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Stella buttoned the last button, her fingers slipping the faceted ebony into place. This was it. She stood back to see the full effect of the shirt on her mannequin.
It was perfect.
The fabrics, turquoise silk and black quilting and the layer of glittery netting worked so well with the buttons and trims. Stella particularly loved the trim; she’d tacked it on by hand, a million tiny stitches around and down and then curled into a rosette at the border between the two fabrics.
With a flick of magic Stella made her mannequin change poses. The buttons winked in the light. The fabric didn’t pull at the shoulder, the sleeve didn’t ride up. And it just looked so good! Every new pose just showed it off better! Stella clasped her hands and bounced, unable to contain her delight.
Bloom was going to love it, and there was still a month before her birthday, plenty of time for Stella to make a second piece. A skirt would be easier to fit, but skinny capris would look better. She would start on the pattern tomorrow. The whole look would be just so—flawless!
This was Stella’s sanctum, her design studio in the heart of the palace where she could dance around happily and talk to herself about color stories for hours. Her fabric collection was spilling out of shelves along one wall and her trims and buttons filled drawers on another. The mannequins were shimmery silver, and could shape themselves to any sort of human or elven figure. One was shaped to Bloom’s measurements while the others languished as tall, slim figures with long necks, fashion drawings come to life. They were draped in random swaths of fabric, things Stella had been trying out to see how they matched.
The door creaked open. “Mum? It’s time for story.”
“Jeffy!” Stella swooped up her second son and kissed his golden hair. The boy was holding the storybook, Tales of the Paladins, from which their parents read every night. Tonight was Stella’s turn and they’d reached the paladin Renard’s battle with the sea giant. This was very exciting for small boys. Stella and Jeffrey went to the baby’s room where all the boys were waiting. Baby Aiden was asleep in his crib and Barrett, Samuel and Robert were crammed onto the spare bed that Stella or a nurse could sleep in when the baby was sick. But mostly it was used for story. Stella put Jeffrey down with his brothers and sat down in her story seat, an antique rocking chair carved with a double sun. It had belonged to one of Stella’s ancestors, and now it was used for reading stories. Stella opened the book. “On the day when the sea giant had promised to attack the city, Paladin Renard took up his sword...”
The next day the queen was scheduled to appear at the opening of Solaria General Hospital’s cosmetic surgery wing. She’d become a patron after learning that the doctors traveled to undeveloped realms to help children born with the sorts of things that mostly happen when people don’t have good food or vitamins. So the hospital directors had decided to name the new construction the Queen Stella Center for Corrective and Reconstructive Surgery, and have the queen give a speech at its opening.
Stella was not very good at speeches. She liked giving speeches, but the listeners tended to complain later that she wandered from the topic and often ended up talking about fashion.
But this speech was easy. Stella talked about the pictures she’d seen of children with crumpled hands or lips split up to their noses. “...with the help of these talented healers and surgeons, everyone in Solaria has the right to be beautiful!” And the doctors, nurses and visitors applauded.
Happy with her speech Stella rode back to the palace in her big open car, which had been a gift from her father bought for the purpose of appearing in parades with five small boys. But since Stella was riding alone she could put on her sunglasses, sit back and… relax?
“Your Majesty, shouldn’t you review your schedule?”
Stella lifted her sunglasses and looked at her driver. Whose slim figure and a stray tendril of copper hair escaping from the chauffeur's cap revealed her identity.
“Nova! Why are you driving?”
“Rupert’s boy is sick, so I offered to do his job.”
Nova might be an old friend, but her job as a royal secretary meant she was most unlikely to let Stella relax and enjoy the ride. Stella sighed. “What’s on my schedule anyway? There’s a few parties, I think!”
Nova didn’t look back, but Stella was fairly sure she’d rolled her eyes. “Your Highness has been invited to view a play at the theater tonight. Earlier in the afternoon was Lady Annelise’s baby shower, but it seems that’s been canceled.”
“Nova you don’t have to talk like a butler just because… wait, canceled? Why? I got her the cutest onesie!”
“I don’t know. We got a message this morning. Maybe the baby came early!”
Stella got out her phone. Silence on social media.
Lady Annelise was Stella’s age, from an old and rich Solarian family, and expecting her first child. Expecting soon; the lady had been quite round yesterday when she’d caught Stella to share pictures of her nursery and ask which toys the boys had liked when they were tiny.
Lady Annelise was always poised and elegant, even with a giant belly she’d dressed for the palace and done her hair and makeup. She and Stella had become instant friends since they both loved makeup and fashion. They even looked alike, the same Solarian golden tan and sunflower-yellow hair. Annelise wasn’t a best friend like the Winx or an old friend like Nova, but she was a friend who’d helped Stella settle in to being queen, and Stella was worried by her silence. She sent a concerned message and then checked her actual schedule. So much stuff! The worst part of being queen was the full schedule. Over the next week she had more speeches, meetings with ambassadors, a gallery show, a charity ball, and her usual court appearances to actually run the kingdom. Her royal secretaries handled all her invitations and decided which of them the queen should appear at. They even scheduled her family time, her private diners with Brandon and story time with the boys. The hours she spent designing were carved out of the edges of other things, and Stella didn’t like that. Being queen meant making people happy and making life better for all the people of Solaria, but Stella’s own happiness had to come in second. Stella wanted to shop and throw parties and go on dates with Brandon and visit her friends and spend hours on the Solarian fashion internet hub watching every show and every new line.
These discontented reflections faded away when the car pulled into the royal garage next to the other cars, dimension ships, and carriages Stella’s royal ancestors had accumulated over the years, because Brandon had come to meet her. He was wearing about half of his royal consort uniform—a button up shirt and trousers.
“Mi amore!” Stella hopped from the car into Brandon’s arms and he swung her around. “Where’s your jacket?”
Brandon laughed. “I lost it. It weighs a ton.”
“Well you should’ve thought of that before you earned all those medals, you big hero! Just find it before the theater tonight.”
“I will.” Brandon gave her a quick kiss. He was always ‘losing’ the royal consort’s coat, which had epaulets and a sash and all the medals and really did jingle a little when Brandon walked.
They went inside and met the boys who were just getting done with school with their tutors. The oldest two went to real school, a private preschool for the children of the nobility, and even little Samuel and Barrett had tutors though at the moment they were working on stacking blocks and rolling toy cars. The family had dinner together, and Nova sat down with them once she’d finished supervising the carrying of the food from the kitchen. Nova was on babysitting duty after Stella and Brandon left for the theater. The royal family tried to have dinner like a normal family as often as they could, with just the seven of them and friends, no servants or court hangers-on. Stella had made this decision before she realized how much small boys, even princes, like to throw food.
Over the next few days life continued as usual for the royal family. Brandon joined the Specialists to corral an angry sea serpent on Andros. Stella and little Robert helped Tecna playtest an educational video game she was making, and spent a lot of time on the phone with Bloom. She also held all her usual royal appearances and spent days in dreary discussion of new tax laws. Of course taxes were important to pay for schools and roads and things, but the discussion was soooo boring. After all that Stella felt she only deserved to go to Lady Faye’s fashion show. And of course the lady insisted on Stella coming backstage to get a closer look at everything and by the end of the evening they’d planned to do a joint show next season.
With her full schedule it was three days before Stella realized she hadn’t heard from Annelise. There was no social media update, the baby shower hadn’t been rescheduled, and there was no announcement of the baby’s birth.
Stella realized this one morning as she was doing her makeup for a community recognition breakfast. She’d be giving flower wreaths to people who’d contributed to the realm, and she wanted to look flawless. But then she remembered. “Nova!”
“Yes, Your Majesty?” Nova was packing Stella’s notes for the event.
“Annelise’s baby! I can’t believe I forgot, but there was the play and then I had to—she hasn’t posted anything! She didn’t answer my message either. I have to go to the park, can you find out if she’s all right?”
“Of course.” Nova’s copper eyebrows drew together in concern; she knew Annelise as well. “I will drop you off at the park and go right to her house.”
They had to rush to get to the event; Stella only had time to kiss her sons and tell them to be good for Brandon, who’d be watching them for the day. He was already sitting with them at their table feeding Aiden his baby cereal and telling the other boys a mostly-fictional story about adventures in Downland. Stella delivered six quick kisses and whisked out the door.
The ceremony went off without a hitch; Stella presented wreaths and accolades, the suns shone brightly and reporters got good pictures of Stella’s dress. Stella checked her phone when the ceremony concluded but there was no message. Then she saw Nova standing by the car, her face somber. Stella hurried over, suddenly fearing terrible things she hadn’t even thought of yet.
“She lost the baby. She was in the hospital—she didn’t call anybody.”
“Well we’re going over there right now!”
“Stella I’m not sure...”
“I’m sure! Annelise needs her friends right now!”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Nova said, and opened the car door.
Annelise lived in one wing of her family’s manor house. She had no partner and had planned to raise her child with her parents and friends as the rest of the family. But now that was ruined.
The lady was sitting at her desk. She managed quite a large estate that supplied citrus fruit for sale in the cities. But even though she was up and working, Annelise looked like she should’ve been still in bed. She was just wearing a satin bathrobe and had deep shadows under her eyes.
The maid announced, “Queen Stella.”
“Hi Stella...”
“Sweetie! I just heard, it’s so awful! I’m so sorry that happened!”
Annelise looked away and sort of shrugged. “Thank you for saying so. I’ll be all right.” Her voice was… off, somehow. Not like what Stella thought a sad voice sounded like. More like angry.
Of course she’d be angry at losing her dream of being a mother. But Stella didn’t know what to say next. “I’m sure you will be, didn’t the doctor say things don’t usually go wrong twice? It’s not like it’s all over, you can try again! Sorry, maybe it’s not time yet to think that.” Stella babbled. She always knew what to say with the Winx, and when she was being queen she could usually do something to help people who were in trouble! But here she couldn’t do anything.
But Annelise did smile a twisted little smile. “Yes I know. I think I do just need some time. I’ll call you later all right?”
Stella could tell what that meant. She stood up. “Ok! I hope you’ll be back for the next Couture launch, it wouldn’t be the same without you!”
Back in the car Stella chewed her lip and felt bad. She’d wanted to help, but she couldn’t!
It was… annoying! Unfair! She’d wanted to help and tried to help so she should’ve been able to! She said this to Nova, who just said, “The Great Dragon left the universe unfair so we could make it better.” Which didn’t help.
There was nothing scheduled for the afternoon so Stella decided on a whim, “Makeover night! Makeovers for everyone!”
Stella had plenty of makeup; companies sent her loads of free samples so she had lots to give away to her courtiers and servants and anyone else who wanted a makeover. The two oldest princes saw that everyone else was getting facepaint they wanted some too, so Stella used eyeshadow to paint dragon scales on their faces.
Which reminded Stella of the dream that hadn’t come true for her: the dream of teaching her own daughter to do makeup. She wouldn’t have traded her boys for anything, but when the doctor had said better not try for a sixth child her heart had broken a little. Maybe one of the boys would be interested in fashion and pretty things when he got older.
Eventually it got late, and Brandon instructed the dragon-faced boys to roar everyone out of the room and then get ready for bed. Robert and Jeffrey had a great time emptying the room and tiring themselves out to be ready to go to sleep.
And then it was just the family for bedtime. Everyone else who’d just gotten a makeover was probably going out on the town to take advantage of their new looks, but Stella was tired and ready to wash her face and read the bedtime story. She and Brandon read it together, doing voices for the characters, and put the boys to bed.
The last thing the queen had to do before going to bed was a final phone check to see if there were any emergency messages. No emergencies tonight, just the usual updates from the Winx talking about their days. And a message from Rupert, her usual driver, saying his son was out of danger but would be in the hospital a few more days. That was a relief.
Stella was lingering in the doorway of Jeffrey’s room checking her phone. The boy was fast asleep, a little bit of makeup the washcloth had missed streaking his pillow green.
Brandon’s arm came around her shoulder. “Bad day?”
“No… yes. You could tell?”
“Makeover mania.”
“I do makeover mania on normal days!” Stella protested. But she told Brandon about her visit to Annelise as they walked back to their room. “And I couldn’t do anything to make her feel better and I started thinking about our boys and what if it had been one of them then nothing would make me feel better… so makeover mania! Everybody likes that!”
“It looks like everyone was having fun.” Brandon said, smiling warmly down at his wife. Here in the royal chambers with no one watching he had a different smile. “Why don’t you go to the hospital and see Rupert’s son and pass out toys. It’s one of our royal duties.”
“One of my favorite royal duties! I’ll go tomorrow… no, I have court all day tomorrow, and then the Sovereign Council meeting on Andros. I get to see Bloom and Aisha but we have to talk about boring stuff. I’ll visit the hospital the day after! Ah, what did you do today while I was handing out wreaths?”
“I was inspecting the royal guard barracks and their dimension ships. I think that’s the only time some of them clean their rooms!”
Stella laughed. “Was it like Red Fountain?”
“Like traveling back in time.” Brandon smiled and went on to describe the barracks and the guards he’d met and that was how the day ended.
So it was most of a week before Stella visited the hospital, and by then she’d done so many things that the awful feeling of unfairness had faded. And Annelise returned to court, quieter but insisting on taking up her duties and accompanying the queen.
So Stella was looking forward to her visit. She stopped off at the toy store first and bought stuffed toys, and books and handheld games and some toy makeup kits in case the girls wanted to do makeovers even though they were stuck in the hospital.
The doctors and nurses knew she was coming of course, so when Stella arrived with her bags of goodies they directed her to the wards where toys would do the most good. The young patients she saw were all awake and recovering from whatever accident or illness had brought them here. Stella visited her driver’s son, who was getting better after a surprise bout with pneumonia and was delighted that the queen was bringing him a video game. Rupert was there and thanked her and they talked about parenting and the royal schedule.
Then Stella went to hang out in the ward where the more mobile patients gathered, some walking but some in wheelchairs or in beds pushed on wheels. She handed out plush phoenixes and sundogs, two of the royal animals of Solaria. She read stories from The Travels of Erana doing the voices like she did for her own sons.
Annalise and Nova stayed in the background, giving out the gifts they’d brought for the nurses: fancy chocolates and soft pads to put in their shoes. Those were much appreciated.
When the story was over Nova waved and Stella said, “I think I’d better go see what my friend wants.”
There was a chorus of, “Anooooother one!”
“I have Royal Business. But I’ll come back another time.” She stood up, escaping before she ended up reading the entire rest of the book. “What’s up, Nova?”
Nova said, “Nurse Shannon was telling me about a baby that was left here last week.”
“She’s got a lot of problems—she could use a patron.” The nurse said sheepishly.
‘Patron’ meaning ‘royal money’ which was one of the purposes of the treasury anyway. “Of course, what’s..?”
Annelise jumped. “The queen doesn’t want to see a misshapen...”
Nurse Shannon… hesitated. “I’d hardly say misshapen...”
Nova winced. It took Stella a second to understand this meant the baby must look pretty bad. There was something here Stella didn’t understand, and she didn’t know what to do about it so the best thing was to just go forward. “The crown is pleased to support the needy. I’d be happy to meet the little one.”
Nova looked at their friend, “Annelise, you can wait here, or outside. You shouldn’t have to see...”
“I-I don’t need to wait outside. I will accompany the queen.”
“Anna, you don’t have to! After what happened!” Stella protested, but Annelise put on her best haughty look. Stella was entirely sure that someone who’d just lost a baby shouldn’t have to see other people’s babies, but it also seemed insulting to order her out when she seemed so determined. “Well all right.”
The baby was in a room with sunflowers painted on the walls and less medical machinery than there could have been. Nurse Shannon lifted the girl from the bassinet, a bundle of blanket with a face that was—
A mess. The tiny nose squished off to one side and the baby’s lip was split all the way up leaving teeth and gums exposed. That was bad enough but it had clearly been worse because the baby’s whole face was swollen and one cheek crossed by little bandages. Stella thought of her sons who had been perfect in every way and her heart broke for this girl. “Oh you poor thing! Nurse, what happened to her?”
Nurse Shannon shrugged one shoulder, “Birth defect. It just happens sometimes. Want to hold her?”
“Mmhm!” Stella had plenty of experience holding babies, and this one was smaller than her youngest son. The baby gurgled and swung a miniature hand with oddly stubby fingers.
“We’ve been calling her Emilia; figured she needed a beautiful name to balance that face. Poor thing’s already had one surgery to fix her sinuses so she can eat and she should have another just for function before we even start on appearance. Hence my request for royal patronage, Your Highness.”
Annelise was standing far back. “Will she ever look normal?” she asked bitterly.
“Not likely.” The nurse said with regret. “Even with a lot of cosmetic surgery, her nose isn’t on straight.”
The baby sneezed, which must have hurt her nose because she started to whine. Stella cooed and bounced her a little.
“Your Highness is good with children.”
“I have plenty of my own! Of course the crown can help out with Emilia’s medical bills—no, I’ll send a big donation from Stella Couture. Like a scholarship, but for babies!”
Nova cringed. “I mean, I think you should but you’re getting close to the edge of your profit margin Stel.”
“Oh, I’ll make do. I don’t need to buy fabric every month.” Stella said mostly to the baby. Little Emilia had oddly droopy eyes but they were lovely dark blue like most babies’ eyes.
Annelise was the only one who didn’t seem moved by pity. Her lips were pursed in distaste. “And you’ll send her away won’t you?”
“Oh I’m sure the followers of Saint Erana will be able to find her family.” Stella said absently. She’d gotten her phone out and was looking at Stella Couture’s budget one-handed while still holding the baby. Nova was right; she’d been dedicating chunks of her profit to different causes over the years and there wasn’t a lot left. The kind of donation it would take to pay for Baby Emilia’s surgeries would make Stella Couture into a total charity for the year. Well that was ok. Stella didn’t mind the idea of making clothes for free to pay for the fashion school scholarship, the boys’ ballet scholarship, and the Solarian fashion museum. Why not add a sponsorship to the hospital to help babies like Emilia?
So Stella was thinking about that, about good things, not paying attention to her friends. Nurse Shannon was saying, “...left here at night, wrapped in a towel. No note, no keepsake—usually foundlings are left with something.”
Stella put the baby back in her bed with a last pat and turned to see Annelise’s face had gone very white.
“No family on Solaria would claim a baby with a face like that!”
Nova gently began, “It would be hard to have a child with so many medical—“
“She’s hideous! She has the face of a monster, healers and magic can’t fix her!”
Hearing an angry voice, Emilia screwed up her face and wailed. Nurse Shannon muttered, “I’m sorry Your Highness, but could you...” She waved them out of the little room.
That broke the moment but the moment was time for Stella’s dismay to come together into words. “I’m sorry Anna, of course you’d still be upset. Let’s get out of here, I can set up everything for—“
“You can’t! You’re the one who said nobody in Solaria should be ugly!”
Stella gaped. She couldn’t say anything, stunned that her friend had misjudged her so completely. “I didn’t-” she stuttered.
Nova gaped too, pressing her hand to her chest, looking sick. “Stel-” she actually sagged against the wall.
“What? What is it?” Stella looked back and forth between her friends.
Nova shook her head.
Stella had an idea, but it was too awful to believe. Emilia was only a few days old and it had only been a few days since… “Anna… did your baby...”
“It would have been better if she died than to look like that.”
Stella had a long, horrible moment. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real. Her friend couldn’t really think that. “But it’s ok, the baby looks funny but she’s going to be all right, so you can take her home and give her her real name...”
But Annelise was looking back with the same horror—quickly shifting to outrage. “Why would I do that! I’m a lady of Solaria, the realm of beauty! I can’t have an ugly child!”
Stella opened and closed her mouth a few times, all words fled. Annelise took the moment to actually flee, turning and rushing away, probably crying. Nova called after her but she didn’t turn back. Nova looked back at Stella, also blank-faced and unable to speak.
There had to be a way to make this all right. There had to. Stella had one thought and went for it. “Nurse Shannon! I changed my mind. Emilia, I’ll make her my ward. She can come live in the palace until her mother claims her.”
That jolted Nova out of her shock. “Stel! Wait a sec, you can’t just bring home a baby like a sundog pup! At least talk to the king!”
“Oh, Brandon’ll be fine with it, we have so many little kids already.” This probably wasn’t true but Stella knew if she stopped talking she’d fall into very unqueenly tears and then the nurse might guess what had happened and she couldn’t do that to Annelise even at that moment.
Nurse Shannon was overjoyed and not paying much attention as she fell over herself thanking Stella.
And because the queen was the queen there wasn’t much paperwork and the queen could take her new ward home right away—along with special formula and instructions for feeding a baby whose mouth had recently been reshaped by healing magic, and a schedule for future medical procedures.
Nova hissed, “Stella! Please please don’t think I’m not sympathetic but this baby is going to be really high maintenance! And expensive! And you have five little ones already!”
“Oh, one more won’t be a problem!” Stella was already feeling more like herself. She was doing the right thing. Nova was saying sensible things but this was not the time to be sensible!
Brandon was not so sure at first. “You brought home a foundling from the hospital? I guess we still have everything for Aiden. But what’s the story here?”
There was even the bassinet Aiden slept in before he graduated to a crib. Nova had gotten all the extra newborn stuff out of storage and Stella was getting everything set up in a spare room next to Aiden’s. She’d hung a mobile and tucked Emilia in with a blanket and some newborn-appropriate stuffed animals.
Brandon watched her putter around the room, a worried frown on his face. “She’s pretty cute I guess, or she will be but Stella, is she joining our family? What if her parents want her back? Or what if they don’t? We need to talk about this.”
Stella was lining up packets of formula on a shelf, checking the dates, but now her hands slowed. “Her mother didn’t want her because she’s ugly. She said that. She said I shouldn’t want her either. If she changes her mind… but she hasn’t sent me a message this whole time, the only ones I got are the Winx asking what’s going on.”
“Tell me the rest, we’ll figure it out.”
So Stella told him the whole story. “Annelise, my friend, she thought I’d agree because I love fashion and makeup and want to make things beautiful, and sponsored a hospital wing to help people look better. It isn’t just for that, the hospital does fixing people up after accidents not just nose jobs. And Stella Couture but that’s my job! I didn’t mean anything like that! Brandon, is this my fault?”
Brandon came up behind Stella and put his arms around her. She put down the last box and folded her arms over her husband’s. They stood like that for a long minute while the baby slept behind them.