1
STELLA
Stella McKay was jealous, but that was nothing new.
Her earliest memory had been jealousy. At three years old she’d been outraged that her mother was giving her new brother, Leo, so much attention when Stella was used to having it all to herself.
Twenty years later, as she watched Prince Arden Teripin spin yet another lady around the Godsball dance floor, Stella’s jealousy morphed into something new and more spiteful.
She fought a burning impulse to pour her wine all over the woman’s pale pink dress.
Like most of the other eligible women in the Godsball tent, Arden’s dance partner wore a pink dress to honor Goddess Desiree. There was a smattering of other colors around the room to honor other gods and goddesses, but almost every young woman open to courting wore pink in homage to the goddess of love.
Stella lifted the loose curls that had slipped out of her updo to stick to the back of her neck in the evening humidity and chided herself.
Her envy was irrational.
Arden looked at her every time he circled the dance floor andcaught a glimpse of her teal gown. She had his attention and, more importantly, his heart. This was just an act. Arden had to give equal time to every eligible lady until they announced their betrothal, but watching women believe they had truly charmed him made Stella itch.
Stella drained her glass of bubble wine in one burning gulp.
The quick-paced folk waltz was catchy, but it had been going on long enough now that it was certain to be stuck in Stella’s head for a week.
Her parents spun by in a swish of silk. They were a touch too close to be appropriate at court, but no one ever gave them judgmental looks. Her parents were a fairy tale come to life, a soul-bonded witch and her guardian, a love stronger than death. Cecilia Reznik and Rainer McKay had a legendary love story and Stella wanted one too.
Stella had seen enough of her friends’ parents bickering to understand that hers were deeply in love, but at times it was exhausting. Like when she came in to check on dinner in the afternoons and found them making out on the kitchen counter like teenagers, or when people told her how much she must be wishing for the same kind of love and asked about her suitors, or when their love made it feel impossible to measure up.
Everyone acted like it was a choice. Like her parents had just decided to fall in love. Really, it was pure luck that they’d been bonded as children. Few people were lucky enough to meet the love of their lives at six and eight years old.
Stella was certain that if she and Arden had that same advantage, they’d be similarly in sync.
The song came to an end and the musicians launched immediately into a slower melody that brought more couples to the dance floor. Stella stared at each duo as they spun by, trying to place their masked faces. Despite the fact that, in the past two decades, the wealth and class gap in Olney had narrowed, the Godsball Masquerade was still a night that honored anonymity as much as it honored the gods and the kingdom’s history.
Unlike the Godsballs of old that her parents had told her about, Olney now distributed community funds to local dressmakers to ensure that everyone who wanted to attend could afford fine clothing that would allow them to blend into the crowd. Above all, this event was meant to kick off the Summer Solstice Festival and promote unity between the southern kingdom of Olney and their northern ally, Argaria.
Stella smoothed her hands down the star flowers stitched to her bodice. Their bright white petals stood out against the vibrant teal silk and matched her delicate flowered mask that signaled she was honoring her mother. Cecilia wore a similar teal dress, as if their resemblance didn’t make it clear enough that they were family. While her mother’s dress had a slimmer skirt that suited her petite stature, Stella was glad to be tall enough to pull off a full ball gown.
Leo stepped up beside her and nudged her with his elbow, handing her a fresh glass of bubble wine. “I thought you’d be out there with your prince.”
“So did I,” she grumbled. Telling Leo and their younger sister Rosie about Arden was a choice she made out of necessity—she’d needed them to help her sneak out to meet the prince—but Stella wished her brother was a little less smug about knowing her secret.
Leo grinned, ran a hand through his hair, and nodded at a group of ladies as they walked by. He had such an ease at social gatherings. From their first season out at eighteen, she’d felt nothing but awkward while Leo slipped into court life as if he’d always belonged there.
Even Leo could admit it was easier for him. People didn’t hold him to the same standard. A woman was judged on every nuance and flaw while men were applauded for simply being respectful. The bar was set so low that Leo could hop it with little effort.
Stella had learned from the moment she entered court as an adult four years ago that there was no end to the flaws others could find in her. She was too quiet about the things people wanted to hear and too loud about those they didn’t, too quick to leave a party early, too often underdressed for the occasion, quick to anger, slow to forgive,not social enough, not skilled at music or singing, and, most baffling of all, a bit too tall. As if she could will herself to shrink.
Her mother, Cecilia, had been quick to dismiss every bit of criticism, reminding Stella how far the world had come for women to still be held to such simple standards. But the gentler her mother was with her, the more frustrated Stella felt.
“How late are you staying?” Leo asked, adjusting his black silk mask so it sat more flush to his face. The silver embroidery on the mask matched that of his tunic. He was clearly trying to honor Grimon, the god of death. TheirUncle Grim, as they affectionately referred to him, wouldn’t be caught dead in something so ostentatious. Stella had only ever seen him in black clothing with blacker detailing.
Though he wasn’t related to her by blood, Stella had always felt particularly close to Grimon because he visited so frequently.
“I think I’ll stay a little while longer. I didn’t miss the nine bells, did I?” Stella asked.
Leo shook his head. “Have a date?”
Stella cocked her head and scowled at him. “Don’t you have some ladies to lead on?”
