, it was a fast illness, and you started feeling better, so you decided to come up here early to get a head start on the work you missed."

Clara, as she fastened the final chain on her corset, looked up. "Aren't I going home right now?"

Araminta pursed her lips. "No, of course not, you have work to do," she said. "And you can't go home now. Why would you have stayed here all night and then go home in the morning? People might be suspicious."