“I should go,” Lady Tilanthia says. “I’m sure your maids will be here soon to dress you for the feast."
“This early?”
She giggles. “Of course. This is your first public appearance after all.”
With so much else on my mind, I hadn’t thought of that. Lady Tilanthia rises to straighten her copious skirts.
“Before I leave…” She grimaces. “Was everything all right with Minister Abely yesterday?”
I occupy myself with my own gown. “Well, the king allowed him to keep his head, so I suppose so.”
“Soren threatened to take hisheadoff?”
I glance up at her stunned tone. I thought another dragon wouldn’t be surprised by his reaction, but her gaping mouth says otherwise. Maybe I was too loose with my words. “Um, perhaps? But he did not make good on his threat.”
She stares at me. Then she grins.
“What?” I ask.
“You must be driving him mad for him to act that way.”
My cheeks ignite. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do. Soren never loses control.”
Now I’m the one staring. I’m just about to ask her if we’re talking about the same king when there’s a curt knock at the door and Hiln bursts in, her troop of maids at the ready.
“You,” she says, jabbing a finger my way, “Enough talk. Time to get ready.”
30
I stand in front of the gilded mirror in my bathing chamber and study the girl in the reflection.
“Perfect,” Hiln says.
The other maids are silent, their eyes drawn again and again to the lace gown they helped dress me in. I don’t blame them. Vasna may be poor, but her lacemakers are unparalleled. Those makers wove a masterpiece for me with threads as thin as spider silk and dyed a brilliant sapphire, the color a nod to my magic.
It’s also an exact match for the jewel the king gave me.
To my surprise, Hiln didn’t jerk my hair into another headache-inducing updo. Instead, she only drew enough back from my face to fasten a traditional Vasnan hairpiece of flowers and feathers over one ear. The rest she left in long, glossy waves down my back. Militant as she is, I can’t help appreciating her work. My saltwater-beaten hair has never shone like it does now.
“Thank you,” I say.
Hiln grunts and begins waving the girls out. I thank each of them as they leave, and when they’re all gone, I return to the mirror, my thoughts quiet. Pensive.
The last time I wore this gown was at my presentation ball. It was a rushed affair, so the seamstresses stayed up allnight sewing for me to have this dress. They wanted me to shine; they wanted Vasna to shine. I run my hands down the bodice, remembering with a sad smile how Selena and I brought them all tea in the wee hours of the morning, how we offered to help but were shooed away instead.
Now I wear their work here, in the dragon kingdom. I wonder if they ever thought these threads would travel so far. I certainly didn’t. All my life, I thought I’d stay in Vasna.
The night my power awakened changed that. It changed everything.
I’m stirred from my thoughts by a knocking in the room beyond. My skirts softly swishing about me, I go to the bedchamber. Another knock sounds, and this time, I’m able to identify the source.
It came from the hidden door, the one between the king’s chamber and mine. My quiet heart now thuds against my ribcage.
It’s him.
I’m suddenly filled with a dozen different worries—Will he like my gown? My hair? Me? I don’t know, but what I do know is I shouldn’t be this nervous. This soon-to-be-marriage is a political one, not one of two starry-eyed lovers infatuated with another. It’s better to stay levelheaded. Why do I have to keep reminding myself of that?
