Book 2: Laughter

Estrella

Mother kisses me on the cheek in an empty courtyard. Even the servants are gone, having carried all the remainder of the cleaning inside.

“You did wonderfully,” she says. “As I knew you would. Now, sleep, and I will see you in the morning.”

She leaves. I am truly alone. That hurts again, like it didn’t scant hours ago. Before I saw Anwen in the crowd. Before he cornered me during the party and begged one last chance. I suck in a breath. The sound echoes around the courtyard.

Father told me not to lower myself for him. He betrayed me, dragged my name through the dirt, participated in the murder of my father.

And he came to me, without pulling the eyes of the room, and promised I’d misunderstood. A false lead, he called it. He’s so sure King Kieran is not involved, but he hasn’t tried to explain the note even once.

I’ve spent the last hours certain that, when this moment came, I would march upstairs and sleep peacefully, dr