"You are the worst boy, Theodore Laurence."
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For centuries, humankind has used the stars. Whether it be for navigating across unfamiliar oceans, for preserving myths and legends of great heroes who were bestowed a spot in the heavens by the gods...
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THE CURTAINS IN Charlotte's bedroom were thrown open mercilessly, ousting her from a dreamless sleep and forcing her to peel the covers back from her face to glare at whoever had interrupted the dark stillness of her bedroom. Charlotte pushed her wild hair from her face and blearily blinked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her head had been splitting with a painful headache ever since the New Years Party three days ago, and the afternoon sunlight beaming into her eyes made her grimace. She had hoped to spend the rest of the trip undisturbed among the soft blankets and silk pillows, but everyone else didn't seem to get the hint.
"Welcome to the land of the living, Charlotte." Amelie grinned, settling her hands on her hips as Charlotte blew a puff of air and burrowed deeper into her bed like a petulant child.
"Go away, Amelie." Charlotte muttered. She loved her cousin dearly, but her heart wasn't up for her banter and teasing. "It's far too early for this."
Amelie sighed dramatically and perched herself on the edge of the bed. She brushed her hand over Charlotte's hair like a mother comforting a weeping child. But Charlotte wasn't a child and she wasn't weeping, so she leaned out of her cousin's touch and pulled the covers over her head to block out the blinding rays of sunshine and Amelie's sun disposition.
"I think you'll find we've already taken our afternoon tea." A smile flashed upon Amelie's lips before it fell and was replaced by a soft, empathetic frown. "You must face the world, Charlotte. We won't be in Paris for much longer."
Charlotte groaned into her pillow. Amelie had been trying to get her to get outside and enjoy the frivolousness and grandiosity Paris had to offer, doing all she could besides dragging Charlotte out from her ankles, but Charlotte was still working on forgetting the disastrous events of the New Years party, and no amount of picnic lunches or strolls along the Seine were going to please her just yet.
Laurie's sneer and cold eyes had shocked Charlotte to her core. The visions of his spiteful face and carelessness swam in her head with nauseating unpleasantness. She just wanted to leave Paris as soon as possible in return to the peacefully Swiss Alps where Laurie's unkind words wouldn't haunt her. She feared that Laurie would somehow interrupt any of the lunches taken in the nearby cafes or excursions to explore the fine dress shops and bouquinistes. She half expected with every peer outside her window, she'd see his embittered face staring up at her, full of anger and resentment.
She just wanted to leave Paris and Laurie and run back to the peaceful Swiss Alps where her mind wasn't constantly running through his unkind words and her heart wasn't squeezing painfully in her chest as she tried to convince herself that he had been wrong. I didn't abandon my family, Charlotte firmly told herself in her head, for she knew if she spoke the words out loud her voice would surely waver with tears.
Charlotte sighed. "Go without me. I'm sure you'd like to go sight-seeing and I'm rather not up for it today."
But Amelie wasn't so easily deterred. The older sister was used to tending to both wounds to the skin and the heart. She shifted further onto the bed and brought her hands into her lap, silent in thought as Charlotte peered up at her with a raised eyebrow.
