Blooming Stars

Chapter 8

The celebration at the palace was coming to an end. I was looking forward to it, anxious as to get home and continue my research on Ghost Stars, but after my talk with the crown prince, I was feeling a bit low in spirits. Doubts lurked in the back of my mind for a long time. Did he think I was foolish for wanting to find a cure to a disease? I wished now that I never told him.

On the last day of the celebration, I was sitting at a table with my sister Vanessa and some other ladies out in a garden of the palace. The table was laden with all sorts of delicious food, from juicy meats, to cakes and confections. I was too distracted by all the wonderful flowers and plants to care about the food, however. Our table was under a literal tunnel of flowering vines, the sun breaking through their branches to shower golden slivers upon us. There were butterflies and little honeybees, too. I wondered if I could ask Father to have something like this built at home.

"Elona, pay attention, Vanessa, sitting beside me, whispered from behind her fan.

"But they're boring," I whispered back.

She only glared at me in reply.

A bee landed on a flower over my head. As I watched its little butt wiggle around, harsh words came to my ears.

"She's so stupid, too," said one of the ladies. It was Lady Mayhew.

The other ladies smiled awkwardly.

"Yes, I don't understand why she would even show her face at the palace," Lady Lambert chimed in. "She even tried to talk to Sir Spencer, as if she would ever have a chance with him."

An unpleasant feeling curdled in my stomach.

They all laughed, except Vanessa. She kept her fan up and lightly waved it. It was a bit warm out today.

"Have you seen her nose?" said another. "She broke it when she was a child, so it's all crooked now."

"And her hair is so frizzy, like a giant puffy ball."

"And worst of all are her legs."

My sister's fan stopped. A sadness entered her eyes.

Lady Mayhew sneered. "I don't see how she can even walk when they're all twisted like that."

I didn't know what to do with my hands. I kept clenching and un-clenching them. I looked to my sister for a cue, but she had straightened her back and fixed her gaze on something beyond the table. Her brow furrowed slightly.

"Next time we see her, we should lock her in the powder room," said Lady Lambert.

It was obvious not everyone was enjoying this, but they all listened in submissive silence. Lady Mayhew took this as agreement from the others. She leaned back in her chair and waved a hand. "She's a freak. She shouldn't be allowed in the imperial palace in the first place."

My body moved on its own. I jumped up from my chair and slammed my hands down on the table. The dishes rattled and the ladies shrank back in shock. A deathly quiet followed.

"Don't say that about her!" I yelled. "She's my cousin!"

Everyone paled. Lady Mayhew's lips trembled, either from fear or anger, I wasn't sure. And I didn't care.

"You shouldn't talk about people like that just because they're different from you," I said. "You don't know that she's a kind, big-hearted person who is the most talented artist I've ever known." I slapped the table again. "She made the tapestry that hangs in the emperor's main banquet hall!"

As this fact slowly sank in, some of the ladies snapped out of their shock. The tapestry was a well-known one, and highly praised for its quality. My cousin, Suzanna, had created it when she was only my age. But most people didn't know she had made it. Everyone always overlooked her because she wasn't stunningly beautiful.

I felt a tug on my sleeve. I shook it off, but then looked back at my sister. Her lips moved in a silent command. Her eyes darted once to the side, and I followed their direction. I tensed when I saw a certain someone standing nearby.