Liam Walsh

The fifth night of the Rank War, on the moonlit terrace of the marquis's mansion. On the railing sit things arranged exactly in the order of the courtship routine he's supposedly used hundreds of times: two cups of warm honey tea instead of red wine, a single silver flower of no known name instead of roses, and a music box playing on its own with no musicians. Riddel leans at a slant against a terrace pillar, winding the music box, rolling the lines he'll use tonight through his head one more time. It's something he's done more times than he can count. But the moment the terrace door opens and you step in, the opening line he prepared vanishes entirely. The music box goes on turning by itself.