Mirror, Mirror

2.04 New Girl

At least I have Crys. She is the dearest friend I could ever have. I am so fortunate to have a sibling— plenty of Ice Princesses are not so lucky.

It makes me so sad that I couldn't give you an older brother.

❖

The next time Starla saw her was on from the balcony of the third floor looking down at the ballroom. Now that Starla could see her in better lighting, she saw that the woman was slight and had an egregious haircut. Surrounding her was a group of the King's soldiers—probably to escort her. They must be giving her a tour of the palace. It was late afternoon, and everyone was bundled up after just having come in from the cold outdoors. It smelled like snow. Starla tried to see the resemblance between the woman and the King, or even between her and the portrait of the late Queen in the dining hallway, but she was too far away.

Starla leaned over the balcony and cast an icy, regal look down toward the new princess, willing her to look up and meet her gaze. She didn't, to Starla's disappointment.

She may not have looked like much, but she radiated magic, even from that far away. Starla felt the chill when she'd entered the room.

Starla spent the next hour or so watching from afar as the little entourage welcomed Rayna into the palace. They fawned over her. They were irreverent. They were so excited to have a princess who actually had magic.

Starla hated her already.

❖

They finally crossed paths when Rayna was moving into her room, which was across the hallway from Starla's. Starla could hear commotion happening outside her room, and intentionally chose when it quieted down to exit her room. However, Rayna happened to exit her room at the exact same time. Starla finally got a better close up look at Rayna. Starla immediately clocked everything about her.

She was skinny and flat-chested. Her lashes though were lovely— dark and long. Her eyes were light brown.

She did look a bit like the King, especially around the eyes. Bad haircut aside, her facial structure was clearly outed her as royalty. She had the delicate nose and narrow face that had so long been attributed to the royal family, the same traits Starla had searched for in her own wide, square face.

Rayna jumped, startled. They met eyes. There was a beat of silence.

"You're Starla, aren't you?" the new princess asked. "It's an honor to meet you." She respectfully bowed. Bowed! Starla nearly laughed.

"Well, aren't you just a charming thing," Starla said with a cool smile. "I am indeed Starla. And you are?" Starla knew very well who she was.

"Rayna," the woman said, as if unaware that she was being mocked.

"Right," Starla said. "Well, Miss Rayna. I hope you know that being the Ice Princess isn't easy. You may not be up for the challenge. I am wishing you the best of luck."

She walked away before Rayna could respond.

❖

Later that night, they had their first dinner together. It was family dinner. "Family" dinner. As usual, it was Starla, her aunts, her cousins, and the King. But Rayna was there as well.

It was extremely uncomfortable. No one wanted to be there.

Starla was fashionably late. Rayna was in her seat, the one at the opposite end of the king. Starla glided past her. The way she got revenge was by looking her very best. Tonight, she had put on silver eye shadow and a black dinner gown with purple undertones. She'd considered doing wingtip eyeliner, the way Princess Ri-Yu would, but she couldn't bring herself to go that far. She was stunning, and she knew it. Whatever awkward, stilted dinner conversation was going on had dissipated.

She breezed past Rayna, intentionally ignoring her. She sat down at the empty seat next to Poppy-Anne, who gave her an encouraging smile and took her hand.

"You look lovely, Starla dear," Crystallia said. "I'm glad you could join us. I know you weren't feeling well earlier."

"Late or otherwise," the King muttered. Starla ignored him. "Anyway. As I was saying— Rayna, we're so happy you're here. We welcome you here. Our home is yours." He continued on to explain that Rayna would make her official debut to the public in a few months during the summer solstice.

"Better late than never!" the King joked, and everyone forced a chuckle. Starla jealously remembered her own debutante ball when she'd turned 15, where she'd worn the ceremonial white gown and walked down the ballroom stairway. Now, that would be Rayna.

"Hang on, aren't we already doing the Summer Solstice ball during the summer solstice?" Starla asked.

"We can have both," the King said defensively. "A summer solstice ball AND a debutante ball in one."

"Aw, Yeh-Han that's a sweet idea," Crystallia said, and Starla gave her a wounded look. She sulked for the rest of dinner as everyone started discussing the next big ball, as if the last one—and Starla along with it—was already old news.

❖

That night, Starla started reading the Queen's letters. By the time she was done reading, the letters were tear-stained. She couldn't tell whose tears they were at that point, hers or the Queen's.