Almost two weeks later, Darius, Conrad, and I were hanging out in the entrance hall.

Well…Darius was hanging out. It was the night of the concert, and he was waiting for Iset. To keep himself busy, he fidgeted with everything from his cufflinks to his collar. Every three seconds, he glanced at the hall’s mirror to check out how he looked.

I was there because Darius didn’t have enough money to pay me to go away. There probably wasn’t enough money in the world.

I’m not sure why Conrad was there, but I assumed he didn’t want to miss it either.

“Are you nervous?” I asked.

“I’m not nervous,” Darius said.

I glanced over at Conrad. The wolfman gave me a knowing look and nodded. I grinned.

The count really must have been on edge because he somehow heard that. Or maybe he saw it in the mirror.

He turned. “I’m not nervous. It’s just…it’s going to be different.”

I walked over to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m fixing your tie.”

“Emerra, I think I know how to tie a tie better than you.”

I tugged on the thing at his neck. “Is this even a tie? Geez! How—? Okay, so you tied it like a tie. Is this a cravat?”

He jerked the cloth out of my hands. “It’s not a cravat.” He grumbled, “A vampire in a cravat. A little cliché, don’t you think?”

“A lot cliché, but that’s not a normal tie. It’s all loose and silky.”

“It’s a ruche tie—a more fashionable tie for semi-formal occasions.”

“You’re right, Count Vasil. It does look better than a normal tie. Very fashionable.” I reached out and grabbed it. “And now I’m going to fix it.”

Darius sighed and dropped his hands. “It was straight.”

“I know. I’m un-straightening it.” He almost took it from me again, but I slapped his hand away. “Look, Darius, when was the last time you went on a date?”

“I don’t have to answer that question.”

“So, like, a hundred years ago? You may know everything there is to know about fashionable clothes and how to tie a tie, but I’m the expert on dating around here.”

“God help us,” Conrad muttered behind me.

After shooting the wolfman a glare, I returned my attention to the no-I-swear-it’s-not-a-cravat. “Whenever you go on a date, you make sure your tie is a little loose and off-center, so when the lovely lady of your choice sees it, she has to come in nice and close to fix it for you. Everybody wins! This is, literately, the only purpose of a tie.”

“I always wondered what they were for,” Conrad said.

When I let go, Darius went to fix it, until I yelled, “Hands down!”

He gave me an exasperated look but obeyed.

“And you’ll remember to compliment her,” I said. “This is a requirement.”

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“I know,” Darius grumbled.

“Okay. Iset should be down any minute, so we’ll make ourselves scarce. Have fun.”

I’d only gone a few steps before Darius called my name.

When I turned back, he said, “Thank you.”

I gave him a thumbs up.

After turning down the hall, I dodged behind the arched doorway of the sitting room. Conrad leaned around so he could see me.

“Are you really going to hang around here and spy on them?”

“Of course, I am!” I whispered. I laid my finger over my lips.

Conrad shook his head and kept walking.

It was roughly two minutes later when I heard Olivia and Iset descending the front stairs. I peeked around the corner.

Olivia was saying, “It’s going to be a bit like Cinderella, except you have way past midnight until it wears off, and please don’t lose those shoes—that would be a crime.”

They stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

“All right, Olivia. I understand.” Iset put her hands on Olivia’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

Olivia nodded, then turned and came down the hallway toward me. I was not surprised when she turned into the sitting room, just like I had, and she did not seem surprised to see me. We nodded to each other and scurried over to the arch that opened onto the front hall. I crouched while Olivia peered over me.

Iset was dressed in a slim purple gown. She had on high black boots I recognized from Olivia’s closet. They were dressy enough for the occasion, and they would keep out the snow. Over her shoulders was a dark, faux-fur cape that looked luxurious enough I wanted to pet it. The outfit was amazing, but to me, Iset looked about the same as always—an emaciated body wrapped in bandages.

From the way Darius reacted, he was seeing something different.

“Good evening, Darius,” Iset said.

Darius had to clear his throat before he could answer her. “Iset. You look…beautiful…this evening.”

She stepped closer. “Silly. You know this isn’t what I really look like. You should be complementing Olivia and all the hard work she put into the charm.”

“True, but you wear it so well.” He took her hand and kissed it.

Iset laughed.

My misty eyes were making it hard for me to see, so I whispered to Olivia, “What does she look like to you?”

Olivia glanced down at me, then looked back up.

“Long curly black hair. Darker, sepia-colored skin. Dark brown eyes. She described what she used to look like. I did my best to copy that.” She looked at me. “What does she look like to you?”

I shrugged in a helpless kind of way. “Happy.”

When Iset stepped in close to Vasil to straighten his tie, Olivia put her hand on my shoulder.

“That’s better,” Iset said.

“Shall we go?” Darius offered her his arm.

They left.

Once the door was closed, Olivia and I straightened up and stepped out into the front hall.

“They grow up so fast,” I said with a sigh.

“I know.”

“Hey, Olivia, thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Since I was barely out of spy mode, I jumped when the front door opened. It was only Conrad. He came in, brushed the light drift of snow out of his fur, and started taking off his boots.

“Olivia,” he said, “that charm is amazing work. She looks wonderful.”

I saw the tiny tell-tale blush Olivia got whenever she received an unexpected compliment.

“Iset deserves it,” she said. “I hope she has fun tonight. But now I have to go clean up the private study.” She turned and raised her hand. “Good night, you two.”

We called out goodnight, then I walked over to Conrad.

“You acted awful snooty for a man who decided to spy on them from a different location.”

“Darius asked me to warm up the car and bring it around for him. I didn’t have to spy.”

“I always forget you can drive.”

“That’s because you don’t see it often. I’m not supposed to do it in town.” He put his boots on the mats by the door. “Except maybe on Halloween.”

“Hey, do you want to watch some anime tonight?”

His head tilted to the side as he thought about it. “Have we finished all the movies Olivia gave me?”

“Yes. And I’m never watching The Godfather again.”

“Understandable.” He smiled. “But it was a good movie.”

I shuddered.

“I’m going to change into some dry pants,” Conrad said. “I could be a few minutes. You want to make some popcorn or something?”

“Nah. I’ll meet you in there.”

When Conrad came down, he found me in the TV room, staring at the show.

“You started it without me?” he demanded.

I was too enraptured to answer the accusation.

“Conrad.”

When he heard my horse whisper, his ears twitched into alertness. “What is it?”

“Don’t you see?”

“See what?”

“Look at the screen! Look!”

His eyes moved between me and the screen once or twice, but then they focused on the TV. A few seconds later, his brow furrowed.

“Where are the subtitles?” he asked.

“I don’t need subtitles!”

I laughed. Loud. Glorious. Triumphant.

Three nights after that, Conrad threatened to stop watching anime with me unless I promised I wouldn't pause the shows anymore to tell him how the subtitles got it wrong.

[https://i.imgur.com/f011ZNa.jpg]

For information about the release for the next book in the series (working title: Blind as a Witch) see below, in the post-chapter author notes.