Thirty minutes later, someone knocked on the door, and a deep, angry voice said, “Miss Lyonette?”
Tima jerked and looked at Miranda with wide, worried eyes, but Miranda just shook her head. She’d known this was coming, she was only surprised he’d waited this long.
Martin Hapter didn’t wait to be invited in. He opened the door and stomped inside, stopping short when he saw Tima.
“Lady Whitefall,” he said, his voice tight. “I’d like a moment alone with my fiancée, if you don’t mind.”
Tima looked at Miranda, but Miranda just smiled. “Go ahead, Tima,” she said quietly. “I can handle this.”
Tima did not look happy, but she obeyed, slipping silently out the door with a last wary look. When she was gone, Martin locked the door behind her.
“What do you think you are doing?” he said, his soft voice at odds with the anger that poured off his body.
“Exactly what I told you I’d be doing,” Miranda said, crossing her arms. “I told you I wasn’t getting married, and I see no reason to attend an engagement ball when I’m not engaged.”
Martin whirled around, stalking across the room so fast Miranda flinched back. “I have half the noble families in Zarin down there,” he hissed. “You will not make me a laughingstock.”
“I don’t have to,” Miranda said. “You did that yourself when you kept pushing this ridiculous marriage after I’d rejected you.”
Martin growled and started to reach for her, but Miranda lifted her hand, rings glowing like bonfires on her fingers. “I wouldn’t come any closer, Mr. Hapter,” she said quietly. “Spiritualists don’t take well to threats.”
Angry as he was, Martin wasn’t stupid. He stopped and backed away. “You are playing a very dangerous game with me, Miranda,” he said slowly. “I am not a man to be trifled with.”
“And I am not a woman to be pushed around,” Miranda said, letting her hand hang between them, rings lighting her face. “I am a Spiritualist of the Spirit Court, and this conversation is over.”
Martin backed away, but the anger on his face only grew darker. “Fine,” he said. “Sulk in here all night if you like, but this changes nothing. We will be married tomorrow, one way or another, so I suggest you make peace with the idea.”
Miranda leaned back in her chair. “Good-bye, Mr. Hapter.”
Martin gave her one last glare and marched out, slamming the door and locking it from the outside with a heavy click. Miranda waited until the sound of his stomping boots vanished into the distant music of the ball before she let herself flop forward.
That had been a gamble. Technically, it was against the law for her to threaten anyone with her spirits save in bodily self-defense, but apparently Mr. Hapter wasn’t quite as all-knowing as he seemed, because he hadn’t called her bluff. Miranda wouldn’t bet on it working twice, though, and so the moment she was sure he was really gone, she got to work.
She pulled off her morning dress and wiggled into a dark green two-piece riding dress made of a sensible linen weave. She still didn’t have boots, but she’d found at the bottom of her trunk some sturdier slippers that actually fit her feet. She still felt overdressed, but it would have to do. She braided her hair back to keep it out of her face, tying it at the end with a bit of ribbon from the discarded bridal crown. When she was sure her hair would hold, she walked over to the window and slid it up.
Her room was on the mansion’s third floor. The garden below was dark and deserted. Everyone was in the ballroom on the opposite side of the house. Still, the drop would have been enough to discourage most people, but Miranda wasn’t most people. She drew Alliana’s moss-green ring from her little finger and leaned out the window, dropping the ring when the wind died down. It fell silently, disappearing into the dark, but Miranda didn’t need to see the ring to feel her moss spirit cleanly, and she knew Alliana had landed just below her window. The moment the moss spirit hit the ground, Miranda fed a bit of power down their connection. The effect was immediate. All at once, a great springy bed of moss blossomed, pushing out the grass as it grew into a huge mound so vibrant Miranda could see the green clearly even in the dark. When the moss had finished growing, Miranda reached into her bodice and drew out Eril’s pearl pendant.
“Eril,” she said firmly. “Time to work.”
She wasn’t actually sure she’d gotten through to him until she felt his breath by her ear. “Must I?”
“Yes,” Miranda said firmly, climbing onto the window ledge. “Ready?”