Shamino sometimes treated a wounded dragon, so obviously war was happening outside the Kyer. He’d had a wave of wounded before I joined the Quarters. But tonight, under the glittering Lights, with the waterfall in the distance and tables laden with delicacies, war seemed less real than my visions.
Tressa’s group swelled and diminished as people drifted to pay their respects or left ignored. Slowly we drifted to the edge of the cavern. I spotted a figure all alone—Paige.
The first day of class still filled me with guilt. I had never apologized, for I never saw Paige without others nearby.
Right now, Tressa didn’t watch me. She laughed at jokes and returned them with her own. I took a step toward the lone girl, hesitated. I couldn’t be yelled at for talking to her, surely. Paige had gone to the trouble of dressing up, coming to the ball, all to be ignored…
Without Tressa’s favor, I would be just like her.
I slipped away and gave Paige a smile. “You came.”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Paige murmured as she gave me a quick curtsy. Today, even she wore a dress, though the color was a muted powder blue. Not a popular choice.
“The ballroom is lovely,” I said. Not Tressa’s witty small talk, but I was improving.
“The waterfall is impressive,” she answered. “Tressa hired a skilled Illusionist.”
“The waterfall’s not real?” I sidestepped until I saw the water through the crowd. Small rainbows shimmered in its mist. “I don’t believe it.”
Paige laughed. It was a soft, pleasant sound. “Watch carefully. The crash of the water doesn’t quite match what you see. If you touch it, I promise you won’t get wet. Practicality, really. If someone got too close to the mist, she might ruin her silk.”
I marveled. Never, ever had I heard Paige say so much at once. Her pale eyes held a spark of life.
That’s right. Zoland mentors her—calls her a master Illusionist. I also remembered Tressa declaring that Paige could cast nothing of use.
I don’t know if Tressa has a Talent, I realized. I knew her to be a red mage. A Generalist? Jerroth, a black, excelled at Telekinesis—
“There you are,” came Tressa’s voice. “I was just telling Harthin—”
She halted when she saw my companion. Her following paused behind her. The spark of light had left Paige’s eyes, and she twitched to get away.
I still didn’t understand why Tressa disliked Paige, and why Paige acted like a scared rabbit. The one thing I did understand was that I hated treating Paige as if she had the Sickness.
I tried a smile on Tressa. “We were just admiring your decorations. Paige said the Illusionist you hired is quite skilled.”
Usually, Tressa thrived on compliments. This time, she turned pink and Paige softly groaned. With clipped words, Tressa said, “She should know.”
My heart fell as onlookers began to murmur. I heard, “Westwood,” and something about a birthday? No one wanted their whispers overheard.
“I was just telling Harthin,” Tressa repeated, hooking her arm in mine, “that when he returns, I should throw a card party. For all of us.”
She’d separated me from Paige, marking her as not ‘us.’ I knew Paige overheard. If I had understood the insult, she certainly had. I glanced over my shoulder; Paige shook her head ever so slightly.
“Tressa, shouldn’t we invite Paige?” I whispered.
“Ask Paige?” Tressa repeated loudly. “I should! Westwoods are famous for their card playing.”
Paige turned scarlet. Some of Tressa’s group turned their heads to politely ‘cough.’ Paige rushed for the crowd in the center of the ballroom.
I pulled away from Tressa. Triumph shone on my friend’s face. She’d often excluded and ignored Paige, but I’d never seen Tressa embarrass her before.
“Why?” I asked.
Tressa’s smirk dimmed. “Why what?”
“That was cruel. Undeserved.”
Tressa put her hands on her hips. “Oh, she deserved it.”
Vaguely I noticed the group tightening around us. I lowered my voice again. “Paige did something in the past. I understand that. But the entire time we’ve been at the Kyer, she’s done nothing.”
“Threepines, you do not understand.”
I should have caught the warning when she addressed me by estate. I didn’t. “You’re right. I don’t understand how you can humiliate a lowborn girl who has no friends.”
“Adara,” Jerroth said, stepping closer, “let it go.”
The others were whispering. Tressa flushed, but I didn’t know if from anger or shame.
Then I realized. My chest went tight as I said, “You did it on purpose.”
Tressa began toying with the gold chains dangling from her rings. Jerroth tried to start a loud conversation with Harthin.
My mind continued to make slow realizations. Card playing. Gambling. Father’s a fool, Paige had hissed that first day.
“You made up the card game, didn’t you?” I said. Betrayal pierced my heart. “You asked in front of Paige so I’d try to invite—then you could insult—”
Naive, I caught from the crowd. A Dragon Mage murmured that while she missed the parties, she did not miss the manipulations of court.
Tressa reached for my hand. “Maybe I went too far. But you need to see—”
I stepped away. “You used me.”
“Only Paige thinks poorly of you, and her opinion hardly matters,” Tressa hissed. She tried to get close again. “Quit making a spectacle.”
How many other times had Tressa used me? How much had I not understood? Every moment I spent with Tressa, I lived in terror of saying or doing the wrong thing. The fact was, I wasn’t a noble. I might never be. There was no way I could be elegant, or flirtatious, or able to speak one thing but mean another.
My eyes grew hot, either from anger or from tears or from shame, I didn’t know, for I kept thinking over and over, I don’t want to be Tressa.
“Excuse me,” I said.
I turned to go; Tressa grabbed my arm and a spark of guilt tried to ignite, but I ignored it and shook her off. I had to get away. I couldn’t bear to have those people staring at me, analyzing me, snickering at me.
Pitying me.
Tressa called for me
