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father.
    Katya continued toward the courtier. She stopped just behind him and forced herself to calm down. “Lovely day for it, don’t you think?” she said in his ear.
    He jumped and nearly whirled, but she caught his arm, keeping him still. “What…what?”
    Katya dug into the flesh of his upper arm until he gasped. “Keep still, and you might get out of here alive.”
    He shivered. “I knew it might mean my life, but people have to know.”
    “What?” Katya’s free hand inched toward the pyramid. “What do they have to know?”
    “The Aspect. They’re not human. The Umbriels are monsters !” He said the last part in a strangled whisper as he turned to look at Katya. “You…”
    She reached the pyramid, but he jerked away. Crowe arrived and grabbed for him, but he leaned far to the left and rammed his pyramid into his own belly.
    The king had nearly reached them. Someone bumped into Crowe, and he dropped the suddenly limp courtier to the ground. Katya stepped forward, over the downed man, shielding him from the view of the crowd as Crowe bent over him. “Fetch this man some help!” she commanded.
    The courtiers and nobles turned. “What’s wrong with the poor devil?” Da asked.
    “He needs a physician!” Crowe said. The courtier was at his feet, unmoving, doubled over with one arm shielding his face. “He’s overcome. Where have all the damned servants gone?”
    “Never around when you need them,” Katya drawled. A few people chuckled with her. No servants were a blessing. If the courtier was dead, any regular servant might panic.
    Crowe gestured to two of his fellow pyradistés. “Let’s take him to my study.” The selected two stooped beside the downed man and lifted him.
    “Perhaps it’s the excitement,” Earl Lamont said. The pyradistés bore the man away, Crowe right behind them.
    “Yes.” Da glanced at Katya out of the corner of his eye. “That must be it.”
    Katya shrugged and put her bored face back on through force of will. The downed courtier knew about the Aspect. He knew Katya’s family shared something with Yanchasa, if not why. To control a monster, each Umbriel had to become one. But how did he know? She wanted to run to Crowe’s office.
    Da caught her shoulder. “Remember the ball,” he whispered. “You have many duties. Leave Crowe to his.”
    Katya could only nod. The Order would have to wait, it seemed. After all, she had a very important dance to attend first.

Chapter Four: Starbride
     
    Dawnmother stood back and fluffed the voluminous gown. “This is one of the best.”
    Starbride made a face as she studied the dress, this one a mixture of smoky browns. “I look like milky tea.”
    “It goes with your skin.”
    “Red goes with my skin. This goes with a cake.”
    Dawnmother’s eyes twinkled. “I think cinnamon coffee is a better fit.”
    Starbride put on her best withering look. “I’m glad you’re having a good time.”
    “Don’t be so gloomy. You might get a chance to speak with the royal family…again.”
    “Oh yes, I’m sure Princess Katyarianna will have a lot of fun at my expense.”
    “You told me she wasn’t laughing at you.”
    “I don’t know, do I?” But she could guess, and what she guessed hurt more than the chance of ridicule. Katyarianna Nar Umbriel would ignore her, or worse yet, not remember her.
    “Cling to the wall,” Dawnmother said. “There’s bound to be more than one person who doesn’t fit in. Maybe you can form an alliance of the unallied.”
    “Unless the other misfits are dying to prove they aren’t misfits by standing at the edges of conversations and trying to look as if they’re part of them. I’ll probably retreat to a quiet corner until I can leave.” Maybe one of the leering courtiers would make a pass at her, and as much as she hated it, she could talk to him or her for a little while. “All right, do the hair.”
    “I thought you’d never ask.”
    When Dawnmother finished curling and pinning