Page 85 of Ruby & Onyx

“You stabbed me! What do you think I feel?” Through the biting anger and confusion, I scan my body for vital signs. My blood is pumping madly. My lungs are fighting for oxygen. My head is pounding. But yet, I feel… alive. Very much alive. Like power is coursing through my veins. “I feel…”

He unpins my left arm and lifts my shirt just below my breast. “Look at it!”

“What?” I scream, slapping my free hand onto my stomach. My fingers trail up and down, left and right. The wound is nowhere to be found. Not even a mark remains in the spot where the dagger pierced my skin.

How is that possible? My blood-soaked clothes serve as evidence of the strike. I can still see the image of Olly lunging toward me burning behind my eyes. I can still feel the impact of the strike.

Olly stands up and offers me a hand, but I slap it away. “What is this? What’s going on?”

“You’re immortal, Radya.” Landers hovers over the both of us, looking bored.

The words clang in my ears, refusing to take hold. I rise to my feet, with no resistance from Olly, and inspect the wound again. Where there should be a gash, there is nothing but drying blood. “Immortal? I… I don’t understand.”

Olly’s feral grin reeks of twisted pleasure. “You’re one of a kind, Radya. My parents have been chasing immortality for as long as I can remember. Then your parents offered you up like a steak on a silver platter, and they snapped at the chance to make this arrangement. Our children will be immortal, just like you. Don’t you want that?”

Immortal? What does that even mean?

Gods, I can’t breathe.

Can I die? Did I die already? What gave them the impression that I’m immortal at all? And if my gift is immortality, then why go to such great lengths to keep that gift a secret? That can’t be right.

“Why would they hide that?” I press my fingers to the spot where a wound should be and shudder.

“Oh, Radya. How have you not put the pieces together?” Landers tilts his head back, laughing maniacally. “Come on, now. Even you should be able to figure it out.”

“Why don’t you spell it out for me?” I say through gritted teeth. If I didn’t need answers right now, I would surely punch him right in his smug jaw.

He opens his mouth but quickly snaps it shut. The mood shifts as two bodies emerge from thin air. Vani looks from me to Olly and then to Eleanor, assessing both the tension and the bloody mess that we made. “What’s going on?”

“The prince stabbed me!” I yell quickly before Olly or Landers has a chance to provide any excuse or false narrative.

“You did what?” Vani bellows, scaring us all into silence. For a second, I think that his head might pop off of his body, judging by the vein that is nearly bursting from his temple.

“Radya, please excuse our son,” says Eleanor calmly. Far too calmly, given the severity of the situation. “I hope this doesn’t change anything.”

Delusional. These people are out of their gods-forsaken minds.

“How could this not change anything? Are you suggesting that I marry a man who stabbed me?” I turn from Eleanor to Olly, whose cheeks are beet red. “Did you know that I would survive? Or was it a guess? Was there any doubt in your mind that I might not be immortal when you stabbed me?”

“Of course, I knew.” The lie is written all over his face. It was a guess – a reckless test of the rumors not yet confirmed. I suppose that if it were a lie, and I died right there on the floor, then he had no need for me after all.

For him, it was a win-win. For me, it was everything.

“You bastard!” I raise my hand to slap him, but Vani latches onto my wrist before it lands.

“The urge for violence is understandable, but we don’t tolerate physical abuse in this household. Olly will be punished, though, rest assured.” The king casts a punitive glare on his son.

“I’m leaving this palace today,” I say firmly. If only Olly could feel the daggers that I’m shooting at him through my eyes.

“Excuse me?” Eleanor asks as if she misunderstood.

“I’m leaving. I will not marry your son. I will not be the future queen. I want no part in this life.” I hide my shaking hands behind my back, squaring my shoulders to the king and queen.

“Oh, Radya. Can you reconsider?” Eleanor looks unnerved, afraid even, as she casts me a pleading stare. “Please, for your own sake.”

“I will not. My mind is made.” I inhale a deep breath, trying to steady the vicious stream of emotions flooding through me. “I have been lied to more times than I can comprehend. I never chose any of this! And I may not be able to prove it, but I know that others have paid dearly for simply trying to help me. So, I’m done being your puppet.”

“That is a very poor choice, girl.” Vani says with a look that could cool scalding iron. “Guards!”

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