When Stars Brush Earth by Laurel Thomas

Author:Laurel Thomas [Thomas, Laurel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy; Young Adult; Historical
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2022-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Lilith smiled as if Maura had discovered a hidden treasure while Maura struggled to swallow the bite of food she’d enjoyed only a moment before. She shivered, despite the fire, as she shifted into the long-forgotten memory.

“I remember you,” Maura said. “I was a little girl. Dancing in the meadow. You called to me.”

Lilith leaned back in her chair as if relishing the moment. “Why, yes, Star. That was me.”

“Only Papa called me Star.”

“That’s what your name means, correct? Maura is a Celtic word for star.”

Her daddy was Celtic. At least she thought so. A floral scent filled the room, though there were no bouquets in sight. Somehow, every question seemed to fall away in Lilith’s presence. Maura entered a shadowland where hard edges of reality blurred into softness. One memory remained clear, though. It was how the woman’s sweetness had lured Maura beyond Papa’s boundaries.

“You haven’t aged.” She searched Lilith’s face for wrinkles, scrutinized her frame for weakness. Lilith possessed timeless grace and beauty. “You’re still so…perfect.”

“Thank you.” Lilith stroked the emerald pendant. “My eyes have been on you for many years.”

All the times Maura had felt watched. At the chateau as she’d walked Nicolaus. The eagle sentinel at the hedge. Even the tiny glass-covered hole in her room. A shadow, a glimpse of movement. Her heart pounded with the realization.

Maura couldn’t remember seeing Lilith since that morning in the meadow. She was certain she and Anton hadn’t lived near their village. She ran through the small population she’d known so well, but Lilith’s face didn’t appear.

“Who are you?” Maura asked.

“I’m a friend.”

Friend. That word meant many things in this city. Lilith had welcomed her when she arrived the first day. She’d included her in family meals and even taken time to prepare her for the trial.

She’d also fired Nona after promising to help her. And refused to be deterred when it came to Maura’s meeting with Tobias, even though she was frantic with grief over the factory fire.

Lilith was not a friend like Aiden or Nona. Or Tobias, for that matter. Maura remembered the early morning chill and the winsome call of a woman wrapped in a robe the color of evergreens. “We met only by chance when I was a child,” Maura said. “I never saw you again. That is, until I arrived in the city.”

“You didn’t know me,” she said. “But I’m one who understands you. And knows the gift you carry.”

Longing overtook Maura’s reserve. It was what she’d felt as a child, warmth drawing her out of the cold. “Gift?”

“Oh, yes. You may not be aware of it, but others are.”

Maura shifted in the chair, uncomfortable. “I don’t understand.”

“How could you?” Lilith shook her head with faint disapproval. “You were placed here for this very moment, so that I could extend an invitation.”

A steady alarm grew in Maura’s gut. “I’m here because of my trial.”

“Yes, of course. An unfortunate incident brought you to us.”

A childhood memory rushed back. She’d bent down to breathe in the fragrance of a perfect bloom when Papa had jerked her away.

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