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If that were not enough newness, two evenings before my departure, I sat on a tall stool and my father himself sheared off every bit of my hair that could be removed with scissors, until only a fine bristly cap remained on my scalp My entire head was now almost as bald as my scar I looked in the mirror when he was finished and was shocked at the contrast between my sun-browned skin and the paleness the scissors had exposed The stubble of blond hair was alainst e as a fish’s to ruffly "No one will be able to say that we’ve sent a shaggy little prairie boy to learn a reen cadet’s unifors I wore it to the farewell dinner gathering my parents held for me

I had not seen hly since the forement to Cecile Poronte When the manor house was built, shortly after ued passionately for a dining room and adjacent ballroom We had all been small children, but she had spoken then of the necessity of her daughters being shown to advantage when they entertained other nobles in our home, and had fretted much that the dance floorirlhood ho such stone upriver from the distant quarries to our Plains home was prohibitive She had been flattered when she discovered that western visitors often exclailow of the waxed wood, and proclaimed it a wonderful surface for slippered feet to tread She was fond of recounting that when Lady Currens, her childhood friend, had returned to her grand home in Old Thares, she had insisted that her husband order the creation of just such a dance floor for her own ho included the country gentry for miles around The wealthy ranchers and herdsht have been disdained in Old Thares society, but my father said that here in the wild lands, it behooved a ardless of their social rank Perhaps this sohters to marry sons of nobility, new nobility if she could not findthe older families And so she extended invitations to those of our own rank, despite the distance they must cross Lord and Lady Remwar and their two sons traveled for a day and a half to acceptand his son Privately, I thoughtthis opportunity to see how these noble sons were turning out and to display them to my father as possible e it to her, for the guest list also included Lord and Lady Grenalter and Carsina As I thought of Carsina and looked into the mirror, I decided thatcavalla cadet’s unifore it, and I could only hope that Carsina would ree ridiculous or e

I had seen Carsina perhaps a dozen tireed to our s were carefully chaperoned Carsina was my sister’s friend It was natural that she would come to visit ht last a week Although our engagement had not been forraduated from the Academy, she and I were both aware that ere now destined for each other There were moments when our eyes met at the dinner table, andher visits, she and Yaril and Elisi would play their harps together in the irls seemed to love the best I knew they did it for their own pleasure, but as I passed the rooainst the softness of her breast while her plus at the end of each chord, her words see of "reen, who rides to serve his king and queen" Nor could I help but knohen I saw her walking in the garden or sewing in the woirl ould solance when our eyes met across the room I tried not to hope that she had the saether

That farewell evening, for the first ti room Carsina and my sisters had been sequestered upstairs for the better part of the day, as servants hurried up and down the steps with seely endless armloads of freshly pressed linens and lace When they descended the stairs just before dinner, the transfornized my sisters, let alone Carsina Often I had heard ht colors would suit their pale complexions and fair hair best, and so it was that Yaril wore a blue goith a neck ribbon of a darker blue, and Elisi chose a rich dark gold for her attire But Carsina was dressed in a gown of some material that seemed to float about her, in a pale pink that reminded me of the interior of the conch shells in my father’s study It was barely a shade darker than her skin The rounding of her breasts was just visible through the frothy lace that edged the neckline of her dress, and irl promised to me was displayed as a woman before the eyes of every man in the room It made me feel more protective of her than ever Whenever I lifteddirectly atrude to stare at her beauty, I looked aside As we left the table, I heard her say sohter made my cheeks burn I turned aside frorateful when the wife of retired Colonel Haddon greeted me and asked me a dozen questions about my anticipation of the Academy