gemini

chapter one

"Astron! Stop it! You're messing up my hair," yells my older sister (by two minutes), Cassia. Immediately all the voices in the room silence and I feel four sets of eyes on my back.

"Sorry, Cassie, just trying to make sure it's not sticking up in the back," I whisper, my voice cracking. Cassia turns and glares at me.

"Go away, Gemini. Today's my big day, not yours."

The ladies in the room who are simply observing us do not comment as I exit the lavish, extensive apartment that is my sister's bedroom. I hear her call for one of them as I exit.

"Cousin Sara, dear, fix my hair. It's ruined it."

It. As if I'm not even human. Cassia needs to get her facts straight. With all I could do to her... I feel my hands curling into fists. I take a deep breath and breathe out, relaxing my fingers. There's no need to be upset. Cassia will be gone after today. And I won't miss her one bit.

Cassia was engaged to a man named Byro Stone four and a half years ago, when we were only children of fifeteen. When we were still "sisters" in her eyes. Today is her twentieth birthday. Our twentieth birthday. And she is getting married.

The second my father agreed to marry Cassia off to Byro, he began giving us separate lessons. Cassia learned how to act correctly around others, and how to treat people of certain classes. She learned how to sew and make small talk and write letters. I was put in classes that taught me how to take care of animals and a few money-managing courses.

If it were not for my father, I wouldn't have known how to read. Luckily, he gave us an equal chance at first. Until Cassia got engaged. Then, as he said, "it was high time we learned our place in the world,"

That was when the prejudice got really bad. While Cassia got maids and extra servants, I was left with only one, who insisted on staying. When she recieved heated baths, I was forced to bathe in a river. While she got invited to eat at fancy dinners with our father and his associates, I was left by a small fire in my room to eat dinner alone. When Cassia got a huge room to call her own, I was given an old watchtower, with 26 winding stairs exactly.

I am suffering up those stairs right now. I trace the wall with my right hand, feeling the cold, hard stone in the dark. I wish now that I had thought to bring a candle. It is likely my room will be dark and I will be forced to sleep without a fire. My best friend, and also my only maid, Arii, will have to sleep on the cold stones that lay beside the small fireplace.

I reach the top and gaze at the disheartening sight. A small balcony is across from me but the windows are shut and bolted. A bedframe with a small straw matress is breaking in the corner. There's the fireplace, with a few small blankets near it. Unlit. The only light comes from the windows. I stride over to them and throw them open, walking the two steps out onto the tiny balcony.

This has been my view of the world for a long time. Right now the sun is setting. The sky is a masterpiece of pinks, oranges, and yellows. My sister is to be married at nightfall.

As I view the world, I hear a sound. A clattering sound, from below. I lean as far as I dare over the balcony in order to see. There's the horses, the whitest my father owns, being hitched to a carriage. In a few moments, my sister, dressed in white, will sit upon the red velvet cushions and drive away into a future.

I hear footsteps pounding the stairs, and my friend Arii's face comes into view.

"Astron! Gather your things! We must leave, now."

"What? Arii? What are you talking about?" I cry.

"Your father and sister have planned an assasination attempt. On you. Tonight," she whispers, her face knotted up with concern.