One Between the Stars

Chapter 40

 Ionia barely had time to tell Carson about the plan, because as soon as she got back to their rooms, a whole entourage of servants and handmaidens were waiting for her, there to help her get ready for the ball.

They said nothing, just ushered her to the bathing room, where the bathtub was filled with bubbles and sweet-smelling soaps.

As one washed her hair, Ionia closed her eyes and was reminded of a time when this was perfectly normal; never having to do so much as wash and clothe herself. She remembered Ryn, who used to be too terrified to say a word to her. She wondered what the girl was doing now, if she was still struggling to keep her family's bakery afloat...

Hot water was poured over her head, and Ionia sputtered.

Her body was scrubbed with soaps that had sand in them, and when she stepped out and dried off, sweet-smelling oils were rubbed into her skin, so that now it was softer than velvet. She was given a silken robe to slip into, and then led to her room, where the adjoining door was closed and locked. She wondered if Carson was getting ready too.

Several dresses were lain out for her to choose from, though Ionia wondered where they all came from. She noticed a slightly different style from the loose robes and tunics of the more casual wear she'd worn so far; most were snug in the bodice, and then flowed out from there in gossamer and silk and other, softer materials Ionia couldn't put a name to. And they were all of a similar color scheme; creams and light tans and a few that were somewhere between silver and gold.

She stood still while a few handmaids did the dozens of buttons up the back, reveling in how soft the dress felt on. She was then seated at the vanity, where they started brushing out her hair.

Ionia let her mind wander. She had forgotten how nice it could be to be treated like this; never having to lift a finger, enveloped in clouds of perfume and layers of fabric. In another life, this had been normal for her. Now it seemed like a rare luxury. Ionia had gotten used to doing everything herself, and though she had come to like not being arranged like some pretty doll, now she was grateful for it, if only to have a taste of something that resembled her old home.

Her old home. That was a strange term; why had she used it? Wasn't the castle of Wynoa still her home?

Well, wasn't it?

She felt a tug on her hair, and she muttered, "Ow."

"Apologies," whispered one servant.

Ionia opened her eyes. "Quite alright." Then she glanced in the mirror and blinked.

In her time on the Evie, Ionia had rarely looked in the mirror other than to watch herself brush her teeth, or to make sure the braid atop her head was even. She had never thought herself ugly by any means, but it had been awhile since she'd taken the time to use a mirror for something other than simple function. To admire herself. When one is out at space with not much more than a few simple outfits and a hairbrush, functionally eventually overruled meticulous care of one's beauty.

Now, she almost didn't recognize the girl in the vanity mirror. Or rather, the girl staring at her was one from some other life of a million or so years ago. Her hair lay in silky strands around her, straight and standing out starkly against the ivory of the dress. Her face had been dusted lightly with a powder, her eyes had been lined, and her lips left bare but for a slight gloss. Ionia stared ahead as a string of diamonds was placed at her throat, like the stars had slitted it.

Strange, Ionia thought, beholding this sight. The girl before her was nothing like the girl on that ship a few days ago, and even as much as it harkened back to the girl in the stone castle, so was she ever far from that. Before, when Ionia looked in the mirror, she saw a girl who was a princess, and it fit with the clothes she wore. Now, she was a girl in a costume, playing at someone she was not. And the funny thing that made Ionia smile faintly wasn't that.