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But she isn’t trying to kill me. At least I don’t think she is. It’s a start.
“You’ve lost weight,” the seamstress says to me, checking her chart. “It’s been too long since your last fitting.”
The measurements on file are not that old. I stood on a platform like this less than four months ago by my time, preparing to escort Cormac to the State of the Guild, but to the seamstress those measurements are two years old. A lot of time has passed in Arras since I escaped to Earth. But for me, I’d only been gone for a few months. I couldn’t exactly explain that to the seamstress.
“She must not be eating enough,” Pryana says, and for one second there is a flash of the old Pryana, the one who could be equal parts clever and cruel. A sudden thought sends a chill up my spine: Why hasn’t Cormac altered her memory or wiped it completely?
The seamstress is encouraged by Pryana’s participation and continues: “I can’t understand why they would let you go this long between fittings, especially with the amount of traveling you’ll be doing soon.”
“Traveling?” I ask.
Amie looks up from the chart she’s swiped from the seamstress and laughs. “Didn’t Cormac tell you? This was his idea. He said you would need appropriate clothing for your trips.”
They all wait for my reaction but I shrug. “He’s not the most talkative.”
“Not lately,” the seamstress says, popping a pin from between her gritted teeth and fastening a swath of fabric around my waist.
“Maybe Adelice and Cormac are too busy to talk,” Pryana suggests. Amie looks horrified but the seamstresses giggle.
“Don’t,” Amie warns. “You’ll make me sick.”
“You aren’t excited about the wedding?” Pryana’s seamstress asks Amie.
Amie looks torn between shaking her head and nodding. “I’m happy for them, but Ad is my sister and Cormac is like my father.”
A wave of revulsion tumbles through my stomach. Like my father. Cormac is the reason she has no father. He took that away from her and now he dares to assume the role. I know better. Amie is a pawn—as expendable as anyone else in this twisted game. If he ceases to need her, she’ll be tossed down to Earth or left to waste away in a coventry without a second thought. I can’t imagine him expending enough energy to love a child.
“That does make things … complicated,” the seamstress says. I wonder if my relationship to Amie is common knowledge or not.
“But your bridesmaid’s dress will be beautiful,” Pryana says, directing Amie’s attention away from the painful topic. “And I imagine you’ll probably wear it on the purple carpet.”
“Do you think so?” Amie practically squeals the question.
“I’m sure the wedding will be a gala event.”
“What if I’m not invited?”
No part of me is looking forward to my nuptials with Cormac. But despite that, there is a little part of me that can see Amie fussing with my train and holding my bouquet.
“You’re invited,” I say. If I actually go through with the wedding, I dare Cormac to tell me my sister can’t come.
“Oh, thank you, Adelice.” Without thinking, Amie lunges forward and hugs me. It catches me off guard and before I can enjoy it, she pulls back, wincing. “Sewing pins!”
“You might want to save the hugging until I’ve finished,” the seamstress says.
“Did I miss the hugging?” a voice calls in from the bedroom. I don’t have to wait to see her to know that voice. I’ve heard it in a dark cell and in a quiet salon, whispered in my ear and
shouted across a room.
She enters and I note she still has the violet eyes, but she’s cultivated a striking streak of gray in her raven locks. Other than that, she doesn’t look a day older than when I left. Apparently she’s aging gracefully and slowly.
“What a surprise, Maela,” I say.
Amie freezes for a moment and I can’t figure out why. For a second I want to grab Maela and demand to know what she’s done to my little sister. I’ve borne the brunt of Maela’s anger before. I know the twisted feats she’s capable of. But instead I press my scarred fingertips together and muster up a false smile.
“I heard I was missing a party, and you know how I love parties.” Her voice is full of trills and bells, masking the darkness she hides. A darkness that sneaks up on you before you realize you’re in danger.
“We should have invited you,” Pryana says apologetically, but I don’t believe for a moment that there’s any love lost between them.
