The Golden Flower (#1 in the GOLDEN series) ✔

•T H I R T Y - T H R E E•

"Are you certain?"

Marguerite's footsteps echoed, thrummed, pounded on her hardwood floors—and she was barefoot. What would it have sounded like had she kept her boots on?

"I heard it, Miss. All of it. It is true, they intended to denounce someone."

"I knew it." Clutching a corner of her dress so hard she feared she'd rip it from her waist, Marguerite gritted her teeth and did her best not to scream. "I told you I had a bad feeling about this year. About the Graduation. The girls, the Ceremony, the guests, him. Something is wrong."

"It might have only been a coincidence, Miss." Johanna kept herself at a distance—when the Director paced, it was preferable to stay out of her path. "It might not have been you they spoke of—"

"—but it was, do not deny it!" Marguerite raked her fingers through her golden curls, nails scraping her scalp. "It is too coincidental to seem real, but it has to be. Mary snooping about on whatever business the Dowager commanded her to attend, rumors of Séb coming home, confusing whispers at court, and this? He saw me, I warned you. Me, as in the former Duchess of Torrinni, the one supposed to be dead."

"He does not know you, Miss—"

"—he does." Her voice slithered out like a hiss, and poor Johanna shriveled against the wall, gulping. "I am sorry, I... I want to calm myself, I do, but I cannot. The Vidame of Limesdale does know me. His vile practices began when I still resided at court, and once or twice he squirmed into the Ballroom to request audiences with Edouard. He would be able to identify me with ease."

Johanna fiddled with her off-white apron. "Right, but it does not guarantee that he—"

"—that he would out me? He would! Sir Knowles claimed an intruder paraded through the halls tonight. Do you find that to be a coincidence? Foul as Thatcher is, I am sure one of the guests reported him as the individual sneaking about, not recognizing him. He meant to meander up here, he meant to—" she hunched over to catch her breath, dizzy and distraught.

Johanna rushed forward but hesitated to touch her mistress. "He is here for his daughter's Graduation, Miss. We must not assume the worst, not yet."

"We must not?" Marguerite shot up straight and glowered at her handmaiden, though not meaning to turn her rage towards her. It was the situation that boiled the blood in her veins, that sent all sorts of erratic thoughts to her brain. "Too late for that. I have been assuming the worst since I was five-years-old."

Flinching, Johanna gave the Director her space. "In any case, we cannot be sure who this court friend is. Thatcher and his associate said that—"

"—who was his associate?" Marguerite rested her fists on her hips, struggling to relax her out-of-control heartbeat. "We are sure who the friend is. Since I arrived here, the rumors... her erasing me from history, plotting, creeping about and sending her dogs to watch me... do you not understand how it is all connected?"