“Eavesdropping is rude,” I tell him.
“So is keeping secrets from my mother, but I’ll continue doing that too, don’t worry,” he adds as Aurora opens her mouth to protest. “She doesn’t need to know about your favorite pastime.”
“Where have you been all morning?” I ask as we head back to the edge of the pit. “I thought you might join me for my dance lesson.”
“I was … organizing a gift for you, my beloved.”
I arch a skeptical eyebrow. “There was way too much hesitation in your voice for that to be true.”
“It’s true, I promise. I was just considering whether I should tell you or not.”
The tunnel materializes ahead of us as we approach the wall. “Okay, if this gift is real, then when will I receive it?”
“As soon as Yokshin is finished with it.”
“Yokshin?” I remember that name from somewhere.
“Yes. He calls himself our inventions master. He’s the one who was hoping to reproduce your Griffin Ability elixir.”
“So … has he managed to succeed?”
“No.” We exit the tunnel and step onto the levitating piece of earth. “This is a different gift. You’ll have it … soon.”
I press my lips together as the ground begins rising. I could ask more questions, but he’ll only continue to give me half-answers.
“Why were you looking for me?” Aurora asks her brother.
“Oh, you and I just have a few things we need to see to.”
Aurora nods and looks up, saying nothing.
“More secrets you’re keeping from your beloved?” I ask.
Roarke gives me his sly smile. “Once you’re my wife, all secrets will be revealed.”
Eight
As the afternoon of the queen’s birthday ball arrives, I stand on my balcony and rehearse my story. Tonight is the night Prince Roarke will announce that he’s chosen a wife. He’ll present me, formerly Princess Aurora’s ‘strange new friend,’ and suddenly everyone will want to know every detail of who I am and where I’m from.
Roarke and his mother tossed around the idea of making up an entirely different past for me—one that didn’t involve the human world—but they figured the truth would get out soon enough. And neither of them seemed to trust that I’d be able to keep the details of a made-up history straight, so most of what I’ve been told to share with people is the truth: I grew up thinking I was human, my magic revealed itself, the Guild got involved so they could imprison me and ensure I never hurt anyone, and then Roarke and his men showed up to rescue me. They took me back to their palace so I could live as a free member of their court. Roarke and I soon fell madly in love with each other, and the king granted our request to form a union. So everything up until the rescue is essentially the truth. After that … well, I somehow have to make these people believe I’m besotted with their prince.
I lean against the balcony railing and stare longingly at the perfect puffy clouds high above me. I’d rather be soaring the skies on Imperia’s back instead of preparing myself to face a crowd of Unseelie nobility. Or riding that other dragon Phillyp rode with me yesterday. Bralox, I think his name was. Or dancing simple dances with Dash on the shores of the Griffin rebels’ enchanted beach instead of trying to remember every step to every official faerie dance—since my Griffin Ability did nothing to help me in that department.
My door bangs open so loudly I can hear it out on the balcony. I look over my shoulder to see Aurora dancing across the sitting room and out onto the balcony. “It’s time!” she sings.
“For what?” She can’t be referring to the ball. It’s hours away still.
“Time to begin getting dressed, of course. It’s a long process involving hair, makeup, jewelry—and of course, we haven’t actually chosen your dress yet from the three that were made for you.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Her face falls. “Why aren’t you more excited?”
“I am.” I pull on a smile that doesn’t feel real. “It’s just … parties aren’t really my favorite thing. At the last one I attended, my magic exploded out of me and almost killed my best friend.”
“Trust me, Em,” Aurora says with the kind of smile that makes her eyes sparkle. “This party is going to be like nothing you’ve ever imagined. And if that doesn’t make you feel any better, here’s something that will.” She removes her hand from behind her back and presents me with a square box a little larger than her palm.
“What’s this?” I ask as I take it from her.
“Remember Roarke said he was having a gift made for you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I thought he was just saying that to cover up whatever he was really doing that day—I can usually tell when he’s lying—but it turns out he actually did get Yokshin to make something for you.”
I remove the lid of the box and find a bracelet sitting upon a small black cushion. Delicate ropes of silver metal twist around one another, with tiny silver leaves and flowers sprouting from the sides. In the middle of the bracelet is a large, clear gem. “It’s pretty,” I say.
“It’s pretty and clever,” Aurora says. “It’s actually kind of like a watch. But it doesn’t show the time, it shows the level of your Griffin magic. So in place of a watch face, it has a large ruby. The ruby loses its color once you’ve used all your Griffin power, and then the color slowly refills at the same rate your magic replenishes. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work, and obviously you need to be wearing it.”
“Wow, that is clever.” I take the bracelet from the box, open the clasp, and place the rigid form around my wrist. The clasp clicks easily into place. As I watch, a fraction of one side of the ruby becomes red. “Huh, I guess that makes sense. It was just before midday that my Griffin Ability turned on, so that was about … two or three hours ago?”
“Yes. So this is supposed to make it easier for you to see when your magic is ready to be used. You know, in case it varies slightly if you’re extremely tired, or if you can’t always sense it.”
“Cool.” I lower my arm. “So this was made by … Yokshin? Is that his name?”
“Yes, the inventions master. He experiments with all kinds of magic. Spells, processes, devices.” She leans against the railing, flashes a wide smile, and waves at two young men walking below. “It’s a fascinating line of work,” she continues, turning back to me. “I used to visit him a lot when I was younger, until Mother told me it wasn’t appropriate to spend so much time with someone of his station, especially when he sometimes took me to the prison to show me some of his experiments.”
“The prison?”
“Yes, just the small one we have here. Anyway, do you like the bracelet?”
“Yes. As you pointed out, it’s both pretty and clever.” I angle the bracelet this way and that so the mostly colorless gem catches the light. “Has Yokshin made any enchanted jewelry for you?”
“Uh … some.” I look up to see her playing with the pendant hanging from a chain around her neck. The silver one with the black stone. I’ve noticed she wears it more often than her many other pieces of jewelry. “I’ll tell you about it another time, though,” she adds. “For now, we need to start getting ready.”
“Yeah, okay. Um, where’s Roarke? Didn’t he want to give me this gift himself?”
“He did, but you know men. They don’t want to get in the way when ladies are dressing.”
“Or he’s still avoiding me,” I grumble as I walk past her into the sitting room.
“Avoiding you? What nonsense is that?” Aurora follows me inside. “He sees you at least twice a day when he gives you the compulsion potion.”
“Yes, that’s the only time he sees me.”
“Well, he’s very busy.”
Or he’s avoiding being around me whenever my Griffin Ability is active—just in case I don’t consume all my power on whatever command he’s given me and I’m able to use the rest of it to get information out of him. Which is exactly wh
at I would have done if he’d been around. I’ve been practicing holding my Griffin Ability back. Eventually I have to let some of it go by saying whatever I’ve been compelled to say, but there’ve been times when I can sense there’s still power left over. I’ve tried holding onto it until I see Roarke again, but I haven’t managed to last that long yet.
“Em?”
“Mm?” I face Aurora, realizing belatedly that she asked me a question.
“I asked if you’re actually starting to like Roarke. Is that why you’re upset you don’t get to see him more often?”
“Oh. Um. Maybe.” I guess that’s a better reason than I’m upset because I haven’t had a chance to use my Griffin Ability on him.
She shakes her head and sighs. “You are so bad at lying. Come, let’s go to my room. Your dresses arrived earlier and Mother’s having them sent up now.” She links arms with me. “You can rehearse your epic love story on the way.”
The walk to Aurora’s suite is long enough for me to recite my ‘epic love story’ twice. “Well done,” she says as we reach her sitting room. “You’ve got the facts straight. Now you just have to work on sounding as though you actually mean the part about falling passionately in love.”
“I’ll be sure to do a better job when I’m lying to the elite fae of Unseelie society later.”
“Wonderful.”
We head into her bedroom, which is far larger than mine and includes a walk-in closet the size of a double garage. “Oh, here’s the jewelry Mother selected for you. I meant to show you earlier while we were having breakfast.” She lifts a box from her vanity and opens it to show me the contents. “Necklace and earrings. Lovely, aren’t they?”
‘Lovely’ probably isn’t the word I would use. Each piece consists entirely of glittering, colorless stones. The earrings are teardrops the size of my thumbnail, and the necklace is a double row of stones that gradually grow larger as they reach a pendant: another large, faceted teardrop. “Are … are they real?” I ask as Aurora removes them from the box.
She steers me toward the seat in front of the vanity before giving me a quizzical look in the mirror. “What do you mean? They’re not some kind of illusion that will disappear once the party’s over, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“No, I mean … are they real diamonds?” She seems to want me to sit, so I do. “Or are they fake? Like, glass or crystal or something.”
She laughs. “Of course they’re real diamonds. Why would we use fake ones?” I remain silent as she fastens the earrings to my ears and places the necklace around my neck. “There. I think they suit you. They’ll look gorgeous no matter which dress we choose.”
I shake my head at my reflection. I pull the earrings off and remove the necklace. “I don’t think I should wear these.” I place the sparkling diamonds carefully in Aurora’s hand. “Here. You can give them back to your mom.”
“What? Why?”
“I can’t wear something so valuable. What if the necklace falls off while I’m dancing? What if I misplace the earrings after taking them off, and then—”
“And then what? Don’t be so silly, Em. The necklace isn’t going to fall off.” She opens the box and places the jewelry back on its velvety cushion. “And who cares if it does? Mother certainly won’t. This is probably the least valuable jewelry she owns.”
I try not to feel ill at her words. “Aurora—”
“Come on, stop making such a big deal out of this.”
“But it is a big deal,” I snap. She takes a step back, surprised at my anger. “I’m sorry. It’s just … well, I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” I murmur.
She crosses her arms. “And why is that? Because I don’t seem to place nearly as much importance on jewelry as you suddenly seem to?”
I roll my eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean.” I gesture to the box. “That many diamonds are probably worth more than … I don’t know. The whole of Stanmeade. I can’t bring myself to wear that much wealth on my body, and you wouldn’t understand that because we come from such vastly different backgrounds.”
“Yes,” she says, giving me a look that quite plainly says, Duh. “We do. This isn’t a brand new revelation, so why is it suddenly a big deal?”
I don’t know. I can’t tell her why this diamond jewelry has suddenly shone an ever so sparkling light on the difference between my life and hers, or why I’m suddenly comparing my mother to hers. The queen is perfectly sane and in a position to hand out items of immense wealth as if they cost nothing. Mom is lost somewhere inside her own mind and hasn’t been able to give me anything except the weight of responsibility for a very long time. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, staring at the makeup strewn across the top of the vanity. “I can’t wear that jewelry. It just makes me think of everything I’ve never had. All the things that … that my mom could never give me. And I don’t mean the expensive things, I just mean the normal things. And all the things she couldn’t be to me once she began to lose her mind.”
“Em …”
“No, I’m not looking for your pity. I’m just saying …” I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. “I just … don’t want to wear it, if that’s okay?”
She nods. “Okay. Of course. I would never want to make you uncomfortable. Uh …” She turns toward the doors to her closet. “I’m sure I can find you something simpler from my collection.”
I stand, beginning to feel even worse now that she’s being so understanding. “I’m sorry, Rora. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m thankful for everything you and your mother have done to help me fit in here. I just don’t yet know how to deal with all …” I gesture vaguely with both arms. “All this.”
She takes my hand, squeezes it, and smiles. “It’s fine. I understand.” She walks to her closet, then pauses in the doorway and looks back. “Roarke used to call me Rora when we were younger. Then he grew up and decided it was a silly, childish name. I told him I agreed, but the truth is, I kind of miss hearing him call me Rora.”
I wind my hair around my finger. “I … I don’t really know why I said Rora. It just came out that way. I’m sorry. I don’t want to make things awkward.”
“That isn’t what I mean.” She smiles again. “You’ve probably been so focused on the idea of getting a husband you never asked for that you haven’t thought about the fact that you’re getting a sister too. I know none of this is what you wanted for your life. I know you’re only going through it all for your mother. But … well, I’m happy you’re going to be my sister. I hope one day you can be happy too.”
She heads into her enormous closet before I can say anything else, and at that moment, the door to the sitting room opens. I peer out of the bedroom door and see the queen, dressed in a robe and slippers, striding across the sitting area with three of her handmaids and an unfamiliar woman following her. Each of the handmaids carries a dress. “Your Majesty,” I say to the queen, bowing my head in respect as she comes toward me.
“Emerson, hello.” I’ve never seen her wearing so little makeup and with her hair—black and burgundy like Roarke’s—so plain. She leans in and kisses the air on either side of my cheeks. “Ready for the big announcement tonight?”
“Yes,” I say with confidence and a wide smile, neither of which are genuine.
“Aurora, love, I’ve got the dresses,” the queen calls out, walking past me. “Ah, there you are,” she adds as Aurora exits the walk-in closet.
“Ooh, exciting.” Aurora rubs her hands together.
“Put the dresses over there,” the queen tells her handmaids, “and then you may go.” The handmaids leave the dresses floating in the air above the bed before turning and silently leaving the room. The woman I don’t recognize brushes something off the skirt of one dress and plucks a loose thread from another.
I walk slowly around the bed so I can see the three dresses from all angles. The first has a full skirt of deep pink tulle with delicate flowers growing up the back from the waist to the neck. The
second is the color of champagne. Its many-layered skirt is covered in gold flowers, and the tight bodice has a sweetheart neckline and no sleeves. The last option is made of rose gold fabric with thousands of tiny crystals glinting in the light as the dress sways gently in the air. The corset top laces up at the back, and though the skirt is kind of scrunched up with a bit of extra fabric over the butt, it isn’t as puffy as the other two.
“They’re beautiful,” I say.
“Aren’t they just?” Aurora replies. “And apparently, they’re even more gorgeous when you put them on. The pink one changes back and forth between pink and purple, and the petals at the back slowly unfurl as the night goes on. The champagne one comes with a pair of long gloves made of a translucent fabric that looks like champagne bubbles rising up your arms. And the rose gold one has an enchanted shimmery effect that looks like glowing embers.”
“Sounds cool.”
“They’re Raven Rosewood creations,” Aurora continues. “Mother and I put the word out to all the top designers that we were looking for something spectacular for a very important event. We hinted at a potential engagement announcement—without using those exact words, of course—which resulted in plenty of rumors flying around. We had dozens of designs submitted, and Mother wasn’t too keen on you wearing a Rosewood dress, seeing as—”
“Seeing as she’s dressed some of the Seelies in the past,” the queen fills in. “I did not want you wearing one of her dresses. When I saw her name on the outside of the scroll, I almost threw it away without opening it.”
“But there was just something about her designs that we kept going back to,” Aurora says. “Something that just … captivated us.” A dreamy look comes over her face.
“They did turn out quite lovely,” the queen admits. “I can see why this Rosewood woman has become popular in recent years.”
“Did you send an invitation to her?” Aurora asks. “I want to meet her.”
“Of course not, dear. I told you that wasn’t appropriate. She has connections to the Guild, and she’s designed for the Seelies before. We may have decided to use one of her creations, but I didn’t feel comfortable having her here. I asked Lemon to send someone to pick up the dresses, and to be discreet about it.”
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