Stray Read Online Free Page B

an ache, she gently rolled her stocking back up her leg, folding it just beneath the new mark. Carefully, she lowered her dress, wincing as the fabric brushed against the raw skin.
    â€œI knew it!” A voice shrieked from the darkness, and Aislynn sprang to her feet. A girl, dressed in yellow, emerged from the gardens below and rushed up the steps toward Aislynn with a shaking, outstretched arm. Tiny bare feet peered out from under a muddied hem; black hair draped across her shoulders like skeins of uncarded wool. Hair that was usually as yellow as corn.
    â€œThis is your fault.” Maris grabbed a fistful of her ruined hair. “You did this to me, you witch . . . you stray!”

I t was not the first time Aislynn had been called a stray. The slur seemed to follow her wherever she went. It was a favorite of Violaine’s, and even the teachers looked the other way when they heard it whispered in the hallways. It was an awful word, and it felt even worse coming from someone Aislynn considered a friend.
    But a friend would never look at her the way Maris was looking at her now.
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œYou know what happened,” Maris spat.
    Aislynn didn’t understand. “Can’t your fairy godmother fix it?” If Tahlia were here, Aislynn knew she would help, but Maris laughed.
    â€œHave my fairy godmother fix it? Who do you think reported me?” Her face crumpled. “The headmistress forbade me from coming tonight. But I won’t let them Redirect me. I won’t.”
    Aislynn knew the fate that awaited a royal woman who failed to find a husband before the end of her sixteenth year. They all did. To remain unmarried would leave a girl’s heart untended, unguarded, and so, for her own safety, she was Redirected to the Order of Fairy Godmothers, her loving heart forfeited for a life of purity and devotion.
    â€œWe’ll figure something out.” Aislynn reached out to comfort Maris but was rewarded with a stinging slap across her face.
    â€œDon’t touch me!” said Maris. “This is your fault. Everyone knows what you did to Violaine.”
    Aislynn put a hand to her burning cheek and remembered how Maris had looked longingly at her black hair that very morning. How envious she had seemed.
    â€œYou wanted to have hair like mine,” she murmured, raising her eyes to meet Maris’s. “You were vain. You were covetous.”
    â€œHow dare you!” Maris stepped forward, her face white as death, and slapped Aislynn again. “Everyone knows what you are— stray .”
    Aislynn shoved Maris away. The other girl stumbled, her bare feet slapping against the stone. Eyes round and wild, she took a step back, and then another, before turning and fleeing down the stairs and into the garden.
    Frozen on the terrace, Aislynn watched Maris run toward the hedge that encircled the garden. Suddenly a tall figure emerged from the shadows, face obscured by a hooded cloak. At first, Aislynn thought Maris’s fairy godmother had come to fetch her, but then the figure stepped into the moonlight, and Aislynn saw that the cloak was not purple but black. No one wore black. Especially not at a ball.
    A strange and awful feeling prickled at the back of Aislynn’s neck as she watched the figure grasp Maris by the hand and pull her through the hedge. They disappeared from sight.
    â€œLooking for someone?” Aislynn jumped. It was Violaine, her lips pursed in scorn, her hand resting on a gentleman’s arm. Behind them, guests were streaming out of the ballroom, the ladies fanning themselves delicately. Servants followed, carrying silver platters of fruit and glass goblets of champagne.
    â€œHas Maris deserted you yet again?” Violaine asked with an unpleasant smile. But Aislynn ignored her, turning instead to her companion. The gentleman on Violaine’s arm was no stranger.
    â€œEverett!”
    â€œHello, Aislynn.” It had