Page 15 (1/2)

We arrive in the orange grove by early evening, and even with the stage set up and the band tuning its instruments and the crowd of people I’ve never met, I can see that this place is not like the rest of the h as my uncomfortable heels or ers Ants crawl around the rireenery hunizeup heaters for the food or perfecting the paper lanterns Others are well-dressed, polished to the point of being borderline greasy, all first generations

"They’re House on a foldout chair and adjustingdown my arm

"The House Governor doesn’t have friends of his own When Rose took ill, he stopped even leaving the property"

"What did he do before then?" I ask, sned houses," she says, and fluffs my hair around my shoulders "There! You look so pretty"

My sister wives and I start the night as wallflowers, which is what our domestics have coached us to do

We hold hands with one another, share a cup of punch, look pretty and wait to be introduced One at a tienerations, steal us for dances They put their hands on our hips and shoulders, getting too close, forcing us to s forward to the moment when they’ll release es Jenna stands beside me, all danced out Despite her ever-present resentment for her captivity, she is a fantastic dancer Fast or slow, her body , lean liin the wind She smiles at our husband as she moves, and he blushes, overcome by her beauty But I knohat her sht It’s because his dead wife still lingers here, and he’s in agony, and she wants hio away

Her se

Now she stands beside e from its branch She turns it in her hands and says, "I think we’ll get off easy tonight"

"What do you mean?" I ask

She nods ahead of us, to where Cecily is slow dancing in Linden’s ar even from here "She’s captured his heart for the o for a second"

"You’re right," I say He has given all of his dances to Cecily He has spent the rest of his ti in awe at Jenna He hasn’t looked at ainedslass A cool breeze washes through my hair, and I wonder where Rose fell ill Was it where the attendants are arguing over not h chicken for the occasion? Where Cecily and Linden have snuck away frorass? And where did the scattered ashes fall? And ere those ashes, and what really becaht presses on and the guests thin out, Jenna and I sit in the grass while Adair and Deirdre coles from our hair Linden and Cecily are nowhere to be found, not even e slip away to bedday Cecily stu pale and dazed There’s a hazy so away, and her hair is a mess It’s like a brushfire filled with casualties

Gabriel brings the tea, and Cecily pours in too ar as usual She doesn’t talk to us There are pillow creases on her face, and she cringes whenever sheafter I’vethe aisles

She doesn’t look right Not right at all Her usual verve is subdued, and her voice is gentle like wind chimes She see its captivity in a daze in which captivity doesn’t seeht?" I ask her

"Oh, yes," she says Her head cants to one side, then the other, and then she gently rests it on the table

Across the room Jenna shoots me a look Herotten what she wanted of our husband, this means Linden has tucked Rose safely inside hiswives

Cecily looks so small and helpless, as happy as sheher to her feet She doesn’t object, and in fact wraps her little aruide her to her room

Linden is a monster, I think He’s a vile irl?" I ," I say "How are you feeling?"

She clih she just left it, and as her head reaches the pillow, she stares at me with cloudy eyes "Brilliant," she says

I tuck her in, and I notice the small bit of blood on the sheets