Chapter 8: The Waltz Examination and What Lord Aldric Noticed

The Waltz Examination was held in the Court's second-largest ballroom, which was, Honoria had been informed by the materials packet delivered to her quarters that morning, known as the Mirror Salon — a name that required no explanation upon entry, as every wall from wainscoting to cornice was panelled in glass so finely silvered that each reflection produced another, and that one produced another still, until the room appeared to contain not twenty-four tributes but an infinite regress of people who had all made, in Honoria's private assessment, questionable decisions about their morning.

She had arrived seven minutes early, which was four minutes before the earliest other tribute and three minutes before the examination stewards, and had spent the intervening time conducting a survey of the floor — sprung oak, recently resined, which would be responsive to weight shift and unforgiving of hesitation — and establishing, by careful inspection of the room's four corners, that the judges' panel was positioned along the south wall, elevated on the same low dais she had observed at the First Dinner, and that there were two chairs with note-taking desks which remained as yet unoccupied.

Lord Aldric Cavendish's chair was the second from the left. She identified it by the particular arrangement of the writing instruments on the desk, which had been positioned with a precision that could not be attributed to the stewards, who had, she noticed, left the other desks in a state of cheerful approximation. Someone had been here before the stewards. Someone had arranged their own implements.