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I stare down at the piece in my hands, at the thick choker and the net of golden strands. It didn’t occur to me that she wouldn’t like it, but I have never been a slave before. But when she rubs her neck as if she can feel the weight of the band there and hates it, I shake my head. “Then it won’t do.”
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, the worried note in her voice. “Please don’t be upset—”
“Vali, I’m not upset.” I set it back in the chest and think of what else she might like, what else I might have that would make her feel confident to walk amongst my family. My fingers brush over a new piece and I hold it out. “This, then.”
The anxious, pinched look immediately leaves her face and she giggles as she takes the new item from my grip. “A tiara?”
“Aye. It won’t bother your neck, and it sparkles. Do you like it?”
She giggles again, touching the large blue stones that have been expertly fitted into the metal. There are three of them, clustered together like turtle eggs on a thin golden band made to look like a braid. “I’m not royal.”
“No one will care.”
“It’s very ostentatious,” she says, but she keeps touching the stones.
“Aye, and it’ll look glorious in that thick hair of yours.”
Her eyes glow. She puts it on and perches it atop her head, the sides of the tiara disappearing into her messy, tangled hair. “You don’t think it’s too much?”
“Not at all. I want you sparkling and lovely. I want my family to look at you and think I am lucky.”
“Do you feel lucky?” Her voice grows timid again.
I want to answer her, but I’m afraid of my tongue betraying me once more. I gaze into her lovely, worried eyes and then slowly reach out and caress her ear.
Vali smiles.