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7
The words that were written three quarters of the way into the small notebook made Ana feel sick. They had allowed her little sleep, leaving her with heavy bags under her eyes the day of Mrs Shelby's dinner. It was her mother name, her address and her exact location that unnerved her. The priest had already singled out her only weakness, before she even had a chance to begin to work with her distrust and it made her hate him even more.
Tatiana had made them late, not that it would matter. Though the title of Duchess was impressionable, there would be many people attending the dinner held by Grace Shelby. Ana had a feeling that the obnoxious Russian's wouldn't be missed, especially when it came to Mr Shelby himself.
When her Aunt had seen her dress, she was horrified. It was a darker rose colour, but it was pink all the same, and her hair was decorated with jewels at the back, her mother's jewels. She had protested, but Ana refused to change. The dress took away from her distressed and tired appearance, and that was more important than anything. She had been awake early enough to start pulling through her wardrobe, searching for the perfect garment that she surely held.
If Ana had looked any worse than normal, it didn't show. Apart from the pure anger toward her choice of dress, there was no mention of her lack of insults or unnaturally pale complexion. It was the only time she had been thankful for their plain ignorance when it came to their youngest niece.
They were silent in the car, or at least they were to Ana. She couldn't hear anything, her ears were unintentionally blocked by the ringing that was constant. She heard the words of the priest on repeat.
"You may find that I have more power than you think."
Tatiana nudged her from the thoughts. She was glaring with her, the dark makeup around her eyes making the look harsher and meaner. It matched the dress she wore, the typical dropped waist, coloured in black and decorated fancily in jewels and diamonds.
The sight of her Aunt and Uncle made everything worse. Dressed elaborately, they stepped out of the car, their chins raised indignantly, radiating more obnoxious self-importance than the intimidation that they were reaching for. It was embarrassing.
"You are acting weird. Stop it." Her sister snapped, looking at her with raised brows as she pulled herself from the car.
Ana followed moments after, straightening her shoulders and pushing all thoughts of the priest from her head. She would enter the hall without a hesitation or fuss- she had to.
"Don't do anything stupid." Tatiana said as they entered the large room, leaving her seconds later as she weaved easily through the crowds of guests all dressed neatly and properly.
