Sketches covered the wall behind Sophie. Not just of gowns, but of the female form, with notes down the sides. One had a provocatively tight dress with a gigantic, sheer ball-gown skirt layered on top. On another: a high neck and long sleeves with an open back. The fabric was completely sheer, revealing the body beneath.
“What are you doing here?” Sophie placed the white silk down on the bench and glided to her feet with catlike grace.
“I... can we sit?”
Her heart-shaped chin dipped in a nod. I moved toward the bench and sat down on it, her eyes following me. Now I was sitting and she was standing. I’d thought she was going to sit down as well, but she remained as she was, hands in the pockets of her robe. Cool detachment emanated from her as strongly as her witch hazel–violet scent.
“Is this what you do down here all night?” I asked, futilely trying to start a lighthearted conversation.
She took one step closer until she was looking down her nose at me, ignoring my question. “What is it you want?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Her presence made me fumble for the right thing to say. Her eyes, twin pools of darkness, stared at me. All I could see in them was the reflection of the candlelightand my own outline. “I—well, we are roommates, after all, and I thought we should get to know each other a little better.” I held out the bottle of wine in one hand and the box of chocolates in the other. “Kitty gave me these. Would you like to share them?”
Sophie’s gaze flicked from my face to the wine and chocolates and then back to my face again. I smiled weakly, feeling dumber than I had in all my life.
“Very well.” She crossed her arms. “Did you bring a corkscrew?”
“A what?”
“A corkscrew. To open the wine.”
“I... no... want some chocolates?” I set the bottle down and opened the lid of the box. The rich smell rose into the air. White chocolates in the shapes of mermaids and seashells lay on turquoise tissue paper. I held the box out to her and she stared down at its contents for a long moment before taking a mermaid, as though the decision was of the utmost importance.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked, delicately holding the chocolate between her pointer finger and thumb.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes. Don’t you have a cold?”
My lie from earlier. I’d completely forgotten.
“Oh, yes, much better,” I said, but I spoke too quickly, too nervously.
“You don’t look very sick.” She bit into the mermaid’s tail, never once letting her gaze stray from me. Bloodlike raspberry filling oozed out of it. “Did you go somewhere today?”
“Go somewhere?” I tried to laugh. “No. Where on earth would I go?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I noticed my cloak was missing from my wardrobe when I went to our chamber at break. And you were missing as well. Perhaps with my cloak?”
“I...” I started talking before I had a lie ready, my stomach twisting into so many knots I thought I might throw up.
“It’s fine.” Sophie held up a hand. “I don’t really care where you went or why.” She smiled smugly and I stared up at her, confused. Did she just want me to know she could tell I was lying?
This whole idea was a mistake. I would have to figure out how to make the collection on my own or with someone else, someone less calculating. I stood up, quickly replacing the lid on the chocolate box.
“What do you want, Emmaline?” Sophie asked, still standing in front of me. She held up the mermaid, which she had nearly nibbled into oblivion. “You came down here for a reason, and it isn’t just chocolates and wine. What is it?”
For a second, I considered pushing past her and retreating to our chamber. But even if I hid the truth from her now, how would I make a full collection when she lived in the same room? She was already suspicious and, somehow, always seemed to be a step ahead of me. If I showed her I trusted her and needed her, I could turn this disastrous roommate get-together into a business partnership.
“I want to make a gown for a blacklisted client.” I was glad I was standing. Sophie was taller than me, but not so tall that Icouldn’t look her right in the eye. “And create a fashion collection.”
“Oh?” Sophie sounded surprisingly unmoved, considering what I’d just said.
I squinted hard at her, trying to interpret her lack of reaction. “I want—well, need—your help to make the gown and the collection.”
She popped the mermaid’s head into her mouth, slowly chewing and swallowing before speaking again.
“Were the chocolates and wine some kind of bribe?” Her tone was mocking and she neatly wiped raspberry filling off her fingers.
