I call Serena as soon as Niko brings me to the hotel. She helps me peel off the gown, carefully, reverently. Then she undoes the intricate hairstyle the stylist had taken nearly three hours to create. I am finally free from my trappings. Only my makeup clings to me now, the last mask.
I glance at the time. The wedding started at one o’clock and ended thirty minutes in. No reception. No music.
I don’t mind that. But I do mind that Aleksei left me alone like this.
“Are you still thinking about it?” Serena asks.
We are curled up on the couch in the living room. She is tearing through greasy food like she hadn’t eaten in days, stuffing her face like the act itself could distract us both from what happened.
She is talking about the man who turned up at the wedding with a gun.
I shake my h
