“Much better,” Silver’s father said when she approached him. He pulled away her scarves. Silver hoped the caftan was still covering the neckline of the suit.
“Gold,” he barked to his assistants. “Blue sapphires and those emerald bracelets. To create contrast with the red silk. I’ll take these.” Rami pulled the combs out of Silver’s hair and replaced them with a heavy headpiece dripping with gems and artistically twisted precious metals. After only a few moments, her neck ached with the strain of keeping her chin high under all the weight.
With a heavily beating heart, Silver looked to the workshop entrance. How much longer until Sagittaria Wonder came through that door?
Thick necklaces went around her collarbone, and thin, delicate chains hung all the way down to her stomach. Every finger was stacked with rings. Her father went to place a bracelet on her wrist but hesitated at the sight of the burn. The whole workshop seemed to pause for a beat as an unspoken understanding passed between father and daughter: No matter what happened today, things were going to change.
Rami slipped the bracelet on and followed it up with more glimmering cuffs and chains.
A thunderous boom sounded outside the door, and Rami pulled Silver through the curtains and to the center of the showroom.
“Places, everyone,” he said.
Sagittaria Wonder and the royals had arrived.
And with them, Silver’s future.
NINE
Sometimes, when the Jaspatonian night was very clear and the winds were slumbering, Silver would slip out of her house and climb the stairs to the very top of the cliffs, and watch the moon blink down on the world. The orb always seemed so big, so close. Like she could reach out and steal a bit of its shine, or pluck a strand of platinum moonlight and wrap it all around herself, so that she could be as beautiful as the stars.
That was, Silver felt certain, what Queen Imea must have done.
The royal leader of all the deserts swept into Rami Batal’s showroom like a moonbeam. She was younger than Silver’s mother, having been plucked from the mountainous north by the mysterious soothsayers of Calidia and instated as queen when she was only nineteen, but her hair was gray, glittering down her back to sway at her waist. Her big, dark eyes and luminous, tawny-brown skin were accented by yards and yards of the silver-embroidered purple silk of her caftan. Diamonds glittered across her throat and from her ears.
Queen Imea lifted her caftan to step into the showroom, and Silver saw that she wore soft silk slippers and amethyst-dotted gold chains around her ankles. The queen smiled at everyone as she shook hands with Silver’s father and the lowly ele-jewelers.
Her husband, the king regent, followed, nodding but not shaking hands. He was tall and somber-faced and dressed more simply, in a white robe like all the politicians had, and wearing no jewelry.
But Silver strained her eyes to see past the royals and their entourage. They were not the ones that excited her. No, that would be … after several traders and servants … a few more … there! Sagittaria Wonder.
Silver sucked in a quick breath. She would recognize her idol anywhere. The description a trader had once given her wasn’t entirely accurate—Sagittaria Wonder’s nose was much longer, and her amber eyes were set farther apart—but there was something about the way she walked—no, strode—that drew Silver’s gaze to her. She was confident. Slim and taut. She didn’t hide her muscles behind layers and layers of clothing. Instead, her leather pants and woven tunic clung to her. She looked ready to saddle up and take a water dragon into a race.
Queen Imea approached Silver. “Hello, child.”
Silver tore her eyes from Sagittaria Wonder, straightened her back, and smiled. The queen’s face was open and mild—fresh, as though she hadn’t just been out in the desert at all. There was a spark in her eye that conveyed interest. Not only in the jewels, but in Silver herself.
Queen Imea reached out to touch a necklace. “Did you make any of these yourself?”
“No.” Silver’s voice was barely more than a squeak. She wished she could have told the queen yes, that she had helped with the racing cup. Silver tried to clear her throat but managed only to change the squeak to a squawk. “I’m still learning. But my father did.”
“Ah, you’re his daughter? I’d wager my kingdom that one day you’ll have just as much talent as he does.” The queen leaned very close and whispered, “Probably more.” When Queen Imea straightened up again, she winked.
“I hope so.” Silver smiled weakly. The royal obviously didn’t love her kingdom enough if she would bet on that.
The queen smiled again, then focused on the jewelry, gently lifting several pieces off Silver and inspecting the work displayed on the tables and velvet cushions in other parts of the showroom. With each piece the queen admired, Rami Batal’s chest puffed up bigger and bigger until Silver had to push down a laugh.
Sagittaria Wonder was tucked into the far corner. The racer’s arms were folded across her chest as she watched everyone barter and laugh, eat and drink.
Phila came to drape new pieces across Silver’s neck while Rami held up a pair of dangling gold earrings and described them in rapturous detail to Queen Imea.
“The queen hasn’t noticed my designs yet,” Phila said.
“She has good taste, then,” Silver said. “She’s nice, too.”
Silver winced. She was sure that Phila had pinched her skin between the necklace clasp on purpose.
“She’ll want to ply you with sweetness so that she gets favorable prices from you,” Phila said, shaking her head. “You’re too gullible.”
Silver’s face burned. The queen was treating everyone in the shop with respect. Wasn’t that just how everyone interacted with others? Not Phila, though. Basic kindness was not a thing she would understand. Silver looked over Phila’s shoulder. The people in the showroom—all the other ele-jewelers, the queen’s people, even Gama—were swarming around Silver like gnats, blocking her view of Sagittaria Wonder.
When the royal group had finally had enough, Queen Imea clapped her hands. “I am delighted at what I’ve seen.”
But still, her eyes roamed the shop, as though hoping for something more. Rami Batal seemed to understand. It was the moment he’d been waiting for. Desert beetles flip-flopped in Silver’s chest. Although it wasn’t her own dream, she still wanted her father to amaze the queen.
He chuckled and pulled a plain wood box off a table against the wall. “Word reached me that you are in the market for a great masterpiece. Jewels that will come to symbolize your perfect reign.” He opened the box, and even Silver felt compelled to take a few steps closer and crane her neck. Inside, the most dazzling loose jewels glittered beside a piece of parchment. “Here is a project I am embarking on. A scepter. I feel it will be the grandest thing I ever create.”
“How wonderful!” the queen said. “It never does to show all our secrets right away, now does it?” She leaned in close and winked at Silver’s father. “Oh, I love when the final card is played on the table. I play all my games that way, too. Politics is dreadfully boring, otherwise.” She stood upright again and clasped her hands. “How long until I can hold this masterpiece?”
“I have found half the jewels I need,” Rami said, beaming. “Each one must be a perfect example of what a jewel can be. I hope to have the rest in the next year or two.”
Queen Imea dragged a finger over the sketch on the parchment. “That’s a shame. In a few days, Calidia hosts the Desert Nations Autumn Festival. Six months later, our desert racers will win glory in the finals at the Island Nations Spring Festival. Wouldn’t it be a symbol of our land’s prosperity to take this piece with me come spring?”