"It seems, Miss Ember, that you will have a great deal of work on your hands after your ceremony, for it appears not all of the lowlives here are dressed in uniform, and one even dares to grab your hand." Came Leni's remark, hanging off Evan's arm and letting her eyes settle coolly on Viola, who looked impossibly well and far better than someone who had been taken away to serve Ember had any right to look.
The last time Leni had seen this woman, she had looked no better than a skeleton with her skin hanging loosely off her bones and her chest as flat as a board. But there was a fullness to the pajama shirt she wore now, and her face had recovered to that irresistible beauty that Leni could vividly recall being deeply jealous of, the same beauty that had always earned her the undivided attention of every man in their pack, men whom the woman had always carelessly ignored for the sake of Evan.
Ember must truly be a very generous woman to have fed and clothed this nobody so well.
