The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill

Author:Cristin Terrill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER TWENTY

THE NIGHT OF MIRA’S name day party was finally here. Vika had been thrumming with anxiety all day, worried whether things would go as planned, whether Mira and Hal would like what she’d done. Either way, once this party was over, she was going to sleep for a week.

Vika took one last look at herself in her bedroom mirror. She hadn’t done as masterful a job with her hair and makeup as Gemma would have, but it would do. Guests would begin arriving any minute. She headed for the foyer. A figure came into view as she descended the stairs: tall and straight-backed, clad in a black tuxedo, just a portion of his face visible as he talked to Toliman, his sharp nose and soft smile. Vika’s breath came up unexpectedly short.

He turned at the sound of her heels on the stairs, and his eyes widened as they fixed on her. For a second he looked as exposed as she suddenly felt, as though she’d forgotten to put on her dress or had been caught doing something secret.

But then the look was gone, replaced with a placid smile.

“Toliman says the first airship has landed,” Sky said. That meant that soon there would be a steady stream of guests arriving in sleek cars and aircraft for Mira’s surprise party.

“Oh, wonderful,” Vika said, taking her place at his side. She took another look at his tux, so different from the plain work clothes they’d both been wearing as they rushed to get the house ready. “You clean up nicely.”

“Thank you, I do try not to embarrass myself,” he said. “I love the gown you’ve chosen.”

She touched the emerald-green satin with its intricate beading. “I’m glad you said that. I changed four times.”

“Nervous?”

“No,” she said, in what she felt was a convincingly airy tone. “Are you?”

“Very much so.” He reached out and brushed a stray thread from her shoulder. “You’re a terrible liar, by the way.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Excuse you, I’m an excellent liar!”

Vika took one last look around the entrance hall, trying to spot anything in need of a fix before the first guests arrived. It had been a whirlwind two weeks, trying to get the house ready in time for this party. She’d picked out tens of thousands of bits’ worth of new furniture to fill out the empty rooms—the sum of money so vast that she had eventually became numb to it—while Sky had directed a small army of painters, movers, and repairmen. As impossible as it had seemed some days, she felt like they’d pulled it off. She might not have been born to beautiful things like the embroidered silk curtains she’d chosen for the windows or the hand-carved chairs upholstered in cream velvet, but she had a natural sense about these things once she was able to relax and trust her instincts. And Sky’s flair for the luxurious had surprised her as well. For a poor Aeonian assistant, he’d done a remarkably effective job of choosing

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