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I fixed her with a stare as bold as the one she was giving me. She reminded me of my brother—direct, perceptive, and guileless. Sure enough, she gave me an answer.
“Because I like Lina, and I suspect that she would be sad if you left so soon.”
I bit back a sigh. Lina was the last thing I wanted to talk about right now.Or think about.
Buckthorne walked back in with a three-piece tuxedo, saving us both from an awkward silence. He held it up against me, muttering to himself.
“So.” Aster raised her aubergine-colored eyebrows, letting me know she knew I wanted her to change the subject, but had no intention of doing so. “How long have you known Lina?”
“As long as I can remember,” I answered.
Maybe that is why it’s so hard to imagine a life without her.
“It shouldn’t be too much trouble to fix something up for him,” the thin, balding man with short, round wings finally said, interrupting my thoughts. “Though we’ll have to sew up the wing slits.” His tone told me that was an insult, and I remembered the queen’s words about old prejudices dying hard.
Aster only rolled her eyes.
“Obviously,” she said, still eyeing me like she was trying to solve a particularly interesting puzzle.
We left then, and she tugged me along to a corridor not far from the one Lina was staying in, stopping outside one of the doors.
“This is your room.” Aster swung the door open to reveal a stately room, decorated in tiny navy and yellow flowers. “Everything you need should be in here, but just let someone know if there’s anything else you want. Oranyone.” She smirked.
“Thank you, but I’m sure I’m just fine,” I said, a little too forcefully.
She only shrugged, leaving me at last to be alone with my thoughts.
43
Lina
Aster came to fetch me for breakfast, merrily informing me that Edrich was cleaning up and changing and that she had sent food to his room. I had seen the gleam of speculation in her eyes when she asked him to stay for the ball, and I didn’t think she was being conniving for her own sake, as much as mine.
Still, I couldn’t help but ask. “So, you and Edrich… at the ball?”Real subtle, Lina.
Aster’s gentle laughter chimed through the air, and she linked her arm in mine. “Well I haven’t known you long, but I thought you might murder me if I asked him to stay to beyourdate.” She paused, assessing my features with a sweeping glance. “And I got the feeling you weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to him.”
A tightness in my chest eased at her words. I told myself it wasn’t the easing of jealousy, so much as that she was right, I hadn’t been ready to say goodbye.Now I have another day to do that.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” was all I said. “Nothing more.”
“Mhmm.” She didn’t so much agree, as let me drop the subject. “Well, on that note, I want you to know that I’m glad you’re here. That whatever you decide, or whoever you’re… more than friends with, I hope you’ll stay. Everyone else here is boring.” She winked an amethyst eye, dropping my arm to open the dining hall door.
I would have pushed her on it, but we were the last ones to breakfast. Cassia and Lark were already seated, looking expectantly at us.
I could always ask her about it later.
* * *
It surprisedme all over again how there was no awkwardness around the royal family—as if I had known them my entire life. The queen laughed and asked questions, while Aster and Lark filled her in on yesterday, and I chimed in to give my side of things.
Until Aster was in the middle of talking about the ball, and Cassia abruptly decided that she and her daughter were needed elsewhere.
“There are a few more details that need to be seen to before the ball tomorrow. Would you mind helping me?”
“What details?” Aster asked, around a large bite of a sweet cream tart.
“I can explain on the way,” the queen said, with a small arch of her brow.
