Alodia had half expected Aoife to find an excuse to bow out of this, and she honestly wouldn't have blamed her if she had. The sight of her cousin walking through the door, perfectly coordinated with Amelie, brings a genuine smile to her lips, and she takes a quick sip of champagne, using the glass to hide her face until she can force the real smile down and replace it with a fake one. It's a very good fake smile, but if someone sees her real one, they might realize that the one she's wearing now isn't, and that simply wouldn't do at all.

"So," she murmurs, slipping up beside Aoife, "on a scale of one to Violet, how badly do you think this is going to end?"