Page 20 of A Promise of Peridot
Inside I was greeted by the briny scent of the ocean wafting in through our open windows, the sheer drapes flitting in the breeze. The rounded, lavish suite was affixed with two beds, one for Ryder and one for Leigh and me to share, with a marbled balcony that looked down onto painterly manor houses and the cypress-dotted mountains beyond.
A collection of pale blue and ivory hues with a large driftwoodtable in the center, the room was decorated with solid silver sand dollars and intricate sea glass. Little trinkets of wealth and beauty peppered throughout.
But all I noticed was a new embellishment on the table that hadn’t been there before my run.
A small bouquet of flowers, tied with a twine bow.
I picked up the delicate bunch and smelled them. Rosemary, ambrosia, and orange poppies. After readingEvendell Floraover and over, I knew ambrosia meant gift of the Stones, while poppies meant consolation, or remorse.
My mother would have loved them. Their colors. Their springy scent. She would have put them in a thick glass vase on our table and told me each day how well they were blooming.
The thought made me want to toss them out our grand bay windows and onto somebody’s tiled roof.
Underneath the flowers was a note written in black ink on parchment. Strong masculine lettering read:
My dearest bird. I am so sorry. For everything.
Bastard.
Another deceit from a lying manipulator.
“Leigh!” I called into the washroom. The sound of sloshing water told me she was soaking in the tub. “I know you helped him with this.”
“I can’t hear you,” she called back. “And no, I didn’t!”
I crushed the flowers in my hand and left their fragmented remains on the pale wooden table. Leigh could report that back to her new ally.
Minutes later, Mari waltzed into our suite dressed in anembroidered teal blouse and one of the loose cotton skirts I assumed was customary in the seaside kingdom.
“Shall we?”
I raised a brow in silent question.
“Go explore! We’ve never been anywhere fun together. No way you’ve seen a city such as this.”
“It’s been a long day. A long couple of weeks, actually. I was looking forward to resting.” I gazed longingly at the puffed sheets on the bed, the squishy pillows. Tempting me to drown everything out with the swift and steady drug of slumber. Even Leigh kicking beside me couldn’t make that sound less appealing. “Don’t we have to leave first thing in the morning anyway?”
“Word is Kane convinced them to let us stay.”
A small mercy. Leigh and Ryder would be safe here. They could stay. Avoid the coming war.
Maybe Kane had agreed to marry Sera. She was older now, and very beautiful. I’m sure they’d be perfectly happy together.
A liar and a princess.
“Come on, Arwen! How about dinner? Then you can come back and sleep for days.”
I did want to see the city, but it all felt sort of useless. To see and fall in love with all that I wouldn’t get to enjoy again.
“I’m not sure.” I twined my fingers in the tail of my braid.
“It’s not enough to just survive, Arwen. You have to actuallylive. I don’t want to be harsh but... I feel strongly about this.”
“She’s right. Go with her!” came Leigh’s muffled shout through the washroom door.
After my run-in with the prince, I had debated going to the castle’s infirmary to get a whiff of the ethanol and sanitizingsolutions—a smell that used to brighten my spirits and clear my mind.
But I couldn’t bring my weary limbs to trek through the expansive palace. I just felt so... tired.
