I didn’t need as many things as I had before since we wore school uniforms now. At first, I hated not being able to plan an outfit for each day of the week, but soon I realized how much time it freed up, and I saw the benefits. The uniforms were ugly, though, basically long, white Vegonian dresses. They looked only slightly more stylish than togas made out of bedsheets. Pure torture for Maya and me to wear them day in and day out, but once we found out we could embellish the uniforms in any way we liked, it made us much happier. We set to work right away.
Maya, clever girl, had brought a bedazzle machine with her from Earth. She’d hoped to embellish a purse or belt, but I had grander plans in mind. We sat in my room, cutting, stitching, and bedazzling our uniforms until they looked less like shapeless bed sheets and almost cute.
“Very nice,” Maya said, admiring my handiwork. I’d made my uniform more form-fitting and sparkly while still adhering to the dress code and the rules about Vegonian modesty, which were extremely complicated and confusing.
“Is above the knee okay?” I held up the bottom of my uniform far enough so my knees peeked out.
Maya studied it closely. “I don’t know. It looks a little short.”
It looked short to me too. Amazing how much my perspective could change in four weeks. They had been trying weeks, spent adjusting to a new school, learning about a new culture, and not hearing from Julian at all.
Maya seemed to read my mind. “I saw your friend this morning.”
“My friend?” I turned to get a better look at my backside in the mirror. “Who?”
She sat on my bed, looking at the photographs from France. She picked up one of Julian and pointed at it. “Him.” She fanned herself with the photo and batted her eyes. “His Royal Hotness.”
I had put most of the pictures into an album I’d embellished during craft class at school. I’d made an album for Julian too but still hadn’t given it to him since he never stopped by.
“Oh?” I tried to sound nonchalant. “Where?”
Maya grabbed an M&M from the bowl next to my bed and closed her eyes as she popped it into her mouth, letting the candy dissolve on her tongue. We were rationing them strictly and only allowed ourselves two per day.
I tried to be patient but wanted to know about Julian. Before we went to Earth, he’d been at the palace all the time, but now he hadn’t been here once in the thirty days, twelve hours and twenty-two minutes since we’d gotten back. I hadn’t seen him, in fact, since the moment the ship had landed, and he handed me off to my parents.
It did not bode well. Julian obviously couldn’t wait to get away from me and was probably with his Vegonian floozy right this minute. The thought made me ill. I sat on the bed next to Maya and tried to settle my stomach by eating some M&M’s. I grabbed a handful and shoved them into my mouth, ignoring the shocked look on Maya’s face.
“Where did you see him?” I asked, my mouth full of M&M’s.
“Uh, right before school this morning. In front of the ducal palace.”
I grabbed another handful and ate those too. Maya had the good sense not to question it. This time I waited until after I chewed and swallowed to speak.
“Did he say anything?” I asked, keeping my eyes on my lap. All I could think about was Julian. I missed him so much it physically pained me at this point and trying to act casual about it killed me.
“He said he’d been out of town seeing to urgent business. He asked how you were doing.”
“What did you say?” I asked, playing with the bedazzled belt of my uniform.
Maya pushed her hair behind her ears, watching me closely. “I told him you were fine.”
“Is that all?” I held my breath. I don’t know what I expected. I doubted Julian was the type to gossip, let alone profess his undying love for me to someone he hardly knew on a street corner.
“That’s all. You like him, don’t you?”
“What?” I tried to laugh it off, but it didn’t work, and my laugh sounded fake.
She held up a photo of Julian and me in Paris. Black and white, it captured a beautiful moment. We stared deeply into each other’s eyes and laughed at some private joke. I took the photo from her and studied it. We both looked so happy, and someone who didn’t know any better would assume we were in love. I, unfortunately, happened to know better.
“Paris,” I said sadly, “when his Vegonian Vision malfunctioned. He doesn’t feel the same way about me here.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he hasn’t even contacted me once since we got back.”
“Maybe he’s busy. Julian’s a duke, after all. He had things to do after being gone for so long. Also, he’s in university right now, and missed weeks of school when he went to Earth with you.”
“He has a girlfriend.” I flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Maya joined me.
“And you have Adrian. I saw the two of you together on the transport ship. He cares about you.”
“I know,” I said, wincing. “But to tell the truth, I hardly even think about Adrian anymore. I’m an awful person.”
“Maybe Julian feels the same way,” she said.
I stared at her in horror. “Julian thinks I’m an awful person?”
Maya laughed. “No, silly. Maybe he doesn’t feel the same way about his girlfriend anymore either. Maybe he feels bad about it too.”
I turned to lie back down again next to Maya. “I wish that were the case, but I doubt it.”
While I sat in the garden later that afternoon, feeding bread to the marmesou and feeling bad for myself, my father joined me. I looked up at him in surprise.
“Hi, Daddy.” I scooted over on the bench so he could sit. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” He took a handful of bread and tossed it to the marmesou near our feet. “We haven’t had a chance to talk lately. I’m sorry, Starr.”
“Well, you’ve been busy. I understand.”
“Maybe, but I always have time for you. You know that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“There is something I need to tell you.” His handsome face looked a bit strained. Warning bells went off in my head.
“Am I in trouble?” I couldn’t remember doing anything lately that might warrant a discussion with my father, but it was possible.
He laughed. “No. I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you when we first arrived. I was a little overwhelmed, and I lacked patience with you.”
“I deserved it.”
“No, you did not.” He tugged on his uniform, looking uncomfortable.
“I get it, Daddy.” I patted his hand. “It’s easy to understand. You saw me for the first time with your Vegonian Vision, and you didn’t like it.”
He looked shocked. “Not at all,” he said, shaking his head. “I felt guilty. You were our baby, and I coddled you excessively on Earth. I didn’t prepare you for the challenges you would face here, and I blame myself for what happened.”
“You didn’t see me here and immediately realize I was shallow, selfish, and vain?” Since Julian saw me like that, I assumed all Vegonians did.
“If you were any of those things, Starr, it was because of me. I spoiled you, and you paid the price.”
“It doesn’t work that way, Daddy. You may have let me get away with more because I was younger, but you didn’t spoil me any more or less than you spoiled Astra, and look how she turned out. I’m sorry, but you can’t take the blame for what I was like back on Earth. It’s all on me.”
“Do you dare to argue with the Royal Consort of the Queen of Vega?” he asked, drawing his head up stiffly and wearing such a comically menacing scowl I had to giggle.
“I do. You don’t have to make excuses or take the blame for me, Daddy. I’m not the same person anymore.”
“I can see you are not,” he said softly.
“Can I ask you something?” I asked, and he nodded. “I know I was pretty on Earth, and I know I…am not pretty on Vega. This might sound kind of
stupid, but what do I look like to you?”
He studied my face a long time before leaning over and kissing me on my forehead. “You are as you have always been to me, lovely and perfect in every way,” he said, his voice choking up.
“Maybe your Vegonian Vision is broken,” I said with a sad little smile.
“It is working quite well, thank you.” He touched the tip of my nose with his fingertip.
I leaned my head against his broad shoulder, and we sat quietly side by side in the garden before he finally had to leave. “By the way. You are no longer grounded.”
“I can go to the Moon Festival tomorrow?”
“Yes. You are free to roam once again.”
I smiled at him and hopped off the bench. No longer confined to the palace grounds and school, I had somewhere I wanted to go.
A few minutes later I stood in front of the palace of the Duke of Celesta, the photo album I’d made for Julian tucked under my arm. I’d changed into jeans and a pale pink t-shirt and brushed my hair until it shone like burnished gold, not that it mattered. As soon as I reached the palace, I found out Julian was not in residence at the moment, and not expected back any time soon.
I left the photo album with the man at the palace gate and asked him to give it to the duke for me. As I walked home, I saw Captain Augustus strolling toward me.
“Hello,” I said with a smile.
He responded a bit curtly. He hadn’t forgiven me for stowing away on his ship. I guess he’d been in nearly as much trouble with my parents as I had when they found out.
“Were you visiting the duke?” he asked, looking stern.
Captain Augustus, close in age to my father, was tall, like all Vegonian males. He had a thick shock of reddish-brown hair and bushy eyebrows, and although he was handsome, his eyebrows were a little out of control. I doubted he would consider plucking or trimming them, but he should have. They gave a perpetually irritated and slightly hostile air to his appearance. It didn’t suit him at all.
I shook my head. “He wasn’t home. I had something to drop off for him.”
Captain Augustus gave me a penetrating look from under his significant eyebrows. “May we talk openly, Princess Starr?”
“Sure.” I figured this would be about the whole stowaway thing, which I had apologized for repeatedly already. I mentally prepared myself to do so again.
“It is about your relationship with the duke.” He rubbed his chin with his hand. “I have not spoken to your father yet, but I feel it is my duty. I wanted to prepare Duke Julian ahead of time.”
“For what?”
“For the criminal charges I plan to file against him, of course.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. “What are you talking about?”
Captain Augustus folded his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. “I know thou art not familiar with our customs, Princess, but Julian is legally an adult and you are not. I heard you freely admit you shared a bed with him, which means he took advantage of you when you were most vulnerable.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, Captain.” I could feel my cheeks growing hot. “Julian and I took a nap on the same bed, but we didn’t….”
Comprehension dawned on his face, and his cheeks turned a shade of red which was nearly purple. “So you haven’t….” he began.
“We never…” I said, wondering if either of us would make it through this conversation with a single completed sentence.
He bowed to me. “Forgive me, Your Highness.”
“It’s okay,” I said, still not able to make eye contact with him. “You didn’t know. Julian was a complete gentleman at all times. We don’t have that kind of relationship. He protected me out of a sense of duty to my parents, nothing more.”
Captain Augustus looked confused. “You are not planning to wed the duke?”
I made a sound of pure exasperation. “I’m sixteen years old. I don’t know what I want to do tomorrow, let alone for the rest of my life.”
He chuckled, looking immensely relieved. “I understand. May I escort you back to the palace?”
“Yes, you may. As long as you don’t try to marry me off again.”
“I promise,” he said, still laughing.
All day I thought about what Captain Augustus had said. He assumed I had a thing for Duke Julian. Was it blatantly apparent to everyone else as well? If so, I’d likely become the laughing stock of the entire planet by now.
By the time night fell, I felt jittery and tense. There was nothing I could do, and no one I could talk to about it. I decided a swim in the palace pool before bed would help me relax and clear my head.
The pool, located outside in the palace gardens, looked like a tropical, hidden lagoon. Long enough for laps, and at the deepest end, there was a diving area and a cascading waterfall.
I wore the only one-piece suit I owned and pulled my hair into a tight ponytail before jumping in. I knew I’d made the right decision coming here because as soon as I submerged myself in the warm water, my body relaxed, and my mind cleared.
The garden was quiet, except for the rustling noises of the marmesou in the trees and the occasional soft sounds birds and insects made in the warm peacefulness of the night. The pool, lit with the soft glow of underwater lighting, soothed me. Small, low lights had been set up along the perimeter and on the path leading back to the palace as well. The effect was beautiful and calming. I took a deep breath of the night air scented with the rich aroma of exotic flowers and dove beneath the surface.
As I swam lap after lap, the awful churning in my stomach dissipated. Maya and Captain Augustus were right. I did have a horrible crush on Julian, but I couldn’t do anything about it. If he had any feelings for me at all, surely he would have been in contact by now. I needed to face facts and forget about him.
I felt like a fool for taking him the photo album. He was probably laughing about it right now, making fun of my artwork and the effort I’d put into it. I bet he even showed it to his girlfriend, and they both thought I was an idiot.
I swam back and forth, torturing myself with mental pictures of Julian cavorting with his dark-haired beauty of a Vegonian girlfriend. Suddenly, I noticed a tall, dark shape standing at the side of the pool watching me. I screamed in shock but was underwater at the time, so I ended up choking. A strong hand grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the water as I coughed and sputtered and tried to get away.
“Starr, calm down.”
I looked up in surprise. Julian knelt beside me and pounded me on the back as I tried to cough the rest of the water I’d inhaled out of my lungs.
Not a pretty sight, and not at all how I had envisioned our first meeting back on Vega to play out. When I finally stopped coughing, I glared at him.
“What are you doing here?”
My voice sounded scratchy and raw. We sat next to the pool on the stone patio. Julian wore his jeans and a t-shirt and had never looked so good. I was, once again, a complete mess.
“I came to thank you for the photo album, and I’m glad I did. You should not be out here by yourself,” he said, getting all authoritative once again. If I hadn’t missed him so much, it would have seriously irritated me.
“Vega is perfectly safe. I can go anywhere I want without guards, and no one would think to bother me.”
“But you nearly drowned.”
“Because you startled me.”
He growled in frustration. “Starr, Vega is safe, but you still need to take some precautions, and not only because you could be injured in an accident or through your lack of common sense. There is something more.”
“What?” I ignored the commonsense comment, shivering from the cold night air on my damp skin. Julian reached for a towel and wrapped me in it.
“The war is over, but there are still some unsafe elements on this planet, people who are not exactly pleased your mother has returned.”
I frowned. “With Vegonian Vision, wouldn’t you be able to tell right
away if someone is bad?”
He shook his head. “Not if they truly and honestly thought they were in the right. You might sense something is slightly off with them, especially if they plan to harm someone, but you would not be able to put your finger on it if they sincerely believed they were justified in their actions. Which is what happened with Wayland Marcel. He was insane, but he believed in his cause so completely, no one else could see it until it was too late.”
“Is my mom in danger?” I shivered again, and this time not from the cold. Julian pulled the towel tighter around me and rubbed my arms up and down. I felt the heat of his hands through the towel and had to fight an urge to lean into his big warm body and put my face into the crook of his neck.
“She is safe, for now, but there is something I need to ask you.”
“What?”
He opened my towel, and his hands touched the side of my throat as he pulled out the necklace nestled between my breasts. “Where is he?” His voice sounded odd and slightly hoarse in the silence of the garden at night.
“Adrian?” I wrinkled my face into a frown, so focused on Julian’s proximity it was a little hard to concentrate.
“I need to know where he is, Starr,” he said softly.
“What are you talking about?” I pulled away from him. He let the necklace drop, and it felt cold and hard against my skin.
“Are you hiding him?” His eyes looked dark and fathomless, his expression unreadable.
I stared at him in surprise. “Why would I be hiding him?”
“Answer me, please. Have you seen him since we returned to Celesta?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t seen or heard from Adrian for months, not since we arrived on the first transport ship. Why are you asking me these questions?”
He ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign he was upset. “It doesn’t matter, but can I ask you to do something for me?”
“Of course,” I said, although I had no idea where this was going.
“If you see Adrian, will you let me know?” I wanted to ask him why, but he stopped me with one finger against my lips.
Something odd happened, because suddenly, all I could think about was licking the finger Julian held against my mouth. I wanted to taste him. I’d never felt like this in my life. He must have seen something in my expression because his eyes grew all hot and unfocused, and he stopped talking.
Starr Valentine Page 13
