Frost Duchess

Celeste Langley handed money to the cabbie, drew her coat close, and hurried from the taxi toward the entrance of the old warehouse. She detested winter, which always struck her as faintly funny considering people called her The Frost Duchess. Celeste had long ago accepted that she was beautiful; people had been telling her so since childhood. Beauty had never simplified anything that mattered. It helped in certain ways, but in the parts of life that counted it meant almost nothing, and around men it often complicated matters because each one assumed he would be the man to melt The Frost Duchess. Cold air stayed with her through the lobby and into the elevator while she hit the button for the highest floor. This morning marked her first session with a new photographer, Mason Crane. He was said to be the finest and most in-demand photographer in the field, and Bellmont House considered it a coup to have him handle their newest ad campaign. Bellmont ranked among the world's biggest cosmetic labels, and Celeste had served as their signature model for three years. She had nearly set aside enough money to stop working and never fret over finances again, which would free her from depending on her family's wealth. Once her five-year deal with Bellmont ended, she intended to move somewhere southern, warm, and bright year-round, then complete her education. She had always imagined working in a library, spending her days among books instead of people. When the elevator shuddered to a stop, she settled her expression into the mask she had perfected over years. With chin lifted and every trace of feeling wiped from her eyes and face, she entered an enormous room lined on one side with windows and flooded with sunlight, enough that the heating hardly had to work. A quick sweep of the studio showed a row of dressing tables in the middle of the room, with fellow Bellmont model Piper Sloan already at one, working on her makeup. Celeste crossed to an open table, dropped her oversized bag there, and started peeling off her outer clothes. "Isn't it wonderful that they brought in Mason Crane for this year's catalogue?" Piper asked when Celeste took the seat beside her.