“Thank you for the dress, Papa,” I shouted, twirling in a circle. When I stopped, I noticed he had a strange expression on his face – not one I’d ever seen before.

Jérôme took the piece of straw he was chewing out of his mouth. “Spittin’ image of Genevieve. Won’t be long until you have more help around the farm than you know what to do with.”

I smiled, pleased at the comparison, but my father only grunted. Then he cleared his throat. “You ain’t grown much taller this past year, but it’s still past time you had a proper horse. This mare here’s for you.”

Shrieking, I grabbed Joss’s hands and we spun in a circle. I threw myself at my father, wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you!”

He patted me on the shoulder. “You’re a good girl, Cécile, even if you are a fair bit louder than a proper girl should be. Now git off me, you’re going to get your new trappings dirty.”

My face hurt, but I couldn’t stop smiling. I hugged Jérôme, then went over to where Chris stood with the horse. He was friends with my brother, but I’d barely seen him since Fred left for Trianon.

“She’s beautiful,” I said, stroking the horse’s shoulder. “What’s her name?”

“Oh. Well, we call her Cécile’s filly.” He scraped one of his boots across the ground and switched the lead from hand to hand. “I suppose that means you have the naming of her.”

I held out a hand and the horse snuffled at my palm, looking for treats. “I’ll call her Fleur.”

“A good name for her, I reckon.” Chris broke off his determined inspection of the ground to meet my gaze for a brief moment. “She’s only just broke, but you can sit on her, if you want.”

“I do want to. Will you give me a leg up?”

Taking hold of my knee, he lifted me onto her shiny back. She frisked around for a bit before settling under Chris’s calm hand. He led us out into the yard, and I admired her smooth rolling stride. From up on her back, I could see all around, out past our sprawling farmhouse and barn and into the fields to the forests that carpeted the range, with the exception of the massive sheared-off face of Forsaken Mountain, its fallen half a broken slide of rocks between the range and the ocean shore. Beyond it lay Trianon, the largest city on the Isle, and the center of all my dreams.

“You like her?”

Chris’s question tore me out of my thoughts, and I forced a smile onto my face to match those of everyone looking on. “She’s wonderful.”

Why could I not be content? I had a good home, a loving family, and everything a country girl could possibly want. But logical or not, my mind still burned with the desire to stand on stage and sing. Almost against my will, my head turned, eyes searching the road disappearing into the trees with the hope I might see a carriage coming toward us. But it was empty.