The Stargazers Read Free

but it kept her on an even keel most of the time.
    They all thought Aster was just afraid of losing her looks. “It’s normal to be a little vain, dear, but we’ve have all had to sacrifice for the greater good. You’re no different, ” her mother had once told her. It didn’t make sense. Was Aster different or was she just like them? Each answer only spawned more questions, and the questions only spawned more anger. She understood on some level why her Aunt Holly had shrugged off her obligations, opting to find solace in the salvia plants that grew in the western hills. But Aster wanted to tell her mother that it wasn't about vanity. She could live with being ugly. She would rather be liked and respected. Her beauty had never served her well , so why should she cling to it?
    Last night they’d all fought again after Aster told them she wanted to wait. “Give me at least one more year. I don’t see why it has to be this way,” she had pleaded. “ It isn’t enough to tell me that it is tradition. Tradition isn’t always good. ”
    Nanny Lily’s face was cold enough to chill the room. “We do these things, because to not do them would mean the devastation of our world. Your questions tell of a girl who has been raised in far too much luxury to understand peril.”
    Aster wanted to laugh. Luxury? Instead of ballrooms and debutante parties, she slaved her days away in Oleander's potion room. She had only two dresses, both of which were faded, stained, and dowd y. Even though Aster had grown and changed in shape over the last few years, particularly in her chest, Dahlia only saw fit to alter the dresses rather than make new. Meanwhile, the market folk wandered about with their rich fabrics and magical riding beasts. Nothing about her life in the borderlands resembled that.
    Dahlia had looked sadder, her voice quieter than Lily’s had been. “Perhaps that is my fault. You have not experienced as mu ch pain because I couldn’t allow it . You will face so much as an adult. I wanted you to have a happy childhood. But darkness is coming, dear. I feel the magic in this world waning with every passing day. The prophecy leaves little room for doubt. It’s unfair that it all hinges on you, but none of us asked for this. We’ve all sacrificed for you, and now you must take your turn.”
    That was it. The prophecy held sway over them all, and no one was ever to question it. The only Stargazer who might have seen things her way was Aunt Oleander, but the woman’s cruelty made her difficult to approach.
    Aster didn't have enough in h er to try another sketch. Surely her oppressive aunt would already be in the potion room. She could see Oleander tapping her wooden spoon on her calloused palms as she waited for her peon to show up.
    Aster set aside the paper and climbed down from the tree, making her way around the side of their small cottage to the large expansion jutting from the back. It was the biggest room in the house, built by Papa Quercus not long after Aster had been born.
    Inside, Oleander was ranting at Aunt Holly, who stooped her shoulders as the taller woman snarled, scarlet patches blooming on her alabaster face. “I don’t care if the dumb bat’s teats are falling off! We don’t take money on delivery! She sends the crowns first and then she gets her cream. You get that?”
    “Y-yes, Oly, but I just thought since it was for our dear friend—”
    “She isn’t my dear friend. I don’t have any dear friends, and neither do you! None of us doe s. She’s a wily, conniving parasite trying to get something for nothing. And you’re going to get a pestle shoved up your arse if you don’t get out of here!”
    Holly’s whole body quivered as she turned to leave. She caught Aster’s gaze with her watery eyes and sniffled. “Hiya, sweet girl,” she said in her regular quavery whisper. Years of smoking and chewing the addictive weeds had robbed her of her voice, in more ways than one.
    When Holly was gone,