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Selene

It had taken me a week to reconsider my stance on things when I got the news that Lysistrata Endymion was coming to town for a lecture.

The Book of Hours was Aurelia’s ticket into a world she’d have had to fight for years to climb into otherwise.

I knew, because my family had fought tooth and nail to get into the position we were in now, how hard that could be.

I could change things for us, for the Monas, in other ways, but this might be Aurelia's best chance.

I had been willing to let her have the book, knowing full well that she might reject me and run off with it. Her response had been a pleasant surprise. Now all I had to do was wait for sunset. Lysistrata Endymion’s lecture was over at ten, and my source at the Palace said she had a ticket booked back to Nuva Troi for the midnight train.

We had plenty of time to get the book, give it to Lysistrata, and have a celebratory dinner. Inside the cottage, the phone rang, and Mother answered. Absently, I turned the page in the magazine that I pretended to be reading on the porch. The afternoon was over-warm, and being in the house was nearly unbearable. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the hammock. A nap was just what I needed.

“Darling,” Mother said, coming out on the porch. “That was Belle Wyndsal. Geyrion took ill in Nuva Troi. Isn’t that terrible?”

My heart thumped at the sound of Belle’s name. She was Geyrion’s great-niece, and a piece of work. “Terrible,” I agreed.

“He’ll recover,” she added, blithely. “Anyway, she’s down for the week and has invited you and Aurelia to a party tonight. We can’t go. We’re off to that lecture I told you about.”

The same lecture as Lysistrata would be at, on the effects of celestial bodies on sorcières who had not yet manifested their talents. Belle’s little party was a snag in my plan, but we could work with it.

“Wonderful,” I agreed. “I’ll send a note to Aurelia.”

“You’ll go?” Mother asked, her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. Typically, I had a little speech about the ways Belle had wronged me when we were children. I ought to have given it.

I shrugged, smiling. “Sure. One can’t stay mad forever, now can they?”

Mother shook her head. “I’ll never understand you, Selene.”

That was probably true. I launched myself out of the hammock and followed her into the house. I had a message to send Aurelia about our change in plans.

Four hours later, we arrived at the party. Aurelia was gorgeous in her tuxedo, but she’d been quiet on the cab ride over. As we stood in the villa’s driveway, the Nea Sterlis night turned chilly. Overhead, the stars danced above us, and in almost any other circumstance this might be a wonderful evening.

But something was obviously wrong. Even if I couldn’t read what it was from Aurelia’s expressions, I could sense something was troubling her. I fussed with the skirt of my gown, nervous.

“You look beautiful,” she said.

Her words were wistful, and the way she stood back from me had me worried, my thoughts shooting ahead of me. Perhaps she’d rethought her stance on things. Or maybe she’d talked to someone about me. I was rather unpopular with the society set. All she’d have to do was read back issues of the Times , and Section Seven, to see that.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

She sighed. “I never could have taken the book on my own, Selene.”

I glanced around, making sure no one else was in earshot. There were bound to be plenty of immortals here with keen hearing. I wove threads of magic around my fingers in a quick muffling spell. “What do you mean? Of course you could have.”

Aurelia swallowed hard, not meeting my eyes. “I could have taken it, yes. But Lysistrata would never take the word of someone like me that it wasn’t stolen.” She met my eyes now, defeat evident in the rounding of her square shoulders. “You always had to be a part of this. Your family is respectable, and mine isn’t.”

If only I’d seen this sooner, figured it out on my own. I shook my head. “So, what? You’re just using me?”

“No,” she said. “I’m not.” Aurelia sighed, scrubbing her face with a worried hand. “But you’ll never know. You’ll never be sure.”

It was, of course, possible that this was all a part of the con. That Aurelia was testing me one last time to make sure she got her way. Or she was truly worried that I would spend the rest of our lives wondering if she really wanted me. I knew what my decision was. It was a bit unconventional, but pairings were made in stranger ways.

“You’re right,” I answered, my heart racing with the thrill of righteous subterfuge. “I’ll never be sure.”

She nodded, raising her hand to hail another cab from the line forming in the driveway, dropping off guests. No one paid us an ounce of attention. A cab pulled away from the curb, heading straight for us. Everything was so easy with Aurelia, and I had been taught that relationships were hard. That a woman of my particularly difficult nature would have to prepare herself for an unhappy pairing.

But even in this, she was easy. She let me go because I said I wouldn’t be sure of her unless she did. It was heartbreaking, but necessary. She was right, of course, about Lysistrata believing her. I’d been silly not to think of it before now. Silly not to think of the consequences, should Aurelia be caught here, stealing from Geyrion Wyndsal.

Aurelia took my hands in hers. “Good luck, Selene. I wish you nothing but the best in life.”

I fought back the tears that threatened, nodding. Though it was all a ruse, there was, of course, the possibility this might ruin things for good, and that made me incredibly sad. It was worth the risk, but the pain I felt at the possibility of losing her was quite real.

“Same,” I choked out. “Very much so.”

Her movement towards the cab was strained. She opened the door, and it felt as though time might end. She glanced back at me, tears in her eyes. “You are incredible. I wish this had all been different.”

I nodded, but didn’t share the sentiment. Not even a little. She got into the cab, and when she shut the door, I let out a shuddering breath. This was the perfect way for me to meet my pair, the person who might someday become the other half of my heart. As I turned away from Aurelia’s cab, I smiled as I strode into the house. I was going to get her that book, and everything she’d ever wished for.

She wasn’t going to risk a single thing for me.

I knew how to fix this, and I would.

The party was tacky. Belle had hired a bunch of flamingo shifters to wear sequin collars and sing show tunes that were nearly a century out of favor. There was a terrible selection of wine, and she’d made the incredibly gauche decision to have a blood fountain for the vampires in attendance.

I wrinkled my nose at the fountain. The human waitstaff gave it a wide berth, and rightfully so. It was disgusting. I noticed that not one of the vampires in attendance went near it. At least there was that, at any rate. Some people had a healthy respect for humanity, even if Belle did not.

The hostess herself had dressed in a bright pink confection garnished with feathers, paired with a diamond choker. I had the gut-wrenching realization that she was meant to be dressed like the flamingo shifters in their alternae. It was a hideous appropriation for a sorcière of her status, but sadly not surprising.

This was the way the rich and powerful behaved.

This was why The Book of Hours could not stay here, among numerous other reasons. But first among them was the fact that the Wyndsals, for all their vast stores of wealth, could not buy true class.

I swallowed the rude words that lingered on the tip of my tongue and greeted Belle. “Thank you so much for inviting me,” I crooned, my tone obviously false.

Belle, whose pale skin had been overwrought with glamour, made an exaggerated pout. “I thought you were bringing an escort this evening, Selene. What happened to this one, darling?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Tummy ache upon arrival,” I explained. “Maybe it was the fountain.”

She opened her mouth to shoot back another barb, but there were other guests waiting to speak to her, so I wiggled my fingers at her and backed away, letting some of her more convivial friends take my place. Absolutely wretched, the lot of them.

I picked a coupe glass off a discarded tray and wound through the party with a glass of sparkling wine, chatting with a few of my parents' friends here and there.

The minutes ticked by in a terribly boring fashion.

I got stuck in a long conversation with one of my mother’s colleagues about some equation he hadn’t been able to solve, and yawned.

“Oh, goodness,” Professor Velante exclaimed.

“I must be boring you terribly.”

I shook my head, covering my mouth with my hand.

“No,” I said with another yawn.

“Not at all. I just haven’t slept well in days. Too much sea air, I suppose.”

The professor laid a gloved hand on my bare arm.

“You should go home and get some rest.”

I smiled, affecting a bit of sleepy sheepishness.

“I think I will. Thank you.”

The professor patted my arm again and caught the next passerby.

As he chatted away about his equation without missing a single beat, I slipped down the back hallway towards the library.

The doors were shut, but thankfully, not locked.

I slipped inside, taking my heels off as I went.

The library was silent.

I pulled a few threads, testing to make certain there were no unexpected wards in the room.

There were not.

It was almost insulting how little security Geyrion had affected.

I walked through the shelves, wondering where he might hide something as precious as The Book of Hours .

It was a shock when I happened upon it by chance, shelved haphazardly without rhyme or reason next to a classic romance novel.

I frowned, taking it carefully off the shelf and opening it with care.

The threads of the book sang to me.

Whenever I had good luck with the books I stole, it was because of my affinity with them.

Something in me just felt certain books.

The Book of Hours was one.

I hugged it.

Finding the Book had been as easy as finding Aurelia.

Once, as a younger woman, such ease might have made me suspicious.

Now, I was simply grateful.

Life was so hard when you were different from other people.

I knew well what people thought of me.

That I was too effusive in moments where I should be calm, too calm in moments when I should be emotional.

I never laughed at the right moment, and I was far, far too judgemental.

In attempting to fit in, I nearly always went too far.

There had never been a person I felt like I just fit with the way I did with Aurelia.

I wasn’t going to question the ease by which she came my way and caught my interest.

What was strange for others was perfect for me.

I glanced at my wristwatch.

It was nearly ten.

I had just enough time to get to the hotel and retrieve Aurelia.

We could still make it to the train station in time.