ion Gala was a sea of expen

lar, trying to ble

ed. He preferred I was a

dress was

A soft, forge

' s favor

beautiful dress, and for a fleeting

is handsome face tig

rling, glided beside

cut through the polite chatter around u

my hands. "You sa

, here y

he wore a pale gold dress that shimmered. She looked like a y

oftened when he

me, full of disdain. "This dress, Clara, is an embarrassment. Y

ple simply don't have the bree

sound like advice, but

tilt of her lips that didn' t rea

The room felt to

he subtle (and not-so-subtle) put-do

. Always

one too soon. I was just a placeholde

felt more like a Sterl

Julian commanded. "Change. There mus

uldn't remind him of her, or perhaps someth

throat too ti

was

severed the last, frayed thr

observant, and sub

stem taught me to be s

Julian re

a tiny, resilient seed,

go upstairs

uld