Sera appeared beside me in the reflection.
“What do you think?”
I glanced toward her.
She gave me the faintest smile.
“You look like yourself, my lady.”
I looked back at the mirror.
Normally, I would have corrected her, but at this point I had spent so much of the morning arguing over clothes, habits, names, and apparently even mothers that I no longer had the energy for another round.
Sera checked the time.
“We should eat before we leave.”
“Finally, something I already know how to do.”
Her gaze dropped briefly toward my skirt.
“We shall see.”
I turned toward her.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
Her expression remained perfectly neutral.
I was beginning to hate that word when it came from her.
I followed Sera out of the bedroom, automatically shortening my steps before the pencil skirt could remind me to do it again. The heels still required some attention, but compared with yesterday, I no longer felt as though every third step carried a serious risk of injuring myself, a realization that was almost as irritating as it was convenient.
The dining area looked much as it had the previous night, except that morning light now poured through the enormous windows and turned the city beyond them into a glittering landscape of glass and steel.
Breakfast had already been laid out on the table, nothing excessive this time: toast, eggs, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and several smaller dishes I didn’t immediately recognize.
I sat down carefully.
The skirt tightened around my thighs as I lowered myself into the chair, though the slit at the back gave just enough room that the motion no longer felt quite as restrictive as I had expected.
Sera took the seat across from me while I picked up a piece of toast.
She placed a slim tablet beside her plate.
“While you eat, there are a few things you should know about this morning.”
Of course there were.
I reached for the coffee.
“Go ahead.”
“Your appearance at headquarters has already been announced internally. Officially, you are returning briefly to reassure senior management and employees after yesterday’s incident.”
“So everyone already knows I’m coming.”
“You will enter through the main executive entrance rather than the private underground access.”
I stopped with the cup halfway to my lips.
“Why?”
“Because being seen is part of the purpose.”
“Right. The whole proving-I’m-not-dead thing.”
“Preferably phrased somewhat differently in public.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Sera tapped the tablet.
“There will likely be reporters outside the property boundary. Security will keep them at a distance. You are not required to answer questions.”
“That sounds manageable.”
“You may acknowledge them briefly.”
“How?”
“A small wave would be sufficient.”
I raised one hand extravagantly and gave her the most exaggerated royal wave I could manage.
Sera stared at me.
“It may be better if you don’t do anything at all.”
I lowered it.
“Worth trying.”
“I meant a normal wave.”
“I know what a normal wave looks like.”
“After this, I have learned not to assume.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Once inside, you will greet several senior executives. Keep conversations brief. Most have already been informed that you will not be attending meetings today.”
“Because of the attack.”
“Yes.”
That at least gave me a useful excuse if someone asked a question Evelyn should obviously know the answer to.
“And after that?”
“You will spend some time in your office. There are several documents requiring acknowledgment, but nothing that cannot wait if necessary.”
I chewed slowly.
“My office.”
“Yes.”
Something about that still sounded absurd. Twenty-four hours ago, the most impressive desk I had any claim to was the battered one in my bedroom, and now apparently I had an executive office at Vale Group.
Sera continued.
“I will remain nearby. If anyone attempts to involve you in a matter you are unfamiliar with, allow me to redirect the conversation.”
I looked up at her.
“You’re planning to follow me around all morning?”
“I am your aide.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“It was exactly an answer.”
I sighed and returned to my breakfast.
For some reason, the thought of spending another several hours with Sera standing at my shoulder correcting every word I used suddenly seemed more exhausting than facing the company itself. I could tolerate the clothes and the makeup, and even the heels were beginning to seem survivable, but if I heard you usually do this or you normally prefer that another fifty times before lunch, I might actually lose my mind.
I glanced toward the windows instead.
Somewhere out there was Vale Group headquarters, full of people who believed Evelyn Vale was about to walk through their doors, and for the first time that morning, the idea of getting there almost sounded relaxing.
I turned my attention back to breakfast.
That proved to be a mistake.
The food in front of me still looked like a relatively modest breakfast by my standards, and despite what I had learned the previous night, twenty years of habit were considerably more persuasive than a single dinner in someone else’s body.
So I kept eating.
The eggs disappeared first, followed by most of the toast and considerably more fruit than I probably needed. Evelyn’s body began telling me that it had had enough somewhere around halfway through, but the sensation of fullness arrived so much earlier than I was accustomed to that I initially ignored it.
Surely, I couldn’t already be full.
By the time I finally put my fork down, the comfortable satisfaction I had been expecting had developed into something considerably less pleasant.
I leaned back slightly, only for the high waistband of the pencil skirt to press more firmly into my stomach. I stopped and shifted in the chair, then discovered that the change in position somehow made it worse.
The skirt had fit me perfectly in Evelyn’s room, snugly around my waist without being uncomfortable. Now the same fitted waistband seemed determined to remind me of every extra bite I had eaten, pressing against the slight fullness in my lower abdomen whenever I moved.
I rested a hand over it.
Oh.
My eyes slowly moved toward Sera, who was drinking her coffee with perfect calm.
We shall see.
Right.
Now I understood.
“You knew this was going to happen.”
Sera lowered her cup.
“I suspected it might.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I did.”
“No, you said, ‘We shall see.’ That is not a warning. That is something an old witch says before a curse activates.”
For the first time, Sera actually laughed softly rather than merely smiling.
Author’s note
Book 2 is coming along very well and is now close to completion. The fact that I have entered a semester break greatly helps, as I can entirely focus on writing.
I’m planning to put the finished book up for preorder on Amazon soon, with the release shortly afterward. I’ll share the link once the preorder page is live.