“You embarrassed yourself.”

Cressida leaned into him, comfortable as a cat in a warm window.

“She really doesn’t understand how things work at this level.”

I climbed the first step.

And Rupert came down fast — faster than I expected, faster than a man should move toward the woman he married — seized my arm, and shoved me.

My heel snapped.

I went down onto the marble hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs, and for a moment the ballroom tilted and the chandeliers smeared into long bright streaks above me.

“Know your place!” he shouted.

For one stunned second, the room was silent.

Then Cressida laughed, and the rest of them followed — nervous at first, then louder once Rupert grinned and let them know it was allowed.