Chapter 25

Atwood

After my encounter with Ruby in the main entryway of the school, two things become abundantly clear to me: for starters, she definitely has a hunch about my involvement with Ethan’s injury, which means that I need to either come clean or find a way to diffuse the situation more properly if she brings it up again. I’m leaning toward the latter.

Second, and more importantly, Ruby’s plan to join the drama club comes as a surprise to me. I didn’t know that she had an interest in acting; in fact, now that I think about it, I don’t really know what her interests involve at all.

Truthfully, I’ve barely spent any real quality time with Ruby aside from our one outing to Greenwood the other day. Perhaps that could explain her aloof nature with me as well as some of her misbehavior lately. How can I honestly expect her to want to marry a man who hasn’t taken even five minutes to discover her interests? I feel like a terrible mate.

That’s why tonight, I decide to join Ruby and her sister for dinner for the first time.

The two girls seem surprised when I walk in on their dinner together.

“Room for one more?” I ask, to which Ruby and Tamara look up at me with puzzled looks on their faces.

I already expected Alice to have only provided a diet meal of a few slices of white bread for the girls despite my orders for her to actually feed them properly, so when I enter, servants follow me with trays of roast duck, steaming potatoes and vegetables, and sweet cakes for dessert.

Once the servants have left, while Ruby and Tamara are still in awe of the beautiful feast laid before them, I slip a bottle of wine out from under my jacket. Ruby and Tamara both clap excitedly.

“Only for Ruby and I, Miss Tamara,” I say, pouring a small glass for Ruby and a larger one for myself. “No wine for you for a couple years yet.”

“Aw…” Tamara says, sticking out her lower lip sadly. With a smirk, I pull out a bottle of non-alcoholic wine for the girl. Her face instantly lights up again at the sight.

I sit and begin to fill my plate. Ruby and Tamara watch me nervously.

“Well, go on,” I say, not lifting my eyes from my plate as I pile it high with duck and potatoes. “It’s time to eat.”

The two sisters are ravenous -- especially Ruby, which makes sense considering the fact that she’s practically been doing nothing but jogging during all of her free time at the castle.

“So,” I say, during a pause in our eating, “Ruby. How was your audition today?”

Ruby nervously swallows and takes a sip of her wine. “Um… it was good,” she says meekly.

“Just good?”

“Well… better than good, I guess. The teacher said she would like me to be the lead.”

Tamara speaks up now. “The lead?” she says excitedly. “Ruby, I always told you that you sing so beautifully! Like a bird”

Ruby blushes and plays with her food.

“I’m so happy you’re doing this,” I say with a smile. “Tamara and I will come to your play… little bird.” I raise my glass for a toast. Tamara follows suit with her grape juice; then, hesitantly, Ruby does the same.

We finish dinner, then start on dessert. Tamara doesn’t finish her dinner before going for the sweets, but I don’t say anything. I remember being that young -- sweets were always the most important part of the meal.

“I’d like to get to know you girls a little bit better,” I say, taking a bite of chocolate cake that melts on my tongue. “What did you like to do for fun before you came here?”

Tamara, high on sugar, doesn’t hesitate at all with her response.

“Well,” she says, “I like to draw. Our dad taught me how to draw when I was little. It’s the only thing I’m good at… But it makes me happy!”

I smile in response. “I’ll send for some art supplies for you first thing in the morning,” I say. “You have the run of the entire castle and the castle grounds for inspiration.”

Tamara looks pleased and goes back to focusing on her cake. Ruby, however, doesn’t speak, but continues to play with her dessert.

I clear my throat. “What about you, Ruby?”

“M-Me?” she says. “Oh… Nothing, really.”

“You never did anything for fun before you came here?” I ask, trying to hide my disappointment.

“That’s not true!” Tamara chimes in. “She’s just being shy because you’re so handsome.”

“Tamara!” Ruby says, her face turning a deep red.

Tamara simply shrugs and takes another bite of her cake, then says with her mouth full, “She likes to read.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Really?” I ask. Ruby nods.

Pushing my chair back from the table, I stand and walk to the door. I gesture for the girls to follow. Tamara takes a last bite of her cake and follows happily with chocolate on her lips, while Ruby gets up more slowly and trails behind as we walk down the corridor.

I take them to a pair of large wooden doors and push the doors open.

“Woah!” Tamara yells, her voice echoing as she runs into the room and twirls around.

Ruby’s eyes widen and her mouth falls slack.

“Welcome to the library,” I say with a smile, gesturing around us. The room is full of bookshelves that are as tall as the ceiling, with a circular balcony above that is lined with more bookcases and can be accessed through a set of spiral stairs. Wooden desks are piled high with all sorts of books and parchment scrolls, and a small seating area with luxurious cushioned chairs and a sofa sits by the massive alcove window. The entire room is lit by the soft glow of lanterns and the moonlight streaming through the window.

“We’ve got all the books you can imagine,” I say, wrapping my arm around Ruby’s slender shoulders as Tamara flits about. “And if there’s ever a book that you can’t find here, just tell me and we’ll make sure to get it.”

“I… I can really come here?” Ruby asks. She looks up at me with her big round eyes. Tears, from what I hope are happiness, well up in them.

I nod. “You can come here whenever you want.”

Over the weekend, I decide to devote some time to my upcoming speeches and policies regarding hybrid equality.

I’m in my study on Saturday morning, pacing back and forth and reading my speech under my breath, when there’s a knock on the door.

Before I have a chance to answer, the door opens.

“Don’t you know to wait for permission before-” I start to say, but when I turn around, my words get caught in my throat.

“Mother.”

“Darling!” My mother scurries into the room, knocking my speech out of my grip, and cups my face in her hands. She kisses my face all over, causing me to push her away.

“What are you doing here?”

My mother frowns. “What sort of a welcome is this for your poor old mother?” she says, crossing her arms.

“Sorry,” I say, passing my hand across my face wearily and picking my speech up off the floor. “I’m just… tired.”

Before I can stop her, she yanks the paper from my hands and starts to read it, her lips moving silently as her eyes widen at the content on the page.

“You can’t be serious, Atwood,” she growls, crumpling the paper in her fist. I tear it out of her grip and walk away angrily to sit at my desk.

“This is why I prefer you to stay at your vacation home,” I mutter, smoothing the paper back out as her eyes bore holes into the back of my head.

My mother storms over to my desk and thwacks me on the back of my head.

“How dare you attempt to change such an integral part of our tradition without my guidance!” she shouts. She storms over to the other side of my desk and stares at me condescendingly. “I’m going to have to stay now, since apparently you cannot be trusted to run this kingdom on your own.”

“Ma, I’ve been doing just fi-”

“I don’t want to hear it. I’m staying. And where is your little mate?”

“Ruby?” I ask. “What about her?”

My mother laughs abrasively. “Don’t think I haven’t heard about her subpar behavior,” she says.

I groan, suspecting that Alice likely has something to do with this. Unfortunately, there’s no fighting it now. When my mother has her mind made up about something, that’s it. No negotiations.

My mother smooths down her hair and fixes her skirt, clearing her throat and making herself proper again. “I’d like to meet her, that’s all,” she says.

Yeah. Sure.

“A princess-to-be should have some… Training.”

At that, my mother storms out of my study and goes off to create whatever chaos she can. I let out a ragged sigh and run my hand through my hair, leaning my head back in my chair and closing my eyes.

As per usual, however, my peace is broken within a matter of minutes.

Kayne comes in with one of our spies at his heels.

“Apologies for the intrusion, sir,” Kayne says, “but Miller has news.”

I wearily gesture for the spy to step forward and speak.

“My Lord,” the spy says, bowing respectfully. He fiddles nervously with his hat in his hands. “It’s the Bears, sir. They plan to attack.”

I stand up suddenly. “When?”

“The first snow.”