Although we had been in Oblivion for no more than an hour, it was difficult to return to reality, my jaw was sore from yawning all the time and I wanted to sleep, but they made me take a bath with perfumed oils, dressed me in an airy white dress and ordered me to sit in front of the dressing table and not move. Two make-up artists and a hairdresser did their best to make me look cheerful and glamorous.

There was silence in the bedroom; the president's son, already fully prepared to conquer high society, was surprisingly quiet. His gaze followed my reflection in the mirror, and there was no hint of amusement in my enemy's black eyes.

“No, put the flowers away,” Grant's serious voice stopped the stylist's hand. The young man took a box from the shelf and carefully placed it on the table in front of us. “Use these stars.”

The lid opened to reveal two dozen small eight-pointed star-shaped hairpins set with tiny white stones. I ran my fingertips along the velvet lining of the wooden box, admiring the shimmering jewels, until it hit me. My heart stumbled and skipped a few beats.

“These are...”

“Yes, it's my mother's jewellery. Midi went to the residence to get them.”

“I won't wear them,” I closed the box, preventing the girls from touching hairpins.

Grant's hand covered my palm.

“No, you will,” there was no pity in Circul's gaze, only relentlessness.

“You can't make me.”

“Should I call my father?” The guy raised an eyebrow. He didn't hesitate to use his strongest threat.

“I can't...”

“You can,” he said sternly. It's an order from the president.

I exhaled quietly, trying to calm myself, but a sea of anxiety raged in my soul. These stars were Wemily Circul's favourite piece of jewellery, and she wore them on her most important occasions, whether it was a wedding, a peace treaty, a celebration of independence or the announcement of her son's birth. She wore her dark hair pinned up in these jewels even on the night she was last seen in the spotlight. It would be a sacrilege to appear in them now, to desecrate the memory of the deceased.

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“Do you think I like you wearing them?” The young man gave me a sarcastic look. “You'd be the last person I'd let touch those stars, even if my life depended on it...”

Immediately all awkwardness was gone, the eagerness to annoy Grant knocked all other desires out of me.

“Put them on,” I asked, staring blankly at my reflection in the mirror.

Circul grinned bitterly and stepped back, leaving the stylists to continue their work.

Half an hour later, the president came to see us. Rizor looked at us, gave us an approving nod and walked away silently. We were alone with Grant, bored, waiting for the car.

I yawned widely for the umpteenth time, not even bothering to cover my mouth, my mind working on automatic, so tired that I seemed to fall asleep with my eyes open every few minutes without realising it.

“You're not ill, are you?” My enemy in chain misfortune has decided to be concerned. “You've been lethargic the last few days, and you want to sleep all the time.”

I smiled faintly, the smile of someone who doesn't need anything more in this life, and with a yawn I said with a little pride: “I've been reading.”

“What did you read?” Circul was curious.

“It's a very popular novel now,” I took the book from the windowsill and lovingly stroked the cover.

“If you read what most people read, you'll start thinking like everyone else,” he said in a tone that didn't suit him at all.

“You understand a lot, Grant... but never judge a book by its popularity. Better to see for yourself what its true meaning is, and then despise or admire it.”

“Okay, give it to me,” he held out his open palm to me.

“What? You're gonna read it?”

Grant nodded majestically, took the book from my hands and turned a few pages. “Since you liked the novel, I'd like to know why.”

I smiled as I imagined the guy reading the story.

For some reason, my mood immediately lifted and I wanted to laugh. “I'm afraid you won't like it. It's where good triumphs over evil.”

“You're a bad spoiler, you know?” Grant grinned at me, his hair slicked back, making him look a few years older. “I heard about the second part of this series. They say all the main characters will die in it.”

“What?” I jumped up immediately, not believing a word he said. I tried not to.

“You're so easy to tease, Siri,” the guy laughed. “You should have seen the look on your face, like someone told you the end of the world was coming. Okay, relax, I made that up. I have no idea how the battle for this wretched throne will end.”

I exhaled angrily, turned away defiantly and didn't speak to him again until we were on our way. It was only in the car that we deigned to say a few words.

“Get in,” he said as he opened the car door for me.

“No, wait, I'll take the other seat.”

When he raised his eyebrows in surprise, I replied that the chances of a quick death were more likely on the side of the road than in the passenger seat on the side of the pavement. I was very reluctant to go to that party, my heart was uneasy and my soul was weighed down by an unpleasant feeling.

I looked up at the stars, exposed my face to the cool evening air and tried for a moment to forget where I was and who I was.

“Perhaps only after I die will I be able to sleep well?” I asked the passing clouds.

Grant Circul just snorted and got into the car.