Page 90 of Ruby & Onyx

“Did you hear that?” Amin whispers through the slats of the cell.

“Yes,” I say.

Muffled yells echo down to the cell. I hold my breath, trying not to make a sound so that I can focus on what’s happening. I hear swords clashing, men yelling, and footsteps growing closer. Their words are unintelligible, but I focus on them with all of my might, trying to decipher any little piece of information that might provide a clue as to what’s happening. Gods, I wish that I could see something, anything.

When the clanging stops, the footsteps grow louder. They’re rushing towards us, but who are they? A faint light appears underneath what must be the cell block door. It starts to shake like someone’s trying to open it.

There’s nowhere for me to run. Nowhere to hide. Whatever is on the outside of this door will find me. Gods, I wish that I had mastered protection spells. My heart might explode out of my chest as I await my fate.

The shaking stops, and I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for impact.

No, no, no, no…

The hinges creak as the door swings open and bodies storm their way inside.

“Hey, brother,” Amin says far too calmly, considering the explosion that filled the silence only a second ago. “Took you long enough.”

Part of me wants to hide. I squeeze my eyes shut as if closing them might somehow make me invisible. But the other part of me, the pesky little voice that nags me to do things that I’ll regret, is urging me to look. Slowly, I peek and see three invisibles flanking a man. The radiant skin of the corporeal invisibles illuminates the room like a soft flickering candle, washing the cell in a dull glow. Their eyes are a pale blue. So different from the menacing red eyes that tormented me for years.

Through the dim light, I make out a man in the center. He has a slash above his brow, but the blood seems to have already dried. He’s panting, his broad chest puffing and deflating rapidly, while he waits for the blue-eyed invisible to open Amin’s cell.

As I take in his features – dark hair, piercing cerulean eyes, and a dimpled chin – the pieces start to fall into place.

Every part of my body comes alive in his presence. Being around this man, this stranger, invigorates me like a sunflower angling toward the sun. It is a whole-body reaction of peace and calm, lightning and thunder. I want to soak up this feeling until the end of my days.

That’s all of the confirmation I need to know that the man standing before me is Bas.

The Bas.

My Bas?

No, Amin’s Bas.

Bas.

Chapter 39

“Bas?” The name comes out as both a question and an answer. It’s a flurry of confusion and relief that I can feel in every inch of my body. If I thought that my heart would explode from my chest earlier, then now it might propel me up to the stars.

“My king,” says Guylita. She’s a little too far away from the invisibles to be seen clearly, but I can still make out the outline of her body through the iron slats as she bends into a kneeling position. When her words sink in, a new question forms in my mind. If thoughts were arrows, then this one would have shot me right through my chest.

“Your king?” I don’t understand.

Bas and the invisibles work together to muscle open the iron door to Amin’s cell. They drop it as soon as it’s wide enough, allowing Bas and Amin to embrace.

“It’s good to see you, brother,” Bas says to Amin, ignoring my question.

“Are you brothers?” I ask, though I start to wonder if maybe I am invisible, given the fact that nobody is responding to me.

He looks at me after acknowledging Guylita’s kneeling. His eyes widen and dart between Amin and me. In a rush of surprise, he asks, “You’re here?”

“What do you mean ‘you’re here?’ – what are you doing here?” The wheels are turning behind his eyes, and I can only assume that my face displays an equal level of shock.

“I told you I was coming,” he says in a rush. “Now, why are you here?”

When did he tell me that he was coming? “I walked away from the arrangement – from the marriage, from the palace, from everything. It didn’t go over well with King Vani…”

“Yeah, that prick threw her in here,” Amin irreverently interjects.

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