“Still, if it would make you feel more comfortable, the palace clothiers are very skilled at making decorative accessories to cover whatever you want them to. Just say the word, and I'll make them aware of your exact wishes.”
My breath catches a bit. “…Yes. It would make me more comfortable. Thank you.”
He nods.
“I just don't want it to be…distracting. That isn't what we want them all talking about when they see us, right? But it's the first thing anyone notices about me.”
“It's not the first thing I noticed,” he says, returning to his book.
What was?I want to ask—but courage fails me.
I look for a way to quickly change the subject. I shouldprobably just leave. I'm not sure what compels me to glance his way and ask, “What are you reading?”
“A How-To Guide on Dealing With Exasperating Women,” he says without looking up.
“Learning any lessons?”
“Apparently not.”
I smile a crooked little smile in spite of myself. Catching a glimpse of the cover, I see that it's actually a book on the history of Kaldra’s trade routes. He seems thoroughly absorbed in it, so I look once more to the window, silently basking in the warm sunlight for a few minutes.
Far below, the preparations for the feast continue. A group of people are carrying dragon-shaped kites toward the pavilion. A few are being taken for a test flight along the way, colorful tails twisting, silk wings swooping and diving on the wind. I can picture Sesca soaring just as smoothly through the sky—once I set her free—and it brings a confusing combination of anticipation and fear.
Only embers.
I hardly slept last night, tossing and turning while I replayed those words in my mind. Trying to make sense of them. And when I finally fell asleep, I dreamed more vividly than I have in ages—a vision that revisits me now.
In it, I'm standing on the edge of a cliff, a beautiful field of verbena flowers stretching below me. The sky is impossibly blue. A warm wind carries Sesca’s name to me again. I find the courage to speak it, this time, and I think of jumping, offlying?—
Then I see smoke rising on the horizon. Flames begin to creep along the edges of the flowers, and, one by one, they ignite until I’m looking down upon a fiery inferno. One that I nearly leapt right into.
The king shifts, startling me from the vision, reminding me he's there.
“…Until tomorrow evening, then.” I dismiss myself with a quick, cordial bow when he finally looks up again, something shining in his eyes that's difficult to name.
“I'll be looking forward to it,” he says.
“There is not nearlyenough time to do all of this perfectly,” Kestrel laments, lifting the heavy waves of my hair and letting them flop limply back down. “My brother and his ridiculous, unpredictable planning, I swear.”
I wince as she catches a few hairs in one of her rings. “How perfect do I really need to be? I usually settle for passable, myself.”
She scowls.
I purse my lips, deciding it's not worth arguing about. It's only the morning of the feast, and I'm already tired of dealing with royal tempers. Which doesn't bode well for the night that awaits me.
But I just have to get through this, somehow.
“Passableis not going to cut it tonight, I'm afraid,” Kestrel says as she twists my hair into yet another potential style. “If you are going to accompany Reave, then you are going to look the part of potential queen, whatever that takes.”
I sigh—though my irritation softens a bit at her mentioning her brother. I have to admit part of me finds it endearing, how much she clearly cares about him. She insisted on overseeing my preparation for this event herself, and I know it has nothing to do with her wanting to spend more quality time with me.
“I'm not going to embarrass him, you know,” I assure her.
“Not by the time I'm finished with you, you won't.” She finally seems to decide on a style, then spends the next half hour taming my waves into more elegant curls before sweeping most of them into a high ponytail.
I keep still and silent until she's finished; I've dissociated through far worse horrors, after all.
“Your hair is such a strange color,” she comments around a mouthful of the pins she's using to secure the updo.
