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side of the palace from the main state rooms. Rebecca had gone in the wrong direction to begin with, so it took her much longer than she’d expected to find the room. If the queen had made an appearance, she’d already retired, because Rebecca saw only twenty people or so, mostly ladies, standing about chatting. A small podium stood empty in the middle of the room. Perhaps tonight’s entertainment had been a poetry recital. Rebecca’s mother had told her that the ladies of the court often arranged small entertainments for their own amusement when nothing official was taking place that required their attendance.
    Now that it appeared that the recital was over, Rebecca would have left if she hadn’t spotted Elizabeth Marly across the room talking with two other girls their age. Dressed in the same gown she’d been wearing when she had left their room, Elizabeth certainly hadn’t shown up in costume. Which pretty much confirmed in Rebecca’s mind that Elizabeth had set her up for an embarrassing scene.
    Without hesitating, she crossed the room and approached her roommate. She nodded at the other two girls, then whispered to Elizabeth, “Why did you lie to me?”
    Elizabeth stiffened at the accusation. Making no effort to introduce Rebecca to her companions or even bid them good-bye, she pulled Rebecca away from the others before she replied haughtily, “Don’t be absurd, I never lie. And what, pray tell, am I supposed to have lied about?”
    “The costume that you went to great lengths to get me to wear to this event? Does that refresh your memory?”
    Elizabeth shrugged, though she was unable to conceal the smugness in her tone. “I merely got the days mixed up, easy enough to do around here.”
    “If that’s true, why didn’t you come back and tell me?” Rebecca demanded.
    “I sent a footman, but apparently he didn’t go directly to perform the task. You are quite out of line in suggesting I lied about it.”
    Rebecca knew that was yet another lie. The girl’s smug, catty tone truly spoke for itself. Nor did she look the least bit contrite.
    “Let’s go find this footman, shall we?”
    “Oh, good grief,” Elizabeth snapped impatiently. “You really are going to be ridiculous about this, aren’t you? You aren’t wearing the costume, so obviously you found out in time that it wasn’t needed tonight. And how did you manage that?”
    “An angel was looking out for me.”
    Elizabeth lifted a brow, but must have decided not to address such an inane remark and said instead, “So there was no harm done then, was there?”
    There could have been and they both knew it. AndRebecca’s anger wasn’t cooling. An apology might have helped, but she obviously wouldn’t be getting one. And this stalemate wasn’t the least bit satisfying. She hadn’t thought Elizabeth would simply deny the allegations. As offensive as she’d been from the start, Rebecca had expected her to laugh or make fun of Rebecca’s gullibility.
    So the only thing left to say was “Don’t try to embarrass me again. You won’t like the consequences.” And for good measure she added, “And you bloody well better not wake me when you come in—this time.”
    “Or what?” Elizabeth shot back.
    That was a good question. Rebecca had to think for a moment before she said, “Or I will develop a fondness for the sun shining into the room quite early in the morning.”
    As threats went, Rebecca knew it was pathetic, but at least it got her point across. If Elizabeth wanted war, Rebecca was up to the challenge.
    Having said her piece, Rebecca turned to leave and found three young women nearby grinning at her. Realizing they must have overheard some of what she’d said, she blushed and moved toward the door. One of them followed her into the hall and fell into step beside her.
    “It’s about time someone called Elizabeth Marly on the carpet for her deplorable antics. Bravo,” the girl said with a bright, genuine smile. “I’m Evelyn