“That is a close second,” Luciana conceded.
Maeve looked at Luciana with tears in her eyes. “The best part is that we’re all back together again.”
“Exactly.” Luciana hugged the youngest of her adopted sisters, and soon they were all hugging one another.
Brigitta sniffed. “We missed ye something terrible.”
“No tears now,” Luciana warned them. “We still have the ball to attend tonight. Have you been practicing the steps I showed you?” Her sisters and Mother Ginessa had arrived two days earlier, and Luciana had spent every spare minute with them. She had wanted to include them in today’s ceremony, but Mother Ginessa had insisted they only watch from a balcony.
Maeve stuck out her bottom lip. “Mother Ginessa said we can only watch the ball.”
“What?” Luciana gave her sisters an incredulous look. “But I had beautiful ball gowns made for each of you. And I thought—” She didn’t want to mention it, but she had hopes of matching her sisters with eligible young noblemen.
“Mother Ginessa insists we remain hidden,” Brigitta grumbled.
“Where is she?” Luciana asked.
“She went to her room,” Gwennore answered. “She said the ceremony was too tiring, and she needed to rest.”
Sorcha scoffed. “She’s still keeping secrets from us. It makes me so angry!”
Brigitta sighed. “What is wrong with us that we have to hide away?”
Gwennore winced. “In my case, I look like an elf, and people will think I’m an enemy. But I don’t know why the rest of ye can’t have fun at the ball.”
Maeve shrugged. “Mother Ginessa said we mustn’t be noticed.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Luciana sat down with a huff. “You’re the four most beautiful women in court. Even if you hide on balconies behind pillars, people will notice you.”
“That’s right!” Maeve looked at Brigitta. “Remember that man that came up to ye during the ceremony?”
“A courtier approached you?” Luciana asked.
Brigitta waved a dismissive hand. “He was not tall and handsome. I have no interest in him.”
“He was certainly interested in yerself,” Gwennore said. “He even asked if yer name is Brigitta. And when ye said yes, he scurried away.”
“Scurried?” Luciana asked.
“Aye, scurried,” Brigitta grumbled. “Because he was short and scrawny and old enough to be my father.”
Luciana tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair. “How was he dressed?”
Brigitta sat beside her on a settee. “A blue vest and cape, lined with gold silk.”
The royal colors of Tourin. Luciana bit her lip. She suspected the man had been the Tourinian ambassador. But how had he known Brigitta’s name?
Gwennore sat on the settee next to Brigitta. “I’m so happy ye were crowned as Queen Luciana. Now ye don’t have to pretend to be yer sister.”
“What happened to Tatiana?” Maeve sat on the rug, her pink silk skirt billowing around her, and Sorcha sat next to her in her new gown of green silk.
Luciana told them her sister’s story.
“She found a prince!” Brigitta clasped her hands together with a dreamy look.
“Luciana did, too,” Maeve insisted.
Sorcha nudged her with an elbow. “Leo’s a king. That’s better than a prince.”
“I heard he’s passed some new laws,” Gwennore said.
“We have,” Luciana corrected her. “First, we decreed it is no longer a crime to be born Embraced or a twin.”
Sorcha snorted. “Well, that gets us off the hook.”
“Exactly,” Luciana agreed. “And we gave religious freedom to all the Eberoni people. We can now make the sign of the moons without fearing for our lives.”
“Didn’t that anger the priests that follow the Light?” Gwennore asked.
Luciana nodded. “Yes, but we disbanded them. The Eberoni are now free to hire their own priests who will actually care for them instead of spying on them. We believe a person’s religious beliefs should not oppress him, but set him free.”
“I like it!” Gwennore smiled.
Luciana smiled back. Leo’s cousin Tedric had helped with that decision. Unfortunately, the disgruntled ex-priests were now ganging up with Lord Morris to cause trouble, but she didn’t want to spoil the day with bad news. “So now you are free to live here with me. We can all be together again.”
Her sisters exchanged sad looks.
Luciana’s smile faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Mother Ginessa says ’tis not safe for us on the mainland,” Brigitta mumbled.
“She said we need to go back to the Isle of Moon in a few days,” Gwennore added.
“And she won’t tell us why!” Sorcha clenched her fists. “I hate that!”
Luciana’s heart sank. She had so wanted to live with her sisters again.
“Maybe Luciana can tell our future,” Maeve suggested. “She predicted her own. She could do ours.”
Luciana sighed. “I don’t really know—”
“Ye could try!” Brigitta jumped up and ran to the trunk that the girls had brought from the Isle of Moon. It contained their woolen gowns from the convent.
Brigitta dug beneath the gowns and pulled out a linen bag closed with a drawstring. “I brought the stones!”