RubyAs I look down at the slip of paper in my hands, I’m faced with two possibilities: I can throw Cayden’s number away, giving into my fate with Atwood and becoming his mate. I can marry Atwood and become his princess. I can live in the castle until the end of my days, being abused by Alice and the Queen, loving a man who can never give all of himself to me because a woman with dark hair will forever haunt his memories.Or… I can run away with Cayden, leaving all of this behind. We could take Tamara and run far away, so far that Atwood won’t be able to find us. We’ll change our names. I’ll dye my hair and become someone else, someone that never knew Atwood, never knew Nancy, never attended the Lycan school and never saw the inside of the castle.Can I really run from my fate like that? Do I possess the power to change the course of my fate, just like how I changed the outcome of my vision?“Ruby, what are you doing out here?” Nancy suddenly says from behind me. Without thinking, I h
RubyWhen the dance ends, a limo pulls up that has been sent by Nancy’s family and all of the girls pile in -- even Beck, who sits in the corner and glares down at the floor for the whole ride with her arms folded across her chest.We drive up a long paved driveway lined with cypress trees on either side and arrive at Nancy’s home. I knew that Nancy was rich, but didn’t expect this. Her family lives in a massive mansion that’s almost as big as the castle! It’s a lot newer and has a more modern design than the castle, but it’s still beautiful. There’s a stable off to the side with a sprawling pasture, and several small cottages -- likely for servants or guests -- are scattered around the property.The house itself has a beautiful minimalist design, with giant windows that look out over the forest and fountains out front. Nancy guides us all inside into a large entryway with tall ceilings and a spiral staircase leading up.“Everyone has to take their shoes off,” Nancy says to the group.
RubyI wait at the end of Nancy’s driveway in the cold for Atwood to come and get me. When the car pulls up, I’m both disappointed and relieved to see that he sent a driver; disappointed because I really could have used his comfort right now, but also relieved because I know that he would probably yell at me for what I did at Nancy’s party.I don’t know whether Nancy will forgive me this time. To be honest, I don’t even know if I can forgive myself after what I did. If I don’t get my anger under control, there’s no telling what I’ll do the next time someone makes me mad.As Atwood’s driver takes me home, I can’t stop thinking about my vision of Beck. Sure, she’s been a bitch to me, but that doesn’t mean that I want her to get hurt. Now that I know that I can change the outcome of my visions, I know that I have to find a way to stop Earl from hurting her. But how?The castle is quiet when I return. As I pass by Atwood’s study, I can see a light coming from underneath the door. Part of
AtwoodI should have suspected that Ruby would break in here after her questions. I should have put a better lock on the door, or posted a guard here to keep her from getting in. I shouldn’t have had my head buried so deep in my work that I wouldn’t notice this sort of thing.“Are you satisfied with your snooping?” I ask, my voice shaking as I try my best to stay calm and not yell at the girl simply for being overly curious.She gulps. She looks terrified.“I-I’m sorry,” she says, backing away from me as I step into the room. “I-It’s just that… Alice and the Queen keep talking about Luna, and… I keep having these visions…”Of course it’s her visions. Of course, of all things, her visions would show her this, would show her the one thing that I would have preferred to keep a secret forever.She knocks into a table as she backs away, knocking it and the items on it to the floor. The small hand mirror -- Luna’s hand mirror -- clatters onto the stone floor and shatters. Ruby gasps and sto
RubyDays go by after I broke into Luna’s room. I barely see Atwood the entire time; he pretty much stays in his study all day these days, and when I do see him, neither of us puts in much of an effort to talk to one another. I’m still angry about the way that he yelled at me, and how he won’t just tell me about Luna or this supposed “curse”. How am I supposed to be his mate if he won’t just talk to me?To make matters worse, Nancy won’t talk to me at school anymore. The days go by slowly without her there to make me laugh, and word quickly gets around about my violent outburst at her sleepover, so everyone is avoiding me and talking about me behind my back.I’ve never felt more alone.My etiquette lessons with the Queen only become more strict and more frequent now, too, but at this point I’ve simply run out of energy to stand up for myself. I think Alice and the Queen are pleased with themselves: they know they’ve broken me by now.I get home from school one day and head straight to
RubyAs I glumly enter the front doors of the school the next morning, all of the students in the entryway lift their heads to stare; but they’re not staring at me.They’re staring at Edith.Perfect Edith, in her perfect uniform, with her perfect hair and perfect smile. Within minutes, Miss Perfect is surrounded by curious students who are complimenting her hair, asking what her perfume scent is, and asking where she’s from. Aside from Nancy, I never had such treatment on my day of transfer. And now, even Nancy won’t talk to me.With my head hanging low, I leave Edith with her new gaggle of friends and walk over to my locker. Nancy is already at her locker, but when she sees me coming she slams it with a “Hmph” and struts off.“Hey Ruby,” Edith says, walking up to me while I rifle through my locker for my textbooks.I stop what I’m doing, pause for a moment as I try to collect myself before I have another blow up, and turn toward her with a fake smile on my face.“Yes, Edith?”She hol
RubyI shut the door to Atwood’s study as quietly and calmly as possible before taking off down the corridor at a breakneck speed. Now, more than ever, I want nothing more than to run away and never come back to this godforsaken castle.But, as I lock myself in my room and pull out my phone to call Cayden, I stop.It’s not time yet. I can’t just run off with no plans, no money, and without warning Tamara that we’ll be running away -- because I’m certainly not leaving her.If I was able to fool my way out of the castle once, I can do it again, especially now that I know the surrounding area better and won’t be escaping in a heavy wedding gown. The main issue is money…Cayden, Tamara and I will have to get far away from here if we’re going to pull this off, otherwise Atwood will certainly find us and drag me back to the castle. We’re going to need to purchase train tickets to get away, but I don’t have a cent to my name and Cayden certainly doesn’t have enough money for the three of us.
RubyThe Queen finishes her lecture on the curse and Alice escorts me back to my room. Alice seems to be very pleased with herself as we walk back, and I think that I can hear the lock click when she closes the door, but I’m too preoccupied with this newfound information to care.I have to find a way out of here. Regardless of whatever feelings for Atwood that may have arisen over the past couple of months, I have no desire to stay now that I know about the curse. Why didn’t he tell me sooner? Why would he be so desperate to have a mate that he wouldn’t warn me about a curse that will plague any of his mates?I think back to Edith sitting on Atwood’s desk, flirting with him.She can have him.Taking out my phone, I open my contacts. My thumb hovers over Cayden’s name for a moment as I bite my lip, but then I press it and hold the phone to my ear.He picks up on the first ring.“Ruby? Is that you?”I can’t seem to find the words right away. They get caught in my throat when I hear Cayd