Page 39 of The Half King
“My mother,” Cerise told him. There was very little of Father in her face. Nina had inherited all of his traits. “Why? Do you think you might have met her?”
“Perhaps,” Cole said, but it was in the same doubtful tone. “I’ll look into it.”
His talk of family reminded Cerise that there was a heartrending mirror tucked beneath her mattress. She couldn’t wait to tell Mama and Father about her time in the palace and show them her new puppy. The pup needed a name, too—and food, and toys, and a bed. There was so much to do to prepare. She dipped in a curtsy to excuse herself. “I should go and clean up.”
“If you’ll permit me,” Cole said, “I would be honored to escort you to dinner.” He winked. “You can’t hide in your suite forever.”
Cerise hesitated. She didn’t want to eat dinner with Cole Solon, but to refuse him would be an insult. Besides, he was right. One of her duties as emissary was to conduct herself properly as a lady of the temple, and that included dining in polite company. She doubted that Mother Strout had taken dinners in her suite.
“Yes, of course,” she said, forcing a grin. “It would be my pleasure.”
10
“My sister, the miracle worker.” Nina’s face was predictably hidden by a sheet of black muslin, but her voice smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“I’m sorry,” Cerise said, lying sideways on her bed with her puppy curled against her chest. She cuddled him with one hand while using the other to hold up the heartrending mirror. “You claim you’re my sister, but you could be anyone behind that veil. I’m going to need proof of your identity before this discussion goes any further.”
“Oh?” Nina said. “Yoursacred earscan’t discern a lie?”
“Are you mocking the blessed oracle?”
“Never.”
“Good, because we take that sort of thing seriously here.”
“All right,” Nina said. “Here’s your evidence. You have a birthmark on your bottom. Left cheek. It’s pink and small and shaped like a squashed bug.”
Cerise drew a breath. “How do you know about that?”
“From visiting days at the temple. I used to change your clod when you were a baby.”
“So did a lot of people,” Cerise pointed out. “That proves nothing.”
“Hmm. I guess I’d better show myself, then.”
“Yes, you’d better.”
“Very well.”
Nina flipped back her veil, and at once, Cerise’s lips drifted apart in a sigh. By the goddess, Nina was so beautiful that it was impossible to know where to focus. Cerise drank in the curve of her sister’s face, her flawless lips, her smooth skin. But most breathtaking of all were Nina’s eyes, fringed by thick lashes, greener than springtime, and made infinitely more stunning by the warmth and affection brimming behind them. It was then that Cerise understood why she couldn’t look away from her sister.
Love.
“Your curse,” Cerise murmured, still entranced. “Does the Solon allure grow stronger when someone loves you?”
Nina’s eyes went wide. She seemed bothered by the question. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I met another firstborn Solon today,” Cerise said. “He’s handsome, but I don’t want to stare at him forever and ever.” She lost track of her thoughts, caught up in a haze as she traced the high angle of her sister’s cheekbones. But then Cerise noticed a slight change in the sharpness of Nina’s cheeks. She had lost weight.
The veil fell back into place. “That’s enough.”
“Wait, your face looks thin. Are you sick?”
“I am,” Nina said with a smile in her voice. “Every morning. I’m going to have a baby.”
Cerise gasped in excitement. She would be an aunt! But her happiness quickly sank when she remembered that Nina’s baby would carry a firstborn curse, and it might not be the Solon allure.
“You married a Calatris,” Cerise said.
