Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

Author:Laura Sebastian [Sebastian, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

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That evening, Beatriz pretends to be too tired to attend dinner with the rest of the Bessemian court, while Pasquale attends just long enough to make an appearance at the first course before leaving early under the guise of checking on her. She meets him in the hall outside her rooms, dressed again in his spare set of clothes and a long black cloak, the hood drawn up to cover her hair and face.

“Why do you look better in my clothes than I do?” Pasquale mutters.

Beatriz manages a brief smile, though her mind is too distracted to put much meaning behind it. “Let me do the talking with Gigi,” she tells him. “Cornered beasts are always the most dangerous, and she’s not to be trifled with.” Beatriz knows that she fell for Gisella’s tricks as hard as he did, and though Pasquale must know that too, he doesn’t say it aloud. For that, Beatriz is grateful.

It’s still a sore spot. The fact that Gisella and Nicolo were able to fool her so thoroughly, that her gullibility very nearly cost her her life, floods her with a deep embarrassment. She knows she is better than that, and there is a part of her that is itching for a chance to prove it.

Beatriz knows all of the hidden tunnels the servants use to get around the palace quickly and quietly and knows too that the majority of those servants will be tending to the dinner in the banquet hall or cleaning bedchambers while their employers are dining, so she leads Pasquale down the narrow, dimly lit halls, winding down staircase after staircase until they find themselves in the dungeon. Gisella is being kept well away from where the common folk are, her cell twice as large as any other.

Gisella has made herself at home in her cell, lounging on her narrow bed with a book in hand and a stack of others on the small table beside her. Beside the books, a candle burns, casting enough light to read by.

Gisella doesn’t look up when Beatriz and Pasquale approach, instead turning her page and continuing to read. Still, Beatriz knows that Gisella is aware of their presence and that even this is a battle. So she waits, even when Pasquale begins fidgeting.

After a long moment, Gisella’s eyes dart up and she affects shock, setting her book aside but not standing or even straightening up from her slouch.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” she drawls. “Come with more of that truth serum? My throat was sore for hours after all that coughing.”

Beatriz shrugs. “If you didn’t lie as often as you drew breath, that wouldn’t have been such an issue,” she replies.

Gisella laughs. “You can hardly judge me when you aren’t exactly a beacon of honesty, Triz,” she points out. “You’ve lied to me as much as I’ve lied to you—I’ve just done it better.”

Beatriz opens her mouth to retort but quickly snaps it shut again. She isn’t sure Gisella is wrong about that.

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