In Vienna they're old news; in London they're a scandal.
Deryn meets one shocked matron after the next. Receives sniffy acknowledgements, speculative looks – what sort of girl becomes an emperor's mistress?
But. "Good for you!" the American ambassador's wife confides, smiling.
Deryn blinks. "What?"
"Knowing what you want. Going after it." She winks at Deryn, nods toward Alek (dancing with a duchess twice his age). "I would."
"Aye," Deryn says, watching him: handsome, graceful, hers. Thinks maybe she'll let him help her out of the dress tonight, instead of the maid. "Has its perks."
The ambassador's wife laughs.
