She was beautiful of course, and reminded him of the ice palaces he'd seen in Finland and Norway, the beautiful hotels carved entirely of blocks of frozen water. She had a rigidity to her, an air of elegant, lethal dignity that made even Arkady feel underdressed and too casual for comfort.
"It can be a trick to make us seem alive," he sympathized from behind Dasha, watching the artist tap and swirl her brush in the pigments. "You will look stunning regardless, I have no doubt. How are you this evening, Dasha?"