Guests began to fill the hall half an hour later, and my father had Ainsley and me greet them at the entrance. I observed boredly as masked men guided their wives in their wide ball gowns, and their polite smiles as they greeted me.
I kept my own smile pasted on. If it fell, I would not be able to lift it again.
Of those who forewent masks, I recognized a few. Like Patrik Senry, who was a wealthy merchant in both the tea and silk market. He traveled to other continents so Avalon could be enriched with foreign luxuries.
Clara Martin and her friend Guila, I also knew. They were the seamstresses nobility relied on for the best garments. They had designed more than half of the elaborate outfits for tonight's event. They held their decorated masks on a stick, lowering them as soon as they were inside as if to announce who they were.
