Oh, the portraits were certainly interesting to talk to. She’d had her own lengthy conversation with one of them earlier in the evening, on the subject of Naeva’s favorite school subject — Divination, of course. She was still a little bitter about that A on her NEWTs, but that didn’t matter to a debutante. It didn’t matter in her life. Whatever Charles Marshall’s classes had been, Naeva had no clue, but his choices had mattered. Hers never had.

Well, they would after tonight.

“Curiosity more than anything,” she admitted. “It isn’t every day I interact with someone who’s eloped.” And her response was indeed genuine. Elopement was spoken of with a special sort of taboo in the Lécuyer household, especially after Mireille. “What does it feel like, to be in love?” She doubted she’d ever know.

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