Page 51 of Wings of Starlight

Realization dawned on Clarion. She’d missed her meeting with Aurelia, all because she’d fallen asleep. “Oh, no. I amsosorry.”

“It happens.” Aurelia waved a dismissive hand. “It’s nothing I can’t discuss with you here. I wanted to get your opinion on the menu for the Coronation Ball. I’ve brought some of my cooking-talents, but Patch has banished them from this room.”

Patch skewered the minister with a glare. “Because if they smudge that gown, I—”

“Peace.” Aurelia stifled a yawn. “It can wait until you’re finished.”

“Good.”

Patch wasted no time in ushering Clarion behind a privacy screen. There, her gown for the Coronation Ball waited for her. The fabric glittered brilliantly and moved through her hands like water. Clarion slipped out of her gown, doing her best to conceal her injured arm from view. Patch, if she noticed it at all, did not remark on it. She laced her into the ball gown with a practiced ease, then guided her by her shoulders to the mirror in the main room.

“What do you think?”

In truth, it was the most beautiful thing Clarion had ever owned. The skirts of the gown were a spill of golden fabric, unfurling into a long, elegant train. The sleeves, made of sheer fabric, trailed to the floor. When she moved, they billowed behind her like a cape. In this, she almost felt like a queen. “It’s perfect, Patch. I love it.”

Clarion saw both Aurelia’s and Patch’s approving gazes reflected back at her.

“Excellent,” Patch said, clearly pleased. “I’ll just make a few final adjustments.”

The twenty minutes passed in a blur. While Patch slid pins into the hem and sleeves, the Minister of Summer excused herself for a moment—only to return with her retinue of cooking-talents. Patch radiated a palpable discontent as they set up what seemed to Clarion an entire tea service in the corner of her studio.

“If I find a stain on anything, even so much as adrop—”

“You won’t,” Aurelia said, completely unperturbed.

The two of them began to bicker, but Clarion could hardly focus on what they were saying. With no one speaking to her directly, all the things she tried to keep at bay closed in on her: her looming coronation, the Nightmares, Milori.

She had to get back to Winter as quickly as she could.

Eventually, once Patch finished sticking her gown full of pins, she led her back to the privacy screen so that she could change back into the gown she’d arrived in. Patch folded the ball gown almost reverently over her arm, then called: “She’s all yours, Aurelia.”

When Clarion reemerged, Aurelia had installed herself at the table the cooking-talents had set up in the corner. Atop one of Patch’s ornate spider-silk lace tablecloths was one of the most decadent spreads Clarion had ever seen. A tiered stand showcased an impressive display of tarts, some filled with thin rounds of squash and tomato, others with slivers of apricots and blackberries. Beside it was a bowl of watermelon gazpacho, garnished with a sprig of mint and a drizzle of olive oil. There was even a plum cake, with pockets of jam that smelled of cardamom and cinnamon.

Everything burst with the colors and scents of summer. It evoked pure joy—or it should have. Looking at it all made Clarion feel oddly cold. How could she sit here planning a party after what she had seen in Winter? So many fairies depended on her to save them. But right now, Aurelia sat before her with something like anticipation in her expression.

Clarion forced herself to smile as she took her place across from Aurelia. “Everything looks incredible.”

Aurelia relaxed some. “We can make any adjustments you’d like.”

Clarion stared down at the spread. She hardly knew where to begin—and hardly knew how she would manage to get through this, when stress had stolen most of her appetite. Still, she filled her plate with a small sample of each dish and began to eat without tasting much of anything.

Halfway through her first mouthful, Aurelia let out a sigh. “Your Highness, is something the matter? I can see that you’re somewhere else.”

Clarion swallowed without fully chewing. “No, nothing.”

Aurelia fixed her with an assessing golden stare. “The same thing that kept you from our meeting, perhaps?”

She winced. “It’s just…everything is happening too quickly.”

Each day, coronation loomed larger over her, and she felt more and more as though she could not keep her commitments to everyone. Time slipped through her fingers. And now, she feared not even her closest relationships were solid anymore.

“Ah.” Aurelia grew pensive. “Especially on the Mainland, summer is a season of opposites—a time where you want to do nothing and do everything. Humans are equally likely to spend an entire day lying in the grass as to stay up all night dancing beneath the stars. The heat has that effect on them.”

How she wished she had such luxury. “I see.”

“What I mean to say, I suppose, is that summer encourages us to savor our time, in whichever way we choose to.”

Clarion lowered her eyes to her plate and absently pushed a tart with her fork. Perhaps it was sound advice, but she could think of no way to apply it. There was far too much pressure and far too much at stake for her. “I’m finding it difficult to savor this time.”