Chapter 14 A Decent Husband
A Decent Husband
Aurora awoke as she always did, comfortable and warm and missing her sister so much it hurt. So when she saw Elsie sitting on her bed, watching her, Aurora wondered if perhaps she was stuck in a dream. She blinked several times and sat up, but her sister remained where she was, laughing.
“Elsie?” Aurora asked, her voice barely a whisper, scared that she was seeing things, that her homesickness was playing tricks on her mind.
“Good morning, sister,” Elsie said, and Aurora shot across the bed, tackling her in a hug.
“What are you doing here?” Aurora exclaimed into her sister’s hair, not ready to let go of her yet.
“I will tell you as soon as I can breathe.”
Aurora finally relented, rolling back onto her heels. There was a large silver cart in the middle of the room covered in decadent food, scones and jams and berries overflowing onto a vibrant pink cloth, and a large teapot was nestled between the pastries with two cups beside it.
“What is all this?” Aurora asked.
“It’s for your wedding day, of course. The Starmaker arranged everything, and he asked me to give you this.”
Elsie handed Aurora a letter, written on heavy parchment that shimmered like sunlight on snow. Aurora looked at her sister, then carefully removed the wax seal, marbled gold with a design of the sun that matched the mark on the Starmaker’s arm.
Aurora,
I know this is not the wedding you want. At the very least, please allow me to take care of the sunlight so that you may spend the day with your sister.
I may not be very good company, but I will be a decent husband. That I can promise.
I will see you at seven.
Don’t be late.
Yours,
The Starmaker
Aurora felt her sister’s eyes on her as she read.
The letter was so unlike him, and it almost irritated her that he was being gentle with her today.
It would be easier if he was unfeeling and cold.
Anger was not as difficult a feeling as sadness, not as unbearable as regret.
She did not need his kindness, but as she looked at her sister, she realized that perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps she needed it very much.
“Tell me everything,” Aurora said, setting the letter aside and pulling her sister over to the chairs by the fire.
They piled their plates high with as many pastries as they could hold, then sat across from each other, and Aurora could hardly tear her eyes away from Elsie, so thankful she was there.
“The Starmaker wrote to me four nights ago,” Elsie began between bites.
“He asked if I would be willing to come to the castle and spend your wedding day with you, to which I promptly agreed.” Elsie looked around the room, one hand poised in mid-air, ready to take another bite of her scone.
“This place is an impossibility,” she said.
“An improbability,” Aurora replied, but when her sister gave her a questioning look, she simply shook her head.
Her mind was caught on what Elsie had said: that the Starmaker had written to her four nights prior.
That was the night Aurora had confronted him about the invitations, and she wondered if the Starmaker had not been truthful when he’d said his compassion did not lie with her.
Or perhaps his sentiments had changed after he had tended to her injury.
She didn’t know, nor did she understand why it mattered. But it did.
Aurora pushed her thoughts aside. “It is truly special. I cannot tell you that these past weeks have been easy, because the truth is that they have been the absolute hardest of my life. I’m beginning to believe that the only way any Starmaker survives it is by having such a magical place to retreat to. ”
“Does he not treat you well?”
“He treats me…” Aurora trailed off, unsure how to answer.
“For all the sun in his blood, he is a cold place to land. He is frustrating and lacks compassion, and I spend most of my days angry with him. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who exasperates me more.
” She shook her head, looking into the fire.
“But for all his faults, of which there are many—many,” Aurora emphasized, “he is fiercely devoted to this mountain. And sometimes, in the most surprising moments, I find myself wondering if we understand each other more than we let on.” Aurora hadn’t planned on saying the last part, but as soon as she did, the words seemed to fit, as if they were a missing piece of a puzzle she’d been trying to solve.
Elsie had an odd expression on her face—almost a smile, but not quite. “He said the same of you, you know.”
“You spoke with him?”
“He is the one who came to get me this morning,” Elsie said, and Aurora couldn’t hide her surprise.
“I assumed he had sent someone from the palace to do that.”
“Then perhaps you don’t know him as well as you think you do.” Elsie stood and grabbed another pastry from the cart.
Aurora wanted to move the conversation along, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she had to ask. “What did he say about me?”
“He said that you are extremely stubborn and go out of your way to irritate him.” Elsie raised her eyebrows, smirking. “But he also said that he understood why the Sun chose you.”
“He did?” Aurora asked.
“He said that what you’re doing is very difficult and that most people would not be able to bear it. He said you are strong.”
Aurora shook her head, frustrated. “It would be nice if he would say those things to me for once.”
“Perhaps he will if you stop trying to irritate him for sport.” Elsie spoke in a scolding tone, but then she laughed, loud and free, and then Aurora was laughing, too.
When she had laughed until her stomach hurt, she finished her tea and looked at her sister, a somber expression settling over her face. “How is Farren?” she asked softly.
“It has been hard on him,” Elsie said. “He believes the Starmaker to be a cruel ruler who forced you into this role. Aspen and I have both tried to talk with him, to explain that the Starmaker is not who put the magic in your blood, but I suspect having someone to blame is easier than not.”
“I should have written to him, explained everything,” Aurora said.
She sank to the floor and grabbed a blanket, lying down in front of the fire.
Elsie joined her, and Aurora covered them both with the throw.
“I didn’t know what to say, so I hardly said anything.
I told him not to come here because I thought it would be better that way.
But I was being a coward, which the Starmaker was more than willing to point out to me. ”
Aurora could hear the Starmaker protesting in her mind, explaining that he had not called her a coward, the thought taking her back to the night in his room.
“You can reach out to him at any time,” Elsie said, and Aurora felt guilty when she realized how quickly her thoughts had turned from Farren to the Starmaker. “It might help for him to hear it from you.”
“You’re right.” Aurora lay on her back and looked up at the ceiling. “I’ll write to him after the wedding and tell him everything.”
“Don’t put it off for too long. Poison can grow from blame.”
“I won’t,” Aurora promised.
Just then there was a soft thud against the door, and Aurora got up to answer. When she didn’t see anyone, she looked down, and there was Constance, watching her with big blue eyes. Aurora laughed.
“Please come in,” she said, opening the door wide. Constance hopped in and went to where Elsie was lying before the fire.
“Who is this?” Elsie asked in delight, reaching out to pet the animal.
“Constance,” Aurora replied. “She is a resident here.” She took her place on the rug once more, pulling the corner of the blanket back over her legs. “How is everyone else?”
“We are adjusting,” Elsie said, continuing to pet Constance.
“Mama is extremely proud of you. She can hardly believe her daughter was chosen by the Sun. It has made her talk about Papa more, for some reason. It’s nice.
” She smiled. “But it’s hard not having you at home, and we all worry about you. How difficult this must be for you.”
“It is,” Aurora said. She wanted to put on a brave face for her sister, to tell her that things were going well and that she was settling into her role.
But she couldn’t bear the thought of feigning strength in front of one more person, and so she was honest. “Most days I’m overwhelmed that this is to be my life, and on the hardest days, I wonder how I will survive it at all.
But it is also a wondrous sort of magic.
It’s hard to explain, but when I’m connected to the Sun, it’s as if I see the world through a different lens.
I have never felt as grateful for the natural world as I do when I’m pulling the sunlight.
” Aurora rolled onto her side to face her sister.
“I think it’s changing me for the better, and in rare moments, it’s hard for me to regret that. ”
“I can tell,” Elsie said. “I can see it in you.”
“What do you see?”
“Strength. You have always been strong, of course. But this is different. I don’t want to minimize what you’re going through, and if you asked me to abduct you and take you far away from here, I would do it in a heartbeat.” Elsie paused. “But you look as if you’ve found yourself.”
Aurora’s eyes began to sting, and she looked away.
“Before, you were so focused on the rest of us that you never paid yourself any mind. And I suppose that’s a good quality if you are to be the caretaker of this mountain.
But you kept yourself so busy that it almost became a shield, though I must admit I never understood what exactly you were shielding yourself from.
” Elsie looked at Aurora, her eyes bright.
“In stepping into this role, it seems as if you are becoming who you were always meant to be, and while perhaps you are afraid, you are also radiant.”