My baby sister once bit a tutor for putting her in a corner. She drove her heel through my boot at Valeforth Hall. Now she stands in the middle of our home, holding a crooked box and openly crying.
"The imperfections are what make it perfect," Ma says softly. "It shows how hard you tried."
I look away before anyone sees my face.
Our coats hang on the wall by the door.
Mine is among them. Inside the inner pocket is the small blue vial I've carried for three weeks.
Ten strides.
I paid twenty gold pieces for one month of Mirelle feeling nothing for the human standing in front of her.
I could use it tonight. If Pa accepts Caden's courtship, there will be a celebration. Mead passed around. Cups refilled. No one would notice a few drops of blue liquid.
My stomach twists.
I don't move.
I can't.
Pa gives a gruff answer that is as close to a blessing as Caden will ever receive.
Ysolde immediately asks what he thinks of autumn weddings.
Saskia offers to teach him to spar in a tone that should frighten him much more than it does.
Mirelle hooks her arm through his and beams at the human who stole her heart.
Just like that, he's inside the family. Everyone folds him into the noise as though he belongs here.
I keep watching Mirelle for some sign that this is wrong.
What am I supposed to find when there is nothing there?
I don't see one.
And then, uninvited, I hear Lissy's voice from the dress shop.
Why her? Why now?
You'll miss them.
"I recognize that expression," someone says beside me.
Princeton Voss slides into the chair at my shoulder with his goblet. He settles in as though we're old friends.
"You must be Mirelle's older brother." His eyes pass over me the same way they passed over our silver. "She couldn't stop talking about you at Valeforth."
"Then the conversation at Valeforth must have been thrilling."
He laughs. "I'll confess, this is all... charming." He gestures lazily with his cup. "Rustic. My little brother has gone completely native, carving boxes for an interspecies courtship."
He takes a drink, then swirls the mead as he studies it.
"Do you know Starling Vale well? Sweet little town. I've been spending time there recently. On business."
The pause is bait.
