Women in the small kingdom of Aeriana are disappearing.
Iris Daniels, a budding painter in the East Territory, is trying to keep her head down. In a kingdom filled with abilities, music, and Destined love, Iris is determined to build a career out of...
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"'The kingdom is separated into how many territories?'
'Three!'
'Thank you, class. And our capital city is...?'
'Redlian! Faer City!' [Muffled conversation]
'It's Redlian—who said Faer?'"
—Ms. Haerriet, class recording, Markov Academy, Twin Isles
Iris added a small bow in the girl's hair and then put her paintbrush down. Her watercolors had meshed together at the edges, but she could control most of it by limiting the water usage. Less water gave her more control. And although she wasn't able to create the definitive lines that she wanted, for a simple set of watercolors and a piece of scratch paper, she'd done pretty well with what she had.
The painting itself gave her mixed feelings. It was a small girl and a mom standing together, hand in hand, on a plane runway. Random, since it wasn't her or her mom, Mary. However, the piece gave her a happy feeling. This girl and her mom were enjoying a trip together, and the little girl was even waving.
It wouldn't go in her collection or on a canvas, but maybe she could repaint it one day and sell it to an illustrator. Or store it in her portfolio for future use.
A laptop clattered onto the plastic table in front of her.
Iris flinched. Looked up.
Wylan stood above her. The look on his face had her standing slowly, only for every muscle to lock in place. "What's wrong?"
"You could've just told us," he bit out.
Iris glanced down at the laptop. One of her pieces was on the screen, on some website she'd never seen before. It was her mixed media piece of a woman. The one inspired by a Kamree Philips song during an overnight thunderstorm. She'd titled it missing you for the heartbroken way the woman stared out from the canvas. "I thought... you already knew I was a painter. Isn't that how you found me?"
She looked back at Wylan, just in time to see his entire expression shut down.
Thad cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Do you know this woman, Iris?"
Iris' heart thumped hard. She didn't like the way the two of them stared her down. Was she supposed to? She slowly shook her head.
"Are you sure?" Thad asked carefully.
"Do you want me to lie and say yes?" she said. She pointed at the woman on the screen. "That painting was something I pulled together in a late-night painting session." Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt.
