Aveline by Lizzy Ford Read Free Book Online

her eyes to the floor.
    “You should be ashamed to bear the mark of a
Hanover!” Matilda continued.
    Tiana reached back instinctively to feel the
raised tattoo on her shoulder. Every Hanover born was etched with
the symbol of a diving eagle, the family crest.
    Matilda gasped. “Cease this display. Now!”
she snapped.
    Her stepmother was pointing at the pillows
floating three feet in the air above Tiana’s bed. It took effort to
undo what she had not felt herself do. Tiana willed the pillows to
return to the bed. They obeyed and dropped in place, where they
belonged.
    Matilda cursed at her then snatched slippers
from the wardrobe and slammed it closed. “Be quick. Your father
does not forgive tardiness. I will deal with this incident
later!”
    Tiana stood and closed her eyes to shield
Matilda from the most repulsive of her deformities. She tugged off
her sleeping gown and then lifted her arms. Matilda pulled the
ceremonial gown over her head with gentleness she never showed
Tiana, careful not to wrinkle any of the layers of silk, lest she
earn the displeasure of Tiana’s father. The green sash and metal
insignia, marking Tiana’s position as a colonel in the Shield – an
honor bestowed upon the children of the city’s hereditary leader –
went on next. The last piece of her ensemble was the most important
one: the translucent layer of silk preventing the public from
seeing her deformity.
    Matilda’s long nails grazed Tiana’s skin as
she maneuvered, tucked and pinned the veil in place, skillfully
covering Tiana’s face and neck while leaving her hair exposed. The
wrapping of the veil was a privileged art only select members of
the city were permitted to learn, and it was one of Matilda’s
duties to approve which women from wealthy families were allowed to
display the veil. The trend was started by none other than Matilda
as a simple solution to the dilemma Tiana’s father faced on Tiana’s
thirteenth birthday. He was required by the laws of the elite to
present his debutante daughter. Doing so would have revealed her
deformity and seen her burned at the stake, alongside everyone else
who knew of the deformed girl.
    Initially an act meant to conceal Tiana, the
wearing of the veil had become an instant symbol of power among the
women of the city, and teenage girls everywhere began copying the
fashionable trend.
    Once she had finished positioning the thin
layer of silk, Matilda clipped strings of gems and gold to Tiana’s
hair around the edges of the veil and stepped back to examine her
critically from head to toe.
    “You look like a Hanover,” Matilda
pronounced.
    The way she said it left Tiana convinced
that Matilda was worried about her position in the family. Free to
look around without anyone seeing her deformed eyes, Tiana looked
Matilda’s clothing over.
    “May I straighten your gown?” she asked
quietly.
    “Drink your tea first.”
    Tiana did not grimace the way she wanted to.
Every day, Matilda brought her an herbal tea meant to bolster her
health. Tiana drank the warm tea down fast, hating the pungent
flavor and the strange smell.
    “Good. Now, with haste.” Matilda went still,
waiting.
    Tiana smoothed out a layer of silk bunched
up near Matilda’s right hip and then very carefully realigned the
strings of gemstone beads that had shifted out of position in her
stepmother’s hair.
    Lowering her hands, she moved away before
Matilda could shove her. Despite the rough treatment this morning,
she felt a spark of excitement at the prospect of seeing the world
outside the room where she was confined.
    A rap at the door was followed by her
brother’s entrance sans permission. Dressed in the official scarlet
Shield uniform, he also wore the same green sash and honorary
medals and ranks as Tiana. His hair was damp from bathing, and the
green-gray eyes he had inherited from their father flickered over
both of them with similar coolness. The wealthy families had always
cooed over how much Arthur Hanover