Astra frowned, rubbing her forehead. “Just because his name is different doesn’t mean anything. He might have changed his name so no one would know he was Wayland’s son.”
I shook my head. “No. He isn’t their son.”
“How can you be so sure?” asked Maya sitting in the chair next to me. She looked exhausted and had a smudge of dust on her cheek.
“Well, first of all, he would have only been fifteen, and I’ve never ever been attracted to younger guys. Ew,” I said. Astra rolled her eyes. “And also, Felix Marcel died on the same day he was born.”
Astra and Maya leaned over and looked. “She’s right,” Astra said. “Wayland’s son would have been fifteen years old, but it clearly says ‘Born: March 14’ and right over here it says ‘Died: March 14’. It can’t be Adrian. There is no way these records were falsified. The Vegonians take their record keeping seriously.”
“Obviously.” I looked around at the cavernous books filled with identical looking volumes full of information about all the Vegonians who ever lived or died. “Haven’t these people ever heard of computers?”
“My mother said Vegonians are not fond of change. They use computers for many things, but prefer the old ways,” Maya said.
“It would have been so much easier to find this information if it had been computerized or even alphabetized.” I shook my head. “We can fly through space, but we still keep our important documents and records like this. It’s ridiculous.”
Maya and Astra were staring at me. “What?” I asked.
“You said ‘we’ when talking about Vegonians.” Astra gave me a smile. It lit up her face.
I scowled. “Okay, so I’m a Vegonian now. Don’t get too excited. I still think there are things on this planet that are ridiculous.”
“What we cannot fix or change, we must learn to accept,” Astra said softly, taking my hand.
“Who said that?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, with a saucy grin. “It was in the last fortune cookie I ever had on Earth. Remember the night we went to China Garden?”
I laughed. “Mine said ‘Beware of tall, dark, handsome strangers.’ I should have listened.” I froze as soon as I made eye contact with Maya and warmth crept into my cheeks. During the time we’d been poring over the books in the archives, I’d almost forgotten the incident with Maya and Julian. Now all my despair and sadness came rushing back in one giant wave. I needed to defuse the situation immediately or I would explode or die from embarrassment.
“Well,” I said, slapping on a happy smile. “It didn’t warn me about tall, blond, Viking gods, so I guess Adrian is the one.”
Maya bit her lip. “You care for him, don’t you Starr?”
For a split second, I didn’t know which boy she was talking about, but I decided to pretend I’d known right away. “Adrian is perfect for me. He’s smart. We have a lot in common. He grew up on Earth, so he understands me. And he is smoking hot. He’s exactly what I want in a boyfriend.”
Something deep inside me whispered, but he isn’t Julian. I chose to ignore the little voice. It would bring nothing but pain and heartache.
“Adrian might be all the things you’ve mentioned,” Astra said with a puzzled frown. “The question is—who is he?”
“And why does he have a necklace with the Fortis family crest?” asked Maya.
I shut the volume in front of me and dust flew up into my face, almost making me sneeze. “It doesn’t matter who he is,” I said, rubbing my nose. “I only care about who he isn’t.”
After taking notes on which journal and which page I’d found the information, we tidied up the rest of the books and put them away. As we walked back to Maya’s house, I remembered how it felt when I first met Adrian, the rush of attraction and the strong connection. It hadn’t been the same last night. Last night he’d seemed like a stranger.
I blew out a sigh. Astra and Maya talked about the activities being planned for Sports Day tomorrow, but all I could think about was what happened at the Moon Festival. Nothing seemed simple or easy anymore. I always wanted a boyfriend like Adrian, but now I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if I even wanted a boyfriend at all.
Those thoughts made me come to a dead stop, causing Maya and Astra to look back at me with concern. “Are you okay, Starr?” asked Maya.
“I’m fine,” I said, but I don’t think they believed it. They waited for me to say something. “I was thinking….”
“What?” asked Astra.
“Astra, why haven’t you ever dated anyone?”
Astra looked surprised. She thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t know. It never seemed important to me. I guess I’ll meet someone eventually I want to go out with, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
Now it was Maya’s turn to look shocked. “Do you mean the most legendary beauty on the entire planet of Vega has never been on a date?”
Astra smiled. “Until a few short weeks ago, I was only Starr Valentine’s fat and frumpy big sister,” she said with a little laugh. “Nothing more.”
Maya shook her head in disbelief. “You must have had a lot of offers lately.”
“A few.” Astra’s cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. “The boys here are all so nice.”
Maya responded with a comical expression on her face. “The understatement of the year, Astra. There is more eye candy here than at a modeling shoot, and they are all madly in love with you,” she said, shaking her head. We’d arrived at the gate in front of her house, so Maya ran inside to return the key to her mother.
I held Astra’s hands in mine. “I’m sorry, Astra.” I stared at our clasped hands. I couldn’t look at her face.
“For what?”
“For the way I treated you back on Earth. I was so unkind…” I began, but she stopped me.
“You were young and didn’t know any better. I understood.”
“I always loved you so much, but I didn’t show it.”
Astra pulled me into her soft arms and gave me a gentle hug. “I understood that too,” she said quietly against my hair.
To my complete surprise, I started to cry right in the middle of the sidewalk in front of Maya’s house. I was sad about how I’d treated my sister, and about a lot of other things, too. My sister’s fortune cookie had been right. I needed to figure out what I could fix or change, and I also had to learn to accept what I couldn’t. Astra held me, patting my back. Finally, the storm ended, and the tears stopped.
I felt a little relieved it was the official planet-wide Day of Reflection. First of all, no one was around to see me blubber. Secondly, I had a lot of reflecting to do. In fact, I may have been past due.
Sixteen
“The course of true love never did run smooth.” William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Ten minutes later, I was done reflecting. I left Astra and Maya in the garden of the palace, and soon stood banging at the front door of the Duke of Celesta. Not a single guard was in sight, which I found to be a little odd. I pounded and pounded and had almost given up when Julian finally answered. He looked disheveled, sleepy, and adorable.
“Ha,” I said, pushing past him and making my way into his home. “You were wrong.”
He ran a hand through his hair, only half awake. “About what?”
“About a lot of things, but most importantly about Adrian. He isn’t Wayland Marcel’s son,” I said triumphantly.
Julian led the way to a sitting room and flopped onto a couch. I sat on a chair across from him. The palace needed a good coat of paint and some serious cleaning. It also seemed too quiet, with the sounds we made echoing sadly in the vast emptiness of the interior. There weren’t even any servants bustling about. I looked around, wrinkling my nose at the dust.
Julian’s eyes turned hard. “What makes you so certain Adrian isn’t his son?”
“I was at the library with Astra and Maya,” I said, pounding on a pillow and watching the dust fly. “We looked through the birth r
ecords. Wayland and his wife did have a son, but he was named Felix, not Adrian, and he died the day he was born.”
“Interesting. What did your boyfriend have to say about this?”
I frowned. “I haven’t talked to him yet. I was at the library until a few minutes ago. I came straight here.”
Julian rubbed his face. “I stayed up all night trying to figure it out. I still don’t have any proof, but I’m sure Adrian is his son. Why else would he have the necklace?”
I pulled the necklace out of my shirt and turned it back and forth in my hands, studying it closely, but I couldn’t come up with an answer. “I don’t know, but I plan to find out.”
His face darkened. “I don’t want you doing this, Starr. Stay away from him. It’s too dangerous.”
I blew out a sigh. “Julian, why would Adrian have given this to me if he were hiding something? It doesn’t make any sense.”
He got up and looked out of the window. “Promise me you won’t seek him out. Promise me you’ll tell me if he comes to you.”
I closed my eyes, thinking about trying to make myself a better person so I could be pretty again. Suddenly, it wasn’t about being pretty. I didn’t want to lie to Julian and promise him something because he wanted to hear it. He deserved better. Also, I didn’t want to judge Adrian before I knew the truth. He deserved better too. Surprisingly, this wasn’t about me.
“Sorry, Julian. I can’t.”
His shoulders slumped, but he didn’t respond. I got up to leave but took one look at Julian staring out the window and changed my mind. He seemed lost and kind of lonely. I wasn’t sure he even wanted my company, but I couldn’t leave him like this. We stood side by side, almost touching, staring out the window in silence.
The garden of the ducal palace was a total mess. Weeds and vines grew in place of flowers and the pathway appeared cracked and overgrown. It didn’t look like the kind of place where a duke would live. It didn’t look like the kind of place where anyone would live.
“Do you need some help?”
Julian looked around the room like he was seeing it for the first time. He shook his head. “It’s fine,” he said. “I’m fine.”
I took in the dirt and disorder and frowned at him. “No, you aren’t,” I said, and a thought occurred to me. “Are you all alone here?”
He turned back to the window. “The rest of my family is dead.” He wasn’t emotional about it. He merely stated facts.
I swallowed a lump in my throat thinking about Julian all alone in this big, dirty palace. “Where are your servants? Your guards?”
“I gave them the day off. They’ve been working hard, but the palace has been deserted for years. They want direction from me, but I don’t know where to start.”
I bit my lip and thought about it. “Well, I do.”
He looked at me and raised one eyebrow.
“I’m serious. I am an excellent organizer, and I’m also good at giving commands. I’ll come back tomorrow morning and make a plan for your servants.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but I stopped him. I held up a hand, gave him an angry glare, turned, and walked away.
When I got back to our palace, Maya and Astra waited for me in Astra’s room. Astra had a worried frown on her face and Maya looked guilty.
“What is it?” I asked, sinking onto the bed next to them.
“Maya has something she needs to tell you,” Astra said, patting Maya on the arm.
Maya glanced at her, before turning to me. She chewed on her lip, acting strange. I waited.
“It’s about Adrian.”
“Oh.” I wrinkled my brow. I’d thought this would be the big confession about Julian. I hadn’t expected her to bring up Adrian.
Astra looked at Maya encouragingly. “Tell her,” she said.
Maya took a deep breath. “I might know where he is.”
“Adrian? How?”
“He contacted me the day before the Moon Festival. He asked me to meet him to talk about you. He said he wanted to surprise you. I thought it was romantic, sweet, but I had a funny feeling about the whole thing. After he left, I followed him.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s staying in an apartment on the other side of town. I can show you, if you want.”
I turned to Astra. “We’ll go tonight,” she said.
Maya and Astra tried to convince me to tell Julian, but I refused. I had to handle this on my own. I wanted to ask Adrian about the necklace and his mother and his family. I wanted some answers before I spoke to Julian again, but Maya and Astra made me promise the purpose of this mission was observational only. They wouldn’t let me go unless I agreed.
We all wore black from head to toe, and had anyone been out on the streets, they would have known we were up to no good. We looked like a trio of cute and slightly curvaceous cat burglars.
Maya showed me Adrian’s apartment. Part of me wanted to knock on the door and confront him, but part of me was scared. The apartment looked dark, deserted, and a little creepy. I decided it might be better to watch from the shadows.
“This is like a stake-out,” Maya said, with a giggle, as we hid behind some bushes in front of his apartment.
“Where could he be?” I asked. “He told me he was staying with his aunt and uncle.”
We heard a noise and froze as someone walked down the street. They passed us without a glance and turned at the end of the block. I heaved a sigh of relief. I felt nervous and jittery but couldn’t explain why. I guess it had something to do with hanging out in front of my boyfriend’s house while wearing ninja garb. I looked like someone about to commit a felony.
We sat there for almost an hour. Maya started to fall asleep on my shoulder, and Astra looked tired too. I was about to tell them we should give up and go home when I heard someone coming. I shook Maya gently to wake her, and we listened as the sound of footsteps got closer.
By the time they reached us, we were all holding our breath. I heard Adrian’s voice and tensed. Astra put a hand on my arm to calm me.
“We’re running out of time,” Adrian said, his voice soft and angry. He stood right next to our hiding place.
“We can’t rush this,” another male voice said. I wrinkled my brow. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I wanted to peek but was too scared to take a risk. Adrian would think it awfully weird to find me hiding in front of his place. I would look like a creepy stalker, and I knew exactly what a stalker looked like. After all, I’d been best friends with Brittany, prime stalker extraordinaire, back in Middleton. I leaned closer to the bush to listen.
“We may have to,” Adrian said. “The coronation is only days away.”
There was a pause before the other man said, “Are you certain you can do this, Adrian?”
Adrian’s voice was full of emotion. “It is up to me to defend the Fortis family name and our honor. I have no choice.”
The sound of someone else approaching ended their conversation. Adrian darted into his apartment and slammed the door. I peeked out of the bushes and caught a glimpse of a tall man in a dark uniform as he walked away. Unfortunately, all Vegonian men were tall, and almost all of them wore uniforms, so it wasn’t much help.
Astra, Maya, and I slipped out from behind the bushes and walked home. My head buzzed with what I’d heard. I didn’t know how to process it. When we got back to the palace, we went straight to Astra’s room and climbed onto her bed. We hadn’t said a word the entire way home. Finally, I broke the silence.
“Okay, that doesn’t sound good, but maybe there is a logical explanation.”
Maya and Astra looked at me with identical expressions of disbelief on their faces. Astra spoke first. “We need to tell someone,” she said, and Maya agreed.
“You should go to Julian. He’ll know what to do.”
I blew out a sigh. “I’m not sure. Julian has this thing against Adrian. I don’t want to fan the fire.”
Astra narrowed her eyes. “Julian i
s justified, Starr. It’s time to face facts. Adrian is up to something.”
I flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. “Can you please let me handle this my own way? After all, Adrian is my sort of boyfriend. I owe him the benefit of the doubt.”
Maya frowned. “Who was the other guy with him?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “but his voice sounded familiar.”
“I thought so too.” Astra gave me a long, hard look. “We’ll give you one more day, Starr. Afterwards, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad.”
I grabbed a pillow and covered my face. “Okay,” I said, my voice muffled.
Astra pulled the pillow away so she could see me. “I’m serious. One more day.”
The next morning, I woke up early and had a quick breakfast before heading off to Julian’s. The streets were more crowded today as people prepared for the Sports Festival. It would take place later in the day, at different venues all across Celesta.
I planned to compete in the gymnastics event, even though I hadn’t done gymnastics in years. Everyone insisted it was in the spirit of fun and good will, but I was a little on the competitive side. I wanted to win.
Today when I banged on Julian’s door, a busty lady with a sour face answered. She wore traditional Vegonian dress and didn’t look happy to see me.
“Yes?” She held a filthy duster in her hand, and her clothes looked dirty too. She glared at my jeans and t-shirt with undisguised contempt.
“I’m Princess Starr Valentine.” I drew myself up to my full height and stared down my nose at her. “I’m here to see the duke.”
The woman looked at me like I was something that crawled out from under a rock and wandered onto her doorstep. “Is His Grace expecting you?”
“I am,” Julian said from behind her. He smiled. “Thank you for coming, Starr. This is my head housekeeper, Myrtle.”
I smiled to her in greeting, but she turned with a “Humph,” and walked off, flicking her dirty duster over the furniture. Julian seemed unaware of her rudeness, or her incompetence. She was also ugly, an oddity on Vega. It took me only a second to understand why.
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