Margret had come to pick Aurelie up at the house around midafternoon in a carriage sent but the Morels. Despite their best efforts, the two of them couldn't get Leila to stay behind at the house.
They waited for Karah to finish up with her client. That's where Aurelie assumed she was after she had called her three times and received no answer. The boy wasn't around to help either.
About twenty minutes into the wait, Aurelie decided that she would send Leila to the ball instead. She needed a suitor and Nick could keep her safe when the time came for another battle. If he could fall for her in a matter of days, Leila would have him falling over her within the hour. She was a golden goddess. And then, I can be alone.
The thought brought about a feeling of peace that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Aurelie could cry without having to watch for Kirin coming around the corner or think without him asking what was on her mind. She needed a moment to breathe.
A hefty woman came into the shop sometime after them and made as if she were browsing the goods but her wandering eyes told Aurelie that she was looking for something that was kept behind the counter or, most likely, at the back of the shop. Her green feathered hat kept rocking the hanging animals above her as she passed, it didn't seem like she noticed, but it gave Aurelie the chills.
Karah's absence gave Aurelie a few minutes to think of a way to convince her to take Leila instead. She made no promise to attend, just to grant Karah an invitation. Perhaps, convincing wasn't the intention but rather finding the words to which Karah would find no argument.
Margret leaned down to the kitten and dragged her cheek against its fur. "How do you think she gets the fur so soft?"
Leila held back a grin and folded her arms. "I don't know. Touch it a bit more, I'm sure you'll recognize the fabric."
"Hmmm." Margret rubbed the fur between her fingertips. "Just feels like a cat, really."
Aurelie glared at Leila and turned to the girl attempting to save her further embarrassment, and possibly disease. "That's because it used to be one—or is," Aurelie said and crooked a brow. She wasn't exactly sure how they were made, just what they were made of. Ghastly things!
"What?" Her voice rose to a pitch just below a shriek, attracting the attention of the feathered lady. "No!" Margret bent over and rubbed her face with the skirt of her dress. "Why?" She scowled at Leila.
Kaiden once told her that a room in the castle belonged specifically to his great grandmother's stuffed pet poodles. They never threw them out after she died as that would have destroyed some of the castle's history. Aurelie would incinerate all of them and let the poor dogs get some much-deserved rest.
Leila intertwined her fingers and stretched her hands up above her head. The movement was elegant as a cat's and made Aurelie a little envious of how sleek Leila was. "I'm bored," she said.
Margret folded her arms and looked in the opposite direction. "Well, no one invited you," she said under her breath.
Leila's eyes sparkled, and her frame eased into an elegance that suggested a final pounce. "Tell me, servant girl," Leila leaned against the wall. Margret rolled her eyes at the comment, biting back harsher words. "How is the carriage to pick the princess up at the Donahue residence if she's not there?"
Margret turned to Aurelie, her eyes wide. "Oh God!"
Leila strolled to the glass door, swabbing her long fingers past the animals on display. "My, and it's getting dark too."
"Leila!" Aurelie warned. If she had seen how frightened the girl was upon their first encounter, she'd have kept her malevolence to herself. "Come now, Margret. Make your way to the house, and lead the carriage here."
"I'll be in so much trouble."
"Tell them that I couldn't dispose of you," Aurelie said. "It's still early. I doubt they've even arrived."
Margret curtsied and ran out the door. A welcoming wind rushed through the shop and provided some much needed fresh air. It would do Karah good to open some damn windows. Aurelie was too scared to do it herself in case she broke the merchandise that cluttered the shelves.
"I wish you'd be a little nicer to her. Did you see how frightened she was? Poor thing."
Leila turned hiding her smile. "She irritated me," she said and shrugged.
"Who doesn't?"
"You."
Aurelie snorted. "I still have bald spots from where you ripped my hair out." That was Leila's go-to move when they were children. Later, she discovered that Aurelie gave up much sooner if she dug her nails into her skin and scratched.
"You deserved most—if not all of it."
The other woman in the shop gave up browsing and found a place to stand in the far corner. Looking down at her feet, she pretended that she wasn't following the conversation even though her brows rose and fell at Leila's answers.
"I beg to differ."
"Yes, you would, wouldn't you?" Leila sighed and approached the curtain that led to the back of the shop. "What is she doing in there? Are we going to have to dress you in this room?"
The curtain ruffled and Nick stepped out with his shirt untucked. Karah followed, stuffing her locks into a rough bun. "Hello, ladies," she said and flashed Aurelie a bright smile.
His eyes fell on Aurelie, and he stopped in his tracks. "I—uhm, brought you a cape for your journey." His cheeks reddened when he glanced down at his shirt. He tucked the edges into his trousers.
Aurelie nodded, unable to think of anything to say.
"Lady Monsoir," Karah said and placed her hands on her hips, "you cannot possibly be out of the drops already. I said one before every meal, not hour."
The lady in the corner grunted something and approached Karah. "What's it to you?" she asked irritably. "Do I not pay you for them?"
"It's never going to work if you don't sell the damn bakery. It's medicine, not magic."
"It has been working, thank you very much." The woman's cheeks inflamed. Any redder and Aurelie would have thought she had been burned. Karah had no shame, ousting the woman's secret in front of all of them.
"Perhaps. we should wait outside?" Aurelie suggested, her own discomfort growing to match the Lady Monsoir's.
"Oh, why?" Leila moaned.
"Here are your drops." Karah withdrew a yellow vial from her apron and placed it on the counter. "Stop shoving the rolls and you won't need these."
"I could have you hanged."
Lady Monsoir grabbed the vial from her and threw a gold coin in her direction. It missed and bounced off the wall behind Karah. She stuffed the vial into her pocket and stormed out. Leila giggled from behind one of the shelves.
"You could but you wouldn't," Karah shouted, standing on her tiptoes as if that would help the sound travel.
"How do you have any customers?" Aurelie said as the door slammed shut.
Karah disappeared behind the counter, trying to find the coin. "I'm growing her confidence. You should have seen her when she came in here. Damn cry baby. At least now, she bites back."
"I don't see how insulting her is helping."
Karah peeked from behind the counter. "Her body will always be her body—the only one she has— and as long as she doesn't accept that, she will always hate herself. It won't help her one bit if she loses some weight. She'll always find some fault. If I teach her to defend herself, instead of playing the helpless victim, perhaps, she'll learn that she's worth something."
"Perhaps." Aurelie shrugged. "Or she'll find the nearest bridge."
"That's actually where I found her." Karah stood and wiped off the dust that had gathered while she crept around on the floor.
"Really?" Leila asked.
"No," she smiled, "I was called into her husband's office and paid a hefty sum for getting her out of bed."
Nick moved, making himself known once more. "I best be going." His eyes traced past Aurelie. "Princess." He bowed his head and walked past without another word.
Karah watched as he left the shop, biting the corner of her bottom lip. "Bye, love."
Aurelie wondered whether she should have mentioned what had happened between them, but it seemed irrelevant now that she saw them together. Instead, she focused on a different matter.
"If you are involved with him, why on earth are you making me take you?"
"His father won't allow him to be with me. I thought that if I showed up with you, I'd have a better chance of impressing him. But that's out of the question now." She sighed and looked at the boxes. "My, they really were trying to impress you. I bet his father had half the manor making you these." Her fingers traced the lint that tied the boxes. "Lovely, isn't it?" Karah's lip sagged to the side.
Aurelie nodded. "Are you not allowed to come?" There was no way she was attending without Karah. She would rather not go at all, but now that she knew what it would mean to Karah to go, she'd do it without question and insist on having her by her side.
"You've been called to the Icelands."
"When?"
"The manor received her request this morning, hence, why the things were delivered so early. The ball is not for another week."
"What do you mean she was called to the Icelands?" Leila asked and neared the counter.
"Exactly what I said." Karah placed her hands on the glass and leaned forward. "You should go, Aurelie. The Morels are in deep with the Queen. They won't help you if you don't comply with her request."
Aurelie gapped at Karah. "I can't go tonight. My friends have just arrived," she pointed at Leila, "and I haven't prepared. I need more time."
"You mean you haven't prepared to leave Kirin?" Karah slammed her hands on the desk. "This isn't a love story, sweetheart. It'll be better for all of us if you come to terms with that."
"It's not about him."
Karah leaned her head to the side and softened her eyes. "But it is. It always is."
Leila shook her head. "This is nonsense. Do you know what they'll do to me if they find out I sent you to the Icelands?"
Aurelie's thoughts raced for a way out. She didn't even say goodbye. "I don't have the portal." She sighed in relief.
"I have it."
"Wh—" Aurelie took a breath and sought Karah for an answer.
"What portal? Aurelie," Leila touched her shoulder, "tell me what's happening." Her eyes were filled with concern. Aurelie looked her over for a moment and decided that the concern was directed more at herself. That's what Leila was built on, self-preservation. Leila shouldn't have come. Having her there was a huge mistake. Although, she could tell the others what happened and spare Aurelie the guilt of leaving without them knowing where she went.
Am I really going to just leave without a word?
Karah tapped her finger on the table. "I had Nick fetch it while you were out. We don't have much time. The queen is waiting."
"Is that why he was at the house so often?" Is that why he proclaimed his feelings for me? To stay close. It must have been if he is intending to marry Karah.She felt stupid for trusting her so blindly, and Nick as well. Again, someone assumed she was a puppet and pulled her strings. To think that she even felt sorry for Nick . . .
Karah recoiled at the question. "How often?"
Aurelie's eyes narrowed. "You're the Seer."
"I . . ." Karah's eyes showed sadness. "I didn't see him with you."
"Then, I suppose, you're not a very good one, are you?" Aurelie said, her eyes threatening to burn holes through her.
"Aurelie," Leila said, "tell me what you've gotten yourself into. Now!"
Karah shook off Aurelie's intended venom and answered after a short shake of her head, "She received an invitation from Queen Alorah for negotiations."
Leila closed her eyes and held her hand over her face. "Do you have any idea who that woman is?"
"No." Aurelie shrugged. Unless Leila had an army stashed in some far away land, Aurelie couldn't care either. "But, I need to do something."
"Her family's greed is the reason you're a dragon. We're in this mess because they wanted your land. If they hadn't attacked—"
"That was centuries ago."
"Your family is the reason they're trapped in there. Why would she want to help you?"
"That's exactly what I'm going to find out."
"So, you're going?"
"Of course I am. What choice do I have?"
Leila banged her hand against the shelf next to her. An owl toppled over. She didn't turn to look, instead kept her angry glare on Aurelie. "There's always a choice."
"It' not that bloody simply, Leila. We're so out of option, we're sleeping on the floor in an old, crazy man's house and he wants us gone by the end of the week. We have an army after us and if I don't go to see this queen, we'll lose Redayrah's protection too."
"There's Sasha's sister and her people. You can go around the towns and gather your people. You have more followers than you know. The whole Kingdom is up in arms about you."
"I've heard this before." Aurelie laughed at the childishness of her idea. "This famous sister of Sasha, where is she? All I remember is Sasha sending her endless letters and getting none in return."
"What am I to tell Orken and Kirin?"
"Tell them that I am going to get us an alliance with the Icelands. That it is the only option we have and I'm that doing it for them."
"Are you?"
Aurelie's flexed her fingers and formed fists. "What does that mean?"
"Why am I the only one that knows about this except for her?" She pointed a finger toward Karah but paid her no further attention.
"Do you think Kirin would let me go?"
Leila showed her teeth in what was meant to be a smile but looked more like a slow erupting growl. "Does anyone ever let you do anything?"
"I'm going."
"Of course you are." She snorted and headed for the door.
"Leila, wait."
"Go, hurry up. Your stupidity awaits you." Leila left, slamming the door behind her. The glass still shook, when she passed the last window.
"She's going to tell Kirin."
Karah nodded. "Yes, we have thirty minutes, twenty if she shifts."
"Twenty it is then."
They went to the back of the shop where Aurelie helped Karah rip through the boxes. The biggest one contained a crimson ball gown. Karah lifted it out, and placed the gown against her body, swaying her hips.
"He didn't get me a gown," she said after a few seconds of admiration.
"You can have it," Aurelie said. All the things Aurelie could have in a heartbeat, Karah would have to sweat and bleed for. "I have no interest in pretending to be something I'm not. You'd be doing me a favor."
Karah raised a brow and put the dress back into its box. "It wouldn't fit me anyway."
"Measurements can be adjusted."
"If only there was a way to reattach a head." She nudged Aurelie and tugged at the strings of a smaller box. It contained a tiara. White gold decorated by hundreds of tiny diamonds swirled up from a thick base up to sharp edges, mimicking flames. "They really did try to impress you, didn't they?"
Everything was far grander than Aurelie was used to or preferred. She had gotten quite fond of her tattered, old clothing.
"I think we should cut some of that hair."
Aurelie touched the top of her head and traced her fingers through her locks. "No."
"How am I to work with it like that? Half of it is a tangled mess and other has signs of charring."
"It's the only naivety I cling to. Leave it. I like it long." Aurelie rolled her hair around her arm and swung it back.
"Alright then, we'll pull it up, I guess."
"Do whatever, but come near me with a scissor and I'll have your brows."
Karah smiled and removed a clip from her hair. She spun Aurelie around and turned and twisted her hair. Her head moved back and forth as Karah tugged, trying to pry her fingers through some of the knots.
Aurelie wondered where Leila was, and if she had shifted after all. Leaving Kirin with a simple messenger was unfair. "Do you have a quill and paper?" she asked. A cold metal clip pressed against her scalp.
"Sure, I do," she said, and stepped away, patting Aurelie on the shoulder. "Well, that's the best I can do." Karah picked up the tiara and walked around to place it on Aurelie's head. "It's heavy."
Aurelie bit down on her lip. "And more so uneasy."
"It chose your head, though. You should feel honored."
"That's what everyone keeps telling me yet it's my father they call King."