Stray by Elissa Sussman Read Free Book Online

me.” Adviser Hull frowned.
    â€œOf course, Adviser,” Aislynn’s father said quickly.
    â€œMay we say good-bye to our daughter?” asked the queen. Her eyes were brimming with tears.
    The adviser seemed to consider the request. “I’ll permit it,” he finally said, and stepped to the headmistress’s side. They stood there as if they were observing a staged play.
    â€œAlone, if you don’t mind,” said the king.
    The adviser gave him a cold smile. “Of course,” he said, taking the headmistress’s elbow. “Come along, madame.” The heavy door closed behind them.
    A thousand apologies filled Aislynn, but she kept her lips pressed together, knowing that if she spoke, she would begin to cry.
    â€œOh, my darling.” The queen gently pulled Aislynn into her arms.
    Aislynn rested her cheek on her mother’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of her perfume. Orange and spices. Just as she remembered from when she was a little girl.
    â€œI will accept the Path I am taking. I will not stray. I will not yearn for what I cannot have. I will heed the words of my adviser and guard my loving heart against cursed magic. Ever after.” Her mother’s words were like a lullaby in her ear.
    Aislynn’s locket pressed into her breastbone, hard and unyielding. Her hands ached and her leg burned, but she welcomed the pain. None of it compared to the injury she had done to her parents by failing to control her wicked magic.
    She knew this might be the last time she would see her mother or father. Fairy godmothers did not have parents. They belonged to the family they served until their death.
    â€œWe have to go.” Her father’s voice was quiet as he embraced her, and then he too pulled away. Aislynn filled with panic—it hadn’t been enough time. There were still so many things about her parents’ faces that she had not yet memorized, so many things she had not yet said. But they were already leaving, her mother’s head bowed, her father’s hand resting on her shoulder. Before he left the room, the king glanced back.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said and shut the door.

A islynn left a smear of blood on the doorknob. She could not remember leaving the headmistress’s study or walking up the stairs to her room. A single candle burned on her bedside table, and a nightgown was spread across the bed. Tahlia had already been there. Did her fairy godmother know what had happened? Aislynn collapsed into a chair, her stiff gown crunching beneath her.
    She looked in the mirror, and it took everything she had to keep from screaming at the reflection. The girl staring back at her was a disgrace. She was not a princess at all. If only she had tried harder, if only she had been better, if only . . .
    With a trembling hand Aislynn began to uncoil her hair. Section by heavy section it fell. When it was all undone and curling across her shoulders, she took her handkerchief and smeared away the powder on her face. Then she reached for the many slippery buttons running down her spine. Unable to undo them, she gripped her dress in frustration and pulled. It took a few tugs, each more vicious than the last, but finally the buttons burst from their threads and scattered across the room.
    â€œWho could ever love you?” Aislynn snarled at her reflection. The girl there was familiar again, cheeks ruddy and hair wild. Everything else had been pretend. She was a girl who wasn’t meant for ever after. But even though her head knew this, her heart refused to accept it. Her foolish, loving heart. A heart that would soon be gone.
    Suddenly unable to breath, Aislynn scrambled to undo the slippery laces of her corset, but the knots were too tight. She yanked open the drawers of her vanity, ignoring the pain in her fingers and the lines of blood she left behind. Underneath a pile of ribbons she found it—a small pair of scissors that Tahlia used