Chapter Twenty
The aster tie was more difficult to knot on his own than Alfred had expected. His fingers fumbled with the silk as he kept his chin up and his eyes down, watching his hands make foreign motions while being mindful of the sharp collar. Edwin had pressed the shirt expertly, but Alfred wasn’t use to wearing such stiff material. The formality of simply dressing in the suit made him feel awkward, as if he didn’t belong in his own room each time he caught his reflection in the table-top mirror. He finally pulled together a passing knot on the third go and stood back, trying to fit more of himself in the mirror.
Satisfied, he stepped back to the bureau and pinned the tie in place with the golden orb that Edwin had tucked into a small box. It nearly matched the cufflinks he had bo
