The following days quickly fell into a rather boring pattern. Every morning,  afternoon and evening someone would come in to bring me some food. They always came in quickly, did not speak unless spoken to, and left quickly after setting the food down. At first I had made sure to stay as much as possible in the corner of the room where I could not be seen from the cell’s little window. That way I could always create some illusionary shackles before somebody noticed I was not wearing them. The timings of the visits were so regular though that eventually I knew quite well when somebody was liable to show up and I should pretend to still be shackled and when they were not and I was free to go where I wanted.

The servants would never start talking to me on their own accord, but would answer questions. I would occasionally ask the servants about my ‘brother’ or whether my father had returned yet, but I always got the same answers. ‘Damien’ was still sick, and father was still away on a supposed hunting trip. I suppose technically he was hunting. It was just his own daughter that he was hunting. Meanwhile I could hear and, through the small cell window, see the preparations for the debutante ball continue unabated. If I kept track of the days right, it was only four days away at this point. I might be off by one or two days. It was hard to keep the days straight when you spend all of them in a small cell with almost no human interaction.

I did consider once or twice when I felt that my magic was up to it again whether I should change back again. But a quick illusion of the shackles was instant, but changing back from ‘Damien’ to ‘Mirabelle’ would not be that quick, and unexplainable to the servants if they happened to catch even part of the process in action. So as much as it felt sometimes like I should change back, and as much as I worried what Myra would actually think about what I was doing, I continued the charade and just waited until I would hear again from somebody. Until either my father found Myra, or until my mother felt I had been punished long enough, I suppose. I was hoping it would end with the latter, that way my disobedience would at least have had a point.

I filled most of my time going through the books that mother had so graciously provided me with. There were only three books, though what they lacked in the quantity of books they made up for in the quantity of pages per book. The first was a Whitbee family history. There were some interesting stories about some of our ancestors, but also a lot of genealogy. It definitely did not help that we had been learning our family history all our lives, often by reading from this very book. There were a few stories I had not read before, but that was usually for good reasons as they were some of the least interesting ones in there. The only thing that was interesting was sometimes noticing things in the stories which I had not noticed when I was little. Like how our great grandmother never remarried after her first husband died young but sure seemed to spend a lot of time with the countess of Olmstead.

 Then there was a book about the proper behaviour children should have towards their parents. Aside from being rather on the nose it was something you might expect as a chapter in a book on decorum but which had been dragged out to be a huge work here. It had been mandatory reading last time I had been in this cell as well, so not only was it boring, it was also extremely familiar to me.

Lastly there was a book on the history and regulations of the debutante ball. It was honestly the most interesting work, especially as it was the only one I had not already read most of before. I had not expected it to be all that riveting, but all the dry rules were written in at least a decent writing style. The book also managed to make itself readable by including bits about this or that faux pas that a previous noble had committed by breaking the rules the book set, often done in quite colourful detail.

Aside from reading, with nothing else to do, I ended up trying on all the different clothes Myra had. Originally  I had been quite resolute that I was not going to try on any of Myra’s clothes, but after a few days my boredom overcame my resolve. Hopefully it was not as if she would ever be wearing these clothes herself anymore, so it would not be that bad that I had worn them.

I had always thought that Myra was being rather silly for not wanting to wear the frillier dresses, considering how pretty they looked.  After actually trying on some of the frillier ones myself though I understood her reasons much better as they were quite heavy and cumbersome.

Lastly I spent considerable time just laying in bed, thinking about what Myra would be doing now, often while braiding my hair. It had been too short to do so at first, but with my magic slowly building back up again I slowly grew it out just a little each day. Slow enough that none of the servants would  notice. Right now it was still significantly shorter than it had been before Myra cut hers, but at least long enough to braid. It was… nice to at least be able to braid hair again. It did make me wish even harder for a mirror though, but as it was I had to just feel it and imagine how it probably looked instead.

It was after what I was pretty sure was eleven days in that room that I saw the first guests for the debutante ball start to arrive. The cell window was small and high up, but I could see several banners start to show up to indicate that delegations from other houses had started to show up in the castle. It was on that same day that my isolation suddenly ended. Between lunch and dinner, at a time I was not expecting company. I was just rereading again the way in which the Marcher-Lord-to-be of Sumpterland made a fool of himself at the fifteenth debutante ball by accidentally dancing the woman’s part when the door to my cell started to open.

I quickly called upon my magic to put my illusionary shackles back on and turned to face the unexpected visitor to find my mother looking back at me.

-

“Guards, leave us” were the first unprompted words I heard in close to two weeks.

It took another minute before any more followed as mother just stood there, while I heard softly clanking footsteps getting further and further away.

Last time mother had been wearing relatively casual clothes. This time she was wearing the sort of dress that I had been discovering through experimentation must be incredibly uncomfortable to wear. Mother being mother she definitely did not show any discomfort. Then again, I would not be surprised if she could make a full suite of plate look like casual evening clothes with her posture. In any case, it definitely did the job of making her look more regal. Another sign that guests had started to arrive.

The second unprompted sentence came a minute later. “Matthias has been unable to get your sister back in time for the debutante ball” mother said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. There were only two reasons why mother would have come to visit me, it was good to know it was not the one I had feared.

“I hope you understand the position this puts us in” mother continued.

I looked at her for quite a bit until I realised that she was waiting for an answer from me. “Uh, yes” I replied, sounding as confused as I felt.

“You must understand that I am telling you this in secret, but….. We have made certain arrangements. Arrangements that cannot be easily taken back. And if it is found out that Mirabelle broke those arrangements….”

“Wait. You married her off?” I replied angrily. Then what was even the point of the debutante ball? This goes completely against the whole reason to even have these balls in the first place! They are supposed to be places were the young find love for the first time. If Myra had already been promised then she should not go in the first place.

“Do not sound so cross with me. She is of the right age due to missing the previous ball. Besides, we did not have much of a choice”, Mother replied in a tone indicating that she was not pleased with my little outburst, though she did not directly address it. “We needed a marriage with the Sumpterlands, and they only have sons, it was important to our diplomatic position. You will understand when you are older, I am sure.”

I nodded and pretended to agree, though on the inside I seethed with rage. Is this really the way she thinks about us? As pawns in some stupid diplomatic game? Who cares about the Sumpterlands, they are on the other side of the damn Empire. What does an alliance with them mean to us?

“Regardless, we were only going to make it known after the debutante ball, for reasons I hope you understand” mother continued, while gesturing to the book I had been reading “But the paperwork is signed and the Sumpterlands have certain expectations. So you understand the position this puts Mirabelle in then, right?”

That part I did understand at least. A betrothal, once agreed upon, could only be broken by either party that signed it. Meaning only by the Sumpterlands, or… my parents themselves. And if Myra herself tried to get out of the betrothal, such as by, for instance, running away, either party would be within their full right to bring them back…..

Of course, the betrothal was not why Myra had run away, or else she would have told me, but good luck trying to tell the Sumpterlands that.

“You could just break the betrothal” I said, trying to come off neutral, but some anger slipped in my voice in spite of my best efforts.

“We would need a valid reason to do so, though” mother replied.

And the fact that your daughter does not want to marry him is not reason enough?  That was what I wanted to say. But I already knew it was not enough of a reason. If it was, our parents would have asked her before the betrothal was ever signed in the first place. Perhaps Myra did suspect something with the way she left, but if she had been actually asked, she would have certainly told me about all of this.

Instead of saying any of that I instead replied shortly: “I understand”. Though in truth I did not. Not really, at least.

“I think we can both agree that it should be us who finds Myra, not the Sumpterlands.” Mother continued, “So it would be best for her if people did not find out about her…. recent misadventures”

Truth be told I really did not know whether there was any meaningful difference between the Sumpterlands finding her and father finding her. It would not take long until she would be handed over to the Sumpterlands in either case. I suppose if father finds her then at least I will get to see her for a bit before she is dragged off again. What I did know though, was that one party looking for her was better than two parties looking for her. That is on top of the fact that currently father would be trying to look for her without drawing attention to the fact that she is missing. At least in this I had to agree with mother about what would be the best for Myra.

“As such” mother continued “I have a rather queer request for you to consider”