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"I can think of few things worse than being forced into my first perfor his head, stroking her hand "Again, I’ that you would be ready for your grand unveiling this very evening I believe he has taken the liberty of printing new posters and having the up in town"

"I should have told hi around But when I told him that you had concerns, he didn’t bat an eyelash He’s deter will be fine Hell of a will on that fellow"

"So there is no escape for ain"

"It ruon, she found her ar carefully within, a pinned note sending the regards of Master Scabrous Still trailing the blood-splattered he the costume’s coppery brown jacket, beautifully e the sleeve, she smiled He had outdone hiht, she would do so in the greatest style of her life

She sat on the edge of her bed, kicking off her lone boot and i its ers Perhaps it would have been easier if they had just taken her then It was all going to end badly--she was sure of it She had knocked on the ring as pitiful as possible But Master Stain had said sio on, and Letitia had held her hands and assured her that everything happened for a reason

Henry had proard had finally tracked her to the caravan, there was no hope Weapons were strictly forbidden to the carnivalleros except for certain fa dispensations, and Criminy wasn’t in one of them Even Veruca’s swords couldn’t cut butter Crien’s behalf, and the Coppers were always in attendance And if Henry employed his killer cheetah, the Coppers would definitely have questions to ask, and she wasn’t willing to trade her freedoard was there, she would hang

But she would give an unforgettable show beforehand, soen had considered running away, asking Henry to coet on the moors on foot, and she wasn’t ready to live her life on the run, two convicts without a hoo back to a quiet, drab life behind city walls, not after her days with the caravan She stroked the brooch, a single tear slipping down her face When her eyes wandered to the door, she saw the freshly stuck poster there showing an elegant lady in silhouette with butterflies flying on strings like balloons

SEE! The Mysterious Madam Morpho and her Butterfly Circus! it cried

Such a pity that her first shoould probably be her last

The sun was setting, and she rose to dress

Solehtened the new corset from the front She had requested one that would require no outside help, for she had ever been a solitary creature With a grunt, she tested her ankle, which was still sore froh Next, she slipped on the tight-fitting black dress, whispery sliainst her skin, a fashion that Londoners would consider outrageously revealing Then she tied the skeletal do thee Tiny paper butterflies swung froloves Then the stail jacket, a shins to mimic the Monarch butterfly It buttoned carefully up to the neck, as it should, but she touched the hidden panels of it, s to indulge her when she offered sketches for its design She figured that what she lacked in showmanship would be more than nificence of her butterflies

There was a knock on her door, and she unlocked it listlessly

"The reclusive Mr Murdoch sends this gift as a token of ’is estee her eyes and stuffing a box into Ien sla slightly when Emerlie called her a very dirty word on the other side of the door What did it h

Iently on a nest of crues was a mask nearly too beautiful to contes used by the daimons in Franchia for performances and celebrations, but she had never seen one before, much less touched the thin, flexible leather It was contoured to fit her face, painted toit in both hands, she held it over her eyes and pulled back the long silk strings to tie them behind her head With her hair coiled low on the nape of her neck and her s antennalike feathers, she very es

She hadn’t told Henry, but she loved them just as much dead as if they had been alive They had a special bond now--she was the only one who could give the butterflies back the breath of life, their fairy wings dancing on air They couldn’t speak, couldn’t communicate And yet they were drawn to her, as if they knew that she alone held the lad she had freed them from that dark, moldy attic, where they had sat, unloved and unnoticed, for decades And she was glad Henry had thought of this beautiful ard and the Coppers She would have a chance to thank him later, she hoped