Page 51 of The Beautiful Pretender

“Do you not have any more?”

“No.” Who would believe an earl’s daughter did not have another pair of shoes? But Lord Thornbeck had said he would bring her some.

“Perhaps I have some that will fit you.”

“Do not worry about it tonight, please. It will not be the first time I have walked in bare feet.” She grimaced. Though Magdalen had surely been shod all her life, Avelina had many times been without shoes.

“Where is that servant of yours, Irma?” Magdalen said, withthe closest thing to irritation on her face that Avelina had ever seen. “She is never around when one needs her.”

Magdalen’s maidservant suddenly entered the room.

“Hegatha, go get a pair of my shoes for Lady Dorothea.”

A tear ran down Avelina’s cheek. She hastily wiped it with her hand.

“Please don’t cry, Dorothea.” Tears welled up in Magdalen’s eyes. “You’re safe and well now. Do you want to talk about it some more?”

Avelina took deep breaths to force back the tears. “Forgive me. I don’t want to make you sad. I am well now.”

Magdalen surprised her by climbing up into the bed beside her and hugging her arm. “Now tell me exactly what you feel. I make my little sisters do this whenever they cry.”

What was Avelina feeling? “Afraid. Tired. Shaken. Guilty. Sad.” She sniffed.

“What were you doing on the balcony . . . in the dark?” Her brows drawn together in a look of bewilderment, Magdalen propped on one elbow to stare down at Avelina.

“That is what I don’t understand. I came back to my bedchamber after praying in the chapel and there was a note on the floor saying to meet on the balcony tonight. When I went to your room, there was a note on the door saying you were waiting for me there.”

“Where?”

“On the balcony at the end of the gallery. It was signed ‘M.’ ”

“It was on my door? I never wrote that.”

“Did you not get a note from Lord Thornbeck to come to the balcony?”

“No. I’ve been in my bedchamber for the last few hours, and I did not get a note.”

“Someone wrote that note and the one on your door. I went to the balcony and no one was there except Fronicka.”Fronicka.

“She must have written those notes. But why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she . . .” Maybe she wanted to accuse Avelina of not being the real Lady Dorothea. She obviously suspected something was amiss.

“So how did you fall off the balcony? Did Fronicka . . . ?”

“I was leaning back against the railing and it gave way behind me.”

“What if she did something to the railing? What if she wanted you to fall?”

Surely even Fronicka was not evil enough to do something like that. “She called for help as soon as I fell.” But she remembered the cold look on her face while she was hanging there and shuddered again. And as though through a fog, she also remembered Fronicka saying something, just before Avelina fell, that shocked her very much. She said she wanted to marry Lord Thornbeck. Avelina asked her why. What had Fronicka said? For some reason, she could not remember. Perhaps it was the shock of falling off the balcony and the terror of nearly dying, but it made her want to warn Lord Thornbeck. She couldn’t remember why.

“It seems very suspicious.” Magdalen hugged Avelina’s arm tighter. “I will be staying with you tonight. I’m not letting you out of my sight until after the ball, and I will not let anyone hurt you.”

“Thank you,” Avelina whispered, the tears starting to leak from her eyes again. “You are the best friend I’ve ever had.”

But after nearly falling to her death and feeling so guilty for her deception, she had decided to tell Lady Magdalen the truth, the complete truth about who she was. As soon as the ball was over. Lady Magdalen would be hurt and would never speak to her again, but at least she would hear the truth from Avelina and not from someone else.

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