“We will be, Natalia,” Sashe said, smiling. She stood turned to Alastor. “Thank you, Alastor. Your approval means much to both of us.”
Alastor nodded as he stood. He motioned for her to hug him, and she stepped into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her. He put his hands on her shoulders. She had a sudden flashback to the day Allison was killed: he grabbed her shoulders and swore to protect her. He probably thought pushing her away from Seth was a way of protecting her.
“You mean very much to me,” he said, squeezing her shoulders. He touched the side of her face, then dropped his arms and shrugged. “At least Sierra won’t marry an Avialie.”
Sashe laughed. He seemed to be the only people who didn’t see Evan’s crush on Sierra. And Sierra, of course.
Seth smiled at Alastor. “Let’s hope not.”
***
A knock sounded on Sierra’s bedroom door, and Sierra called, “Who is it?”
“It’s Natalia.”
“Come in.”
Natalia opened the door, smiling, and she crossed over to Sierra’s vanity, where Sierra sat brushing her hair. “It’s getting so long and beautiful,” Natalia said, looking over Sierra’s wavy, dark hair.
“Thank you,” Sierra said with a pleased smile. She didn’t think she had a very pretty face, but her hair made up for that. She wasn’t like Sashe, who was gorgeous in every aspect.
Natalia stood behind Sierra, looking at her reflection. “You and Sashe are so beautiful. You look so much like Avialies.”
Sierra could see the resemblance between the two sisters and the family of shape changers: the same olive-colored skin, dark eyebrows, brown eyes. Many people thought Sierra and Sashe were Natalia and Alastor’s children by blood. Somedays, Sierra wished she was. She wondered what it would be like to shape change into anything. With the curse, though, she supposed she was lucky to be normal.
“We’re having some guests for dinner tonight,” Natalia said.
“Oh? Who?” Sierra asked as she finished brushing her hair.
“Damon and the family, Matilda and her mother, and Lionel and his father.”
She held back a groan at Matilda’s name. She’d moved here a few months after Seth had and she really didn’t seem to like Sierra. But Natalia hated when her children didn’t get along with someone. “Who’s Lionel?”
Natalia frowned. “His father is a guard. He’s about your age. Brown hair, tall, lives by the well.”
“Oh!” Sierra wrinkled her nose in disgust. She knew him from around town; he was so full of himself. A couple months ago, he’d gotten her and Evan in trouble when they had stolen apples from Kale Saven’s orchard. “Why is he coming?”
“You don’t like him?” Natalia asked, sounding offended. She shrugged. “He likes you.”
Sierra looked sideways at her. “What do you mean?”
“He keeps asking about you. He’s quite a character, actually. Very funny. Very persistent.” She tucked a lock of Sierra’s hair behind her ear. “I think you might like him when you get to know him.”
Sierra shrugged. “Maybe.”
“See you downstairs soon.” Natalia eyed Sierra’s dress. “You should wear that green dress of yours.”
Sierra glanced down at her creamy yellow dress. “Really?”
“Trust me.” Natalia smiled and left the room, waving over her shoulder.
As Sierra’s maidservant was changing her dress, there was another knock at the door. Sashe came in wearing a ruby red dress. She seemed ready to go to a ball with a matching set of jewelry, curled hair, and make-up on her face. “I have to tell you something,” she said, her eyes wide.
“What is it?” Sierra asked.
“I’ll wait until you’re done dressing,” Sashe said. She started pacing around the room as the maidservant finished tying up the back of Sierra’s dress. The instant the maidservant left, Sashe grabbed Sierra’s hands. “I was going to wait until tonight, but I’ve already kept it secret for a whole two days, and I don’t think I can hold it in anymore!”
“Tell me!”
“Seth and I are engaged.”
Sierra gasped. “Sashe!”
Sashe laughed. “Isn’t it amazing?”
Sierra hugged her sister, grinning. Seth really made her sister happy. “It’s great.”
“Oh, thank you,” Sashe said, hugging her back tightly. “I hated keeping it from you, but Alastor wanted to wait for tonight, and I thought you might be angry with me when he announced it.”
Sierra pulled away. “It’s amazing.” Her smile faded as she studied her sister’s exuberant face.
“What?” Sashe asked, laughing nervously.
“Well, you. . .you’re not going to get pregnant, are you?” She remembered Adrian’s wife, her miscarriage, and the sickness that led to her death. She held onto Sashe’s arms tightly.
Sashe smiled sadly. “Of course not. When we get married, we’ll get all the herbs we need for contraceptives.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Sashe had been the girl with the dolls, the one who wanted to play house. Sierra would play along for about twenty minutes then get bored and want to run around outside or play swords with Evan and Dar. Sashe, though—she would be such a great mother.
Sashe nodded. “I want to marry Seth. We can always take in some girls like us, like Natalia and Alastor did.”
Sierra smiled. “You two are perfect together.”
Sashe hugged her again. “I have to go downstairs, but I’ll see you soon.”
“You have to be careful. Promise me.”
“I promise.” Sashe backed away to the door. “I promise, okay? Don’t worry.”
Sierra nodded, and her sister grinned before vanishing from the room.
When she went downstairs, Evan and his parents were in the sitting room with Dar. She wondered if they knew. But Sashe had said Alastor wanted to wait. Sierra wasn’t supposed to know yet. She smiled at the others uneasily and half-listened to their conversation. She was happy for her sister, of course, but she worried about her. She worried about the Protectors and the curse. What if the contraceptive didn’t work? What if she still got pregnant, and then she died? Life without Sashe would be unbearable.
“Are you all right?” Evan asked quietly while the others were in conversation.
“I’m fine,” Sierra told him.
“You’re quiet.” He smirked. “And that doesn’t happen often.”
She chuckled and shrugged. “I suppose I’m unpredictable.”
Evan peered at her, and Sierra felt her face heat up. She couldn’t believe he was taller than her now. Only two and a half years ago when Seth had moved to Rahuda, they’d been the same height. Now she had to tilt her head to look up at him.
He opened his mouth to say something, but just then Alastor led Lionel and his father directly to Sierra.
“Carl, this is Sierra,” Alastor said. “Natalia and I brought them in from Belisha after their parents died.”
He’d always introduced Sierra and Sashe as such. Sierra remembered little about her real parents, so when she was young, she used to call Alastor and Natalia her father and mother. They instilled in her they weren’t her true parents. This hurt her until she realized they were protecting her and Sashe by telling everyone the girls weren’t Avialies.
“Sierra, this is Carl,” Alastor continued, “one of the gate guards, and Carl’s son, Lionel.”
Lionel’s brown hair was slicked back, and he had on the same arrogant look he had when he watched Kale lecture Sierra and Evan about his apples. He inclined his head to Sierra, who wondered if he remembered the incident. “Delighted, Miss Sierra. I’ve been looking forward to when we could formally meet.”
Evan snorted, and Sierra held back an amused smile. Alastor motioned to Evan. “This is my nephew, Evan.”
Evan grinned. “You don’t remember meeting Sierra a couple months ago?”
Lionel shook his head, his brow furrowed in confusion. “No.�
��
“Kale Saven’s vineyard?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
Evan looked at Sierra. “What did Kale say? Ah! ‘Lionel, if it weren’t for good people like you, the town would be overrun with criminals.’”
Sierra grinned behind her hand.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lionel said, putting his nose even further up into the air.
“No?” Evan asked. “Hm, must have been another Lionel.”
“Leave him alone, Evan,” Alastor said. “Although I don’t doubt Kale would say that about Lionel. He’s an upstanding citizen of Rahuda.”
“Someone has to protect those apples,” Evan said.
Sierra laughed, nearly choking on her wine. Evan patted her on the back, and she pushed him in the shoulder. “Stop, this is your fault in the first place!” she said breathlessly.
“I will leave you to the true heroes of Rahuda.” He winked at her and walked over to Seth and Sashe, who had just walked in.
“Ah, that’s my other adopted daughter Sashe,” Alastor said. “Newly engaged to Seth.”
Sierra looked at him in surprise. Surely he thought she wasn’t supposed to know yet? Maybe it was his way of punishing her for letting Evan tease Lionel.
“Don’t look so surprised, Sierra,” Alastor said. “I know Sashe told you.”
She smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
“I know both of you very well,” he continued, “and I know Lionel would be a good fit for you.”
Her smile disappeared. “A good fit?”
“Yes, Lionel is interested in courtship.” Alastor motioned to Lionel with his glass. “He can’t stop asking about you.”
Lionel smiled at Sierra, but it was unconvincing. “I keep noticing your beauty.”
Sierra narrowed her eyes at him. Why he was pretending to be interested in her? She noticed Alastor’s gaze on her and she said, “Thank you. That’s. . .very kind.”
“Excuse me,” Alastor said, raising his voice. “Excuse me, everyone.”
Grateful for a distraction from Lionel, Sierra turned to Alastor, along with everyone else. He announced Seth and Sashe’s engagement, and Evan flung his arms around Seth. Laughing, Seth clapped him on the back in response. The rest of the guests crowded around Seth and Sashe to offer their congratulations. Sierra rushed forward, eager to get away from Lionel. She hugged them both, grinning so wide her face hurt, then stood back a few feet while Seth told everyone his plans to build them a house on Damon and Lina’s property.
Dar came to stand behind Sierra, his arms crossed, his face serious. He’d gotten so tall, too. All the girls in town were paying attention to him and Evan now, and she was pretty sure it was getting to Evan’s head. Dar seemed so immune to outside opinion, good or bad. He watched Seth and Sashe, though, like something was terribly wrong.
She nudged him in the side. “Don’t look too happy for them.”
He looked at her. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”
She shrugged, her smile fading a little bit. “They love each other.”
Dar grunted, turning to look at them again. “I know that.”
“They’re going to be happy.”
Dar nodded and let out a sigh. “Yeah, you’re right.”
At dinner, Natalia sat Sierra next to Lionel, but fortunately, Evan was on her other side. Natalia bent down and whispered in Sierra’s ear, “Don’t think about talking to Evan all night. I want you to at least try to get along with Lionel.”
“Yes, all right,” Sierra said, rolling her eyes.
Since no one was on the other side of Lionel, he kept distracting her from her conversation with Evan and his parents who sat across from them. She eventually felt bad for ignoring him, so she indulged conversation with him. He talked mostly of himself: his training to become a guard, his trips to Renaul, the one time he met the king, his opinions on state affairs. Near the end of the meal, she lost her patience with him and cut him off.
“Why are you pretending to be interested in me?” she asked him quietly.
He looked at her in surprise, his mouth hanging open. “Why would you say such a thing?”
“You’ve sent me dirty looks ever since you told Kale about Evan and I picking apples from his orchard.”
He huffed. “That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is.”
He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Listen, I don’t like you, either, so you don’t have to pretend.”
He looked sideways at her, then glanced beyond her to his father. He dropped his voice. “I think this courtship would please my father. I’m sure we could grow to like one another.”
She wanted to say something nasty, like, ‘I doubt it.’ He looked at her so eagerly she didn’t have the heart to, though. “Perhaps,” she mumbled.
A few minutes of tense silence passed, and the servants brought out dessert. Matilda laughed loudly at something Dar said, and Lionel leaned closer to Sierra. She tensed, leaning away. He didn’t notice, or pretended not to.
“What is Matilda doing here?” he asked.
Sierra glanced at Matilda, who pushed Dar in the shoulder playfully. “She’s friends with our family. Why?”
He looked down at his cherries and cream. “I didn’t know that.”
She thought that was an odd thing to say, but she didn’t push it. Matilda’s mother was the family’s seamstress and one of Shyra’s only Cosas. They were the magical family that hid and revealed things: conversations, people, important objects. Alastor paid her to fortify the manor with Cosa magic. Matilda’s father had been a Mahri, though he died in the battle that killed Seth’s parents. That made Matilda half and half, able to work with potions and magical objects as well as hide and reveal things. If only she could reveal why she seemed to like everyone but Sierra.
“It’s just that. . .” He dropped his voice again to a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ve spoken with her before, and she didn’t have good things to say about this family.”
“What?” she snapped.
“Perhaps I should rephrase. She didn’t have good things to say about you.” His cheeks turned red. “I sound like a gossiping old woman. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“What did she say?” Sierra asked, her curiosity winning over her good sense.
“Well, if I’m being perfectly honest, I started it. I said something about what happened with Kale, and she joined in. I got the impression she really didn’t like you.”
Sierra made a face, and she glanced at Matilda again. Maybe she shouldn’t be surprised, but still, it hurt to hear that anyone was gossiping about her, even Matilda and Lionel. “Well, she certainly likes Dar.”
“That much is clear,” Lionel said.
She smirked. She’d probably never like Lionel, but he was definitely amusing in his stiff manner.
Lionel and his father left first, Matilda and her mother after them. Evan’s family and Seth stayed, and they all retired to the sitting room. Seth and Sashe were soon playing the piano and singing for everyone. Everyone had had a lot of wine to drink, though Sierra was still getting used to the taste.
“Now listen, Sierra,” Alastor said, turning to her. “I made an exception for Sashe, but I won’t for you. You won’t be marrying an Avialie.”
Sierra raised her eyebrows at him. “You would rather I marry Lionel?”
“Yes! Yes, I would! He’s a sensible boy.”
“He’s full of himself!” Evan exclaimed. He sat on the floor, his legs sprawled out in front of him. “A proper man shouldn’t brag like he does.”
“He does not brag!” Alastor’s hair was sticking up with sweat. Sierra thought it was time for him to go to bed. She glanced at Natalia, who was distracted from her conversation with Lina, watching Alastor.
“That’s all he did all dinner!” Evan shook his head. “He’s arrogant.” He swung his arm out, spilling wine on himself. “And
besides, Sierra should be able to marry whomever she wants.”
“I’m still her father, aren’t I?” Alastor stood up. “Haven’t I raised her? Haven’t I watched after her? Don’t I get a say in any of it?”
“Alastor, perhaps it’s time to retire,” Natalia said.
“I don’t want her to marry an Avialie, that’s all!” Alastor yelled, ignoring her. Seth and Sashe glanced over from the piano, and Sierra sent her sister an apologetic look. “I lost one already, why do I have to lose both of them?”
“You’re not losing her,” Evan said hotly. “She’s marrying a man who cares about her and will do—”
“Anything to keep her safe, I know!” Alastor yelled. “I know! I heard it a dozen times!”
“And if Sierra found someone like what? Why shouldn’t she be able to marry him?”
“Because he’s an Avialie! Because of the Protectors! We cannot drag innocent people into this war!”
“But if he was careful not to get her pregnant—”
“You don’t understand! There is more at risk than an unborn child.” Alastor shook his head. “No, I won’t let it happen again.”
Evan stood up. He was actually as tall as Alastor now, and he obviously wasn’t intimidated by the man. Maybe that was the wine. He stared into the man’s eyes. “If Sierra found an Avialie who loved her and was careful not to get her pregnant, she should be free to marry him.”
“If Sierra finds an Avialie she wants to marry, I’ll kill him!” Alastor shouted.
Damon stood up. “Okay, Alastor,” he said in a firm voice. “That’s enough.”
Alastor finished his glass of wine and threw it across the room. It shattered on the wall, and a stunned silence followed. He left the room, mumbling to himself.
“I’m sorry,” Natalia told Seth and Sashe. “Please, keep playing. It was very nice.”
“I’ll be back,” Damon said. He left to go after his brother.
Sierra let out a breath, leaning back against the couch. She and Dar exchanged worried looks. She hated when Alastor got like that. He only acted like that when he got drunk, which wasn’t often. It was always something to do with Avialies or Protectors that angered him. At least the other guests had already left. She didn’t want to scare off Lionel now, did she?
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