16. Wishes
Someone knocked on the door. Didn't they know she had to get ready? Alya buffed.
"Yes?"
"A letter from the Lenoir Household for you, miss."
Alya opened her door immediately. Her handmaiden almost gasped at the sight of her miss completely naked, and pushed her inside, quite rudely for a servant.
"Miss Alya! You can't go around like this!"
Alya did not reply because she was ripping off the envelope and devouring the letter with her eyes.
Dear Alya:
Good morning, dear friend. I thank you for you kind invitation for me to accompany you and Mr. Nino Lahiffe to Madame Rossi's event tonight's evening, but my grandfather happens to have found a companion for me. Therefore, I am no longer going with you.
Love, Marinette.
"A companion? Who do you think she is talking about?"
"How should I know, milady?" She passed her a white undergarment. "Here, please put this on."
Absently, Alya put it on and then a pleasing bright orange dress. Mystery Girl didn't seem to be getting solved easily.
Suddenly, two little girls came running in the room. They were wearing identical white dresses and ran around Alya like faeries dancing around a princess, but in a chaotic way.
"Miss Ella! Miss Etta! Your sister is getting dressed!"
Alya pushed them away with one hand and applied makeup on her face with the other.
"Away with you, madlings. I have a ball and a caller to get ready for."
"Can we go with you?"
"We want to dance!"
"We want to flirt!"
The older girl rolled her brown eyes.
"And I want you to leave me alone, but will you? We cannot always get what we want."
She sat on her boudoir and let her maid do her hair. Another maid came into the room.
"Mister Lahiffe is here, miss Alya."
Her handmaiden panicked.
"This early?! Fetch him honey cakes and tea until miss Alya is ready."
Alya stepped on her shoes and smiled condescendingly.
"It is okay, I will go wait with him. It is almost six, anyway."