Page 28 of Ruby & Onyx

Those words make me cringe.

Eleanor’s response is gentler. I get the sense that she’s the sander to the king’s hard edges, always easing his blows. “I understand your hesitation. We sprung a lot of information on you rather quickly. Allow me to elaborate on our expectations for this arrangement. This is not intended to be a love match. Your role in marrying our son is to stand by his side. To be a beautiful figurehead. Olly will handle ruling the kingdom, and you may choose how much or how little you want to participate. Your freedom will belong to you, and you alone. If you wish, you may choose a thousand other lovers. And in the meantime, you may live comfortably, lavishly even. You will never want for anything. You will never struggle in dingy markets again. You will be waited on hand and foot.” She sighs, reading my expression of hurt and squashed hope, and offers a conciliatory smile. “Would you truly want to give that up?”

“What if I said yes? That I do want to give it all up?” I pause to gauge their reactions, but they wait for me to continue with masks of pure patience. “I need to know that the choice to leave remains my own. That I am not trapped here. I spent my whole life trapped inside of a bubble, and I won’t allow myself to be locked in another cage, no matter how gilded and grand.”

“Let’s make a deal.” Vani places his elbows on the table and leans forward. This seems to be his stance when speaking a hard truth, and I brace for the impact. “Give us one month to convince you that you are well-suited to this life. If at the end of the month, you decide to forgo the arrangement, we will discuss an alternative path forward. In the meantime, you may spend your time practicing magic, exploring the country, or whatever it is that you want to do. I believe that you’ll come to find that this life isn’t as unbearable as you imagine.”

One month, that’s all.

I can use that time to learn more about my powers, more about myself. If things go awry, then I walk away. I have an out.

I can handle that.

“Deal.”

Chapter 10

One month to develop and test my powers. Who knows what that could mean? Could I bespell a fountain like the one in the mesa or compel others into action like the invisibles?

Maybe this life could be for me. Or, maybe not. What matters is that I get to decide. It’s such a small thing – hope – but it is all that I have, and so I must cling to it.

Since my tour with Olly came to a sudden halt yesterday, I decided to explore the palace on my own. Starting with the library, the place where I first landed in the palace, shaking and afraid. But this time, I don’t feel quite so scared. Once Gemma and Viola led me there, I asked to be alone.

I start by running my fingers across the dusty spines on the lower level, skimming title after boring title until my brain hurts. The Formation of Mendacia, The Royal Line of Delusia, Somne’s Great Mathematician, they’re all academic. Couldn’t there be one option with a hint of intrigue?

I climb the sturdy iron ladder perched upon the bookshelf but find more of the same: Beginners Arithmetic, The Stars and Their Meanings, Divining the Leaves, and so on. When I find a book titled Raylor’s Immortality, it snags my attention for the mere fact that it doesn’t reference a field of study. I deposit it into my satchel without opening it.

It takes some trial and error to find a door that leads to the seaside cliffs, but I finally locate one after aimlessly wandering through the hallways like a leaf in the breeze. The smell, that glorious smell of sea salt and fresh air, hits me at once. And as I take it in, inhaling that magnificent scent like it’s in short supply, the sun’s warmth dances on my cheek, my lips, my neck. In all of my dreams of exploring the sea, I never accounted for how good it would feel. Gods, it’s divine.

A pebbled path connects the palace to the steep stone staircase that runs along the cliff’s edge. Despite the fifty-foot drop and the too-narrow steps, there is no railing to offer protection. My knees begin to wobble the moment I touch the top step and look over the edge. I’m beginning to learn my limitations when it comes to heights, and the jagged rocks below certainly don’t help.

Gathering my breath, I test each step carefully before shifting my weight onto it. One by one, I journey down, looking out to the unreachable corners of the sea as both motivation and distraction.

Suddenly, my foot slips out from under me. I stumble backward and then slam onto the stairs, landing tailbone first. My back cracks against the stone, and a shooting pain runs through my wrist. And even though I caught myself, rather than tumbling over the side, adrenaline pumps madly in my veins as if I narrowly escaped death’s grasp.

Calm down, Radya.

You’re okay.

I focus on inhaling and exhaling until finally, I reclaim my breath.

“Need a hand?” Though my back is to him, I recognize that voice. It’s both smooth and refined but also clipped with an arrogant edge. When I turn to face Olly, his face is bright with amusement. Great, I can add this incident to the rapidly growing list of embarrassing moments he has witnessed.

“Heights make me nervous,” I explain, though I’m not sure why I feel the need to justify my behavior. “Did no one ever think of installing a railing here?”

“Why would we do that, when this is so much more fun?” His mouth splits into a taunting pompous grin, confirming my suspicion that he finds joy in my suffering.

“I’m happy to learn that my discomfort causes you joy,” I scoff as I stand and brush the dirt from my skirt. A pea-sized hole ripped through the fabric just below the curve of my backside. “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

“I saw you headed to the beach, and I distinctly remember offering to take you for your first swim. And, because I am a man of my word, here I am. Ready to expand your horizons.”

I doubt very much that he’s a man of his word. “What do you mean, you ‘saw me’ here?”

He motions in the direction of a balcony hovering over the cliff. It’s on the opposite side of the palace from mine, separated by many yards of stone and glass. “I was enjoying the late morning sun from my bedroom when I saw you careening down the stairs. I must say, you looked quite determined.”

I don’t have the patience for his barbs – not when I’m still riding high on the joy of the deal made with his parents earlier. He can taunt me all he wants, but he’ll have to do it to my back. I add extra oomph to my steps as I walk away, ignoring his comment altogether.

“Is that an invitation for me to follow?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, which would have been an emphatic no. Instead, he quickens his pace to reach me, remaining one step behind until we reach the sand.

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