Starr Valentine

by Abigail Drake

  No one could verify the story, but things did get much worse in Vega. Wayland brutally executed anyone faithful to my mother, including Julian’s entire family. They had refused to leave because Julian’s mother had been in the middle of a difficult pregnancy at the time. The voyage would have been too dangerous for her. They thought Wayland would show mercy to a helpless, pregnant woman, but he did not. He killed her as viciously as he killed the others.

  It wasn’t what I’d expected. I’d known the war had been awful, but I didn’t comprehend the extent to which individual people had been affected. Julian had lost his entire family.

  I went to the cafeteria for dinner, almost afraid to face him. He sat alone at a table in the corner. I stood in the doorway a while before he looked up and spotted me. He stared at me, and for the first time, I didn’t see arrogance or annoyance on his face. He seemed sad and a lot older than his eighteen years.

  I approached the table cautiously, my cheeks burning, and my eyes downcast. It took a great deal of effort to look Julian directly in the face.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  He stared at the untouched plate of food in front of him, his arms folded across his chest and a muscle working in his jaw. I cleared my throat, and he glanced up at me, his brown eyes twin pools of pain.

  My chest was oddly tight as I sat across from him. I wanted to make things better for Julian but had no idea how. Maybe being his friend was the first step in the process. I grasped his hand in mine. He didn’t pull away — a good sign.

  “It was a long time ago,” he said, his voice tight. “Wayland Marcel is dead and gone, and your mother, the queen, is back where she should be.”

  I finally understood where his anger came from about my feelings for Vega. His family had sacrificed everything for us. I felt shallow and selfish — a new sensation. I didn’t like it at all.

  “Can I ask you something?” I asked hesitantly.

  “Of course,” he said. My hand still rested in his, and he absentmindedly stroked it with his thumb. I don’t think he even realized he did it, but my heart rate accelerated dramatically. I pulled my hand gently out of his grasp and put it in my lap.

  “How did you survive?” I asked and immediately regretted it. A flash of agony crossed his face, so poignant I nearly cried.

  “I was two when Wayland Marcel killed my parents and my unborn baby sister, but I remember it. Not everything, of course, and not clearly, but it’s still there. Flashes of things. My father’s face as he hid me away. My mother’s screams. A sense of great and unfathomable loss. My nursemaid, an older woman, saved my life. She took me to her village in the mountains far from Celesta. When she became ill, she gave me to members of an underground resistance group,” he said, his voice monotone. “I was five years old when she died.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes, and I turned away so Julian wouldn’t see them. I didn’t want to make things any harder for him. “I shouldn’t have asked,” I said, my voice shaking.

  He leaned closer to me. “No, you should ask. You should be asking lots of things, Starr. How else are you ever going to understand?”

  “Okay,” I said, hugging my torso. “What was your life like after she died?” I tried hard not to picture an adorable miniature version of the handsome, dark-haired Julian all alone in the world but failed miserably.

  “Some people loyal to my family took me in. They raised me in relative poverty and obscurity, and once I was old enough, I joined the resistance.”

  “How old was old enough?” I hoped he wasn’t going to say six or seven.

  “Twelve.”

  I thought about what I’d been doing at twelve and was embarrassed. I’d sprained my ankle and hadn’t been able to go to the National Cheerleading Competition in Orlando. I’d acted as if the world had come to an end. Suddenly, I saw myself in a new light, and it wasn’t flattering.

  “What did you have to do?” I asked. “As a member of the resistance?”

  Julian shrugged. “Small stuff at first. They taught me how to fight and how to survive. As the heir to the dukedom of Celesta, I was too valuable to risk on anything foolhardy.”

  “How did you get the scar on your lip?” I asked, and Julian’s face froze.

  “Let’s save that story for another day,” he said quietly.

  Eight

  “What’s gone and what’s past help should be past grief.” William Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale

  The rest of our voyage continued without incident. Julian behaved exactly as a good Duke should. He was charming, entertaining, and authoritative without being bossy. He made me study each day, but he also listened attentively as I told him about Earth and our lives there.

  “What exactly is the point of cheerleading?” he asked. I could tell he meant it as a sincere question, so I didn’t get offended.

  “It’s about helping the football and basketball teams and getting the crowd excited, but there is a lot more to it.” I had to admit I’d never thought about it before. Some of Astra’s friends had said snarky things about cheerleaders being useless, but I knew it was jealousy talking.

  Julian waited for the rest of my answer. I screwed up my face as I thought about it. “It’s like taking the best the school has to offer and sticking it in a cute skirt and top.”

  Julian looked perplexed. “Who elects you?”

  “We aren’t elected. We try out, and the coaches choose us.”

  “And they base their choices on appearance?”

  I didn’t know how to answer his question. “It’s more than appearance. A cheerleader has to be able to do jumps and tricks too. It’s like being an athlete and a dancer and a gymnast combined, but cuter.”

  Julian still didn’t get it. I decided to do a few cheers for him, and, if anything, he looked even more confused than before. I couldn’t do any handsprings or backflips because there wasn’t enough space, but as soon as I showed him a split and a back walkover, he appeared to be more impressed. In fact, his whole face lit up.

  “So, you are like circus performers.” He looked so happy with this conclusion, I decided to give up. Some things couldn’t be translated cross-culturally.

  Time passed quickly on this voyage. It seemed like a much shorter trip than the trip to Vega had been, and before long, we were preparing to land on Earth. When I saw my blue and perfect little home planet through a portal window, I bit my lip.

  “It is beautiful,” Julian said as he stood by my side.

  “It is,” I sniffed.

  He put his arm around my shoulders. There was nothing strange about it. He wanted to comfort me, because he was kind, and generous, and good. Of course, he had no clue about how my entire body suddenly reacted to his proximity. I pulled away so he wouldn’t notice how my heart raced and how I’d broken out in a sweat. Julian looked at me oddly, misreading my reaction.

  “You do understand I agreed to let you off of this ship for the next seven days only because you promised you would not try to escape.”

  I gave him a little scowl before turning back to the portal, so excited about being near Earth; I could hardly stand it. Julian took my chin in his hand and turned my face to his. He stood a lot taller than me, so I had to look way up.

  “Say the words, Starr,” he commanded.

  “I solemnly swear I will not run away from you.” He waited, his hand still on my face, so I continued. “I will not escape from you. I will do as I’m told. I will mind my manners. What more do you want, Julian?”

  A funny look crossed his face, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Captain Augustus told us to prepare for landing. I squealed in excitement and ran to my seat. I couldn’t wait to have my feet firmly planted on Earth again.

  News cameras and a crowd of people waited for us as we docked. I’d had the foresight to chop up one of the ugly Vegonian garments the crew gave me to make a relatively cute halter style mini dress. The weather was still warm for early fall. The dress, a silvery color, matched the silver san
dals embellished with rhinestones and jewels I’d brought with me. Although not the prettiest thing I’d ever worn, the outfit was presentable and far better than my yoga pants.

  As soon as they caught sight of us, the crowd roared. I smiled and waved as cameras flashed and reporters screamed out questions.

  “Princess Starr, why have you come back to Earth?” one man asked, holding a microphone to my face. He looked at me with undisguised admiration, and I smiled, delighted because someone had noticed me. It had been so long, and I missed it.

  “Earth was my home. I wanted to visit one last time.”

  “Who is with you, Princess Starr?” another reporter shouted.

  I looked back. Julian stood behind me, resplendent in his white military uniform, eying the reporters with a bemused smile on his face.

  “Julian is the Duke of Celesta, our capital city. He accompanied me on this journey.” Suddenly the cameras flashed with even greater intensity.

  It took Captain Augustus, the crew, and a full squadron of police officers to clear the way to the limousine waiting for us. I leaned back into the plush interior and breathed a huge sigh of relief. I still had it. I was still pretty. I sensed it in the flash of each camera and saw it in the eyes of every person out there.

  “Thou art popular here,” Julian said with a little smile.

  “I art.” I grinned back at him.

  “On the way home, thou art learning how to speak proper Vegonian,” he said, shaking his head, even though he seemed amused by my little joke.

  Suddenly, I found nothing about this situation funny. My shoulders slumped. I didn’t want to think about the trip back to Vega. I only just arrived here on Earth.

  Julian seemed to read my mind. “Thou art going back to Vega, Princess. Don’t forget it,” he said, giving me an autocratic look.

  “How could I?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. “You keep reminding me.”

  The rest of the ride passed in a cold and uncomfortable silence. We were supposed to stay in a hotel, but I had begged and pleaded to be allowed to stay in my old house. It would be put up for sale soon, with all our furniture inside, to benefit Vegonian orphans or something. As we pulled up, our sweet little Cape Cod style home looked as cold and as dark as the inside of the limousine I rode in.

  I walked up the stone path with Julian close behind me. Someone had been watering the flowers. Usually, it was my job. It turned out there was one thing I did not miss about Earth—chores. On Vega, we had servants. But it still felt strange to think of someone else doing these tasks. As much as I hated them, they were mine. Well, they used to be mine.

  Julian handed me the key to the front door, and I unlocked it and turned on the lights. As I looked around, I felt strange. I’d only been gone a little over a month, but it all seemed different. My house looked tiny, and the furniture so dull. There wasn’t a single marmesou carved into anything.

  “It is small,” he said, stating the obvious. “This was thy home?”

  A security team of bodyguards had accompanied us here, but they waited outside. I was glad. I needed a moment to acclimate.

  “This is my home. I grew up here, and my life here was perfect,” I said, feeling angry for his criticism, but as soon as I remembered the circumstances of Julian’s childhood, I winced. “Julian, I’m sorry—”

  He held up a hand to stop my apology. “There is no need for you to feel bad for me. None of it was your fault.”

  “None of it was your fault either, but I got the better end of the deal.”

  Julian studied me for a long moment. “Maybe.”

  He slept in Astra’s bedroom, and a team of security agents stayed downstairs. My house looked even smaller with a whole herd of big, tall, Vegonian men inside. When I woke up the next morning, I realized we had no food in our pantry, so I made Julian take me to the grocery store. It felt a little odd going to Sir Save-A-Lot in a limo, but I decided it was one of the princess perks I could get used to quickly.

  I filled the cart with all the things I missed from Earth: peanut butter cups, soda, and other junk food. Vegonians were notoriously health conscious, so I threw in some fruits and vegetables for Julian and the bodyguards. Food on Vega was organic and homemade and healthy. It definitely tasted good, but nothing could replace a peanut butter cup. I’d eaten four and had two sodas by the time the limo made it back to our house and I felt queasy. Julian had tasted the peanut butter cup and liked it, but he’d had an apple for breakfast instead. He may have made the wiser choice.

  I groaned as I got out of the limo, and Julian eyed me with concern. “Art thou ill, Princess Starr?”

  I shook my head but held my stomach. Julian led me up to the house.

  “Why don’t you lie down? I’ll unload the food.”

  I thanked him and went upstairs. After resting for half an hour, the pain in my stomach eased. Too jived on caffeine to sleep, I looked around my room. Something was different. I struggled to understand what exactly had changed and why.

  Nothing had been moved or taken since I’d left, although it did look like someone had come inside to dust and tidy up. I wondered if it was the same person who watered my flowers and felt a little violated.

  My mom and I had decorated my room in blues and neon green, my two favorite colors in the whole world—and on other planets too, since I still liked those colors on Vega. I’d forced her to allow me to paint one wall entirely blue and cover it with green polka dot stickers. She’d laughed about the results, which weren’t as spectacular as we’d imagined, but we’d had fun doing it together. Now, because I knew she was a queen, it impressed me that she’d done this kind of stuff for me.

  Next to my bed, on my beat-up little nightstand, sat a picture of me with my parents and Astra on my fifteenth birthday. I’d forgotten it in the rush to pack. I picked it up and studied it carefully. We all looked so happy. I stared at my mother’s face, wondering how she’d done it. She’d gone from being the Queen of Vega and a legendary beauty to being a frumpy housewife. In many ways, the same thing had happened to me, and even though I’d only lived it a few days, it almost destroyed me.

  As I looked at the photo, I realized my mother had never seemed unhappy, and she never complained. It was even more remarkable now because I understood what she’d faced. She’d lost her home and her title and her beauty, but she always found joy. She never needed the approval of others to feel good. I wished I could be more like her, but I knew it would never happen.

  I glanced at the clock and realized I’d used up precious Earth time being maudlin. I ran down the stairs to find Julian on the couch looking at one of our old photo albums.

  “Art thou okay, Princess Starr?” he asked.

  “I art, I mean, I am.” Julian still wore his slightly wrinkled white uniform, and I was still in my yoga pants.

  “Julian, do we have any money?”

  “We have all the money you could need, thanks to your parents.”

  “Great.” I took his hand and pulled him off the couch. “We’re going shopping.”

  I took Julian to Twin Oaks, my favorite mall. We had lunch in the food court, where he discovered the wonder of French fries. I stuck to a salad. I didn’t want a repeat of the peanut butter cup episode from this morning. Afterward, we walked around the mall. I took him into all of my favorite shops and bought lots of nice things for both of us.

  I soon discovered Julian had a body made for jeans, and he looked an awful lot like an Abercrombie model in them. I made him pose in the store while I took a photo. He did it with ill grace, but I couldn’t help noticing other girls seemed to think he looked pretty good too. He got a lot of stares as we walked around, but he seemed oblivious.

  I got stares too, and I was not oblivious. Every boy who walked past noticed me, and it felt amazing. Julian didn’t seem pleased, however. He gave dirty looks to the guys checking me out.

  “What’s wrong with you, Julian?”

  He was acting jealous, and I loved it. At
last, maybe he’d finally seen me as someone desirable, and not the village idiot. I fluttered my eyelashes, and he scowled.

  “Nothing is wrong with me. I don’t understand the behavior of the men on this planet. They are staring at you the same way you stared at your peanut butter sweet this morning.” He gazed around in disbelief. “What could they possibly find so interesting?”

  It felt like he'd plunged a knife into my chest. His offhand comment may have been the cruelest thing anyone had ever said to me. I came to a dead stop and stared at his broad back, my mouth open in shock. He turned around when he finally realized I wasn’t walking with him and stomped back to glower at me.

  “What is it?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said, trying to keep from crying. I managed, but barely. “I have to use the restroom.”

  I chose my location carefully. Only one restroom in the mall had two separate exits. I left Julian and the guards in front of one door, where they waited, blissfully unaware of my plans. I strolled straight through the restroom, and out the exit leading to a different section of the mall. I was free.

  Unfortunately, I was also penniless. I had to call Brittany collect from a payphone, but she came to pick me up within minutes, bringing Mandy with her. They’d cut class to rescue me, which told me what kind of friends they were. I missed both of them more than I’d realized.

  As soon as they saw me, they screamed and pulled me into a group hug. We bounced up and down as we continued to scream. When I realized we were attracting attention, and someone might recognize me soon, I pulled them into Brittany’s car, and we set off for school.

  On the way, they pummeled me with questions about Vega and about being a princess, and even about Julian. They’d seen him on the news.

  “I was so excited when I found out you were back,” Mandy said. She was in the front seat as Brittany drove. “Did you bring us any cool souvenirs, or are they all back at your house?”

  She turned around in her seat and stared at me with something greedy and ugly in her eyes. I blinked at her in surprise. “I…uh…had to leave quickly, Mandy. There wasn’t any time for shopping.”