168 Poisons & Perfumes

Evanna soon retired for the night, suddenly finding the festivities too well festive for her mood. She had stayed an hour after Conrad left, the other woman did not return, and the vacant chair by her side made her feel empty. She did not like it one bit. Conrad knew how much she had to prove herself and how much she had to overcome; the smallest rewards made a considerable difference in her life. So far, those rewards were as simple as most of the servants no longer gossiped about her. Evanna had spent quite a bit of her time in the servants' quarters and learnt a lot about their duties, talking to them as though they were her friends.