RubyThey emerge from the dancing crowd, sweat clinging to their foreheads and their faces rosy from the alcohol.Earl holds Beck’s hand as he pulls her behind him. He’s headed for the back rooms.They don’t see me as I quietly follow behind, keeping a safe distance. Beck stumbles a bit, but Earl catches her and holds her tightly around her waist as he weaves through the throng of people to take her somewhere secluded. As I watch her head loll over onto his shoulder, I know that he’s already given her the drug that he’s going to use to take advantage of her.In a way, as I follow them, I feel as though I’m following myself from that night during the student council party when Donna and Earl drugged me and took lewd photographs of me. I had nearly forgotten about it now that so much has happened since then, but now it all comes flooding back like a nightmare, and sobers me.Earl guides Beck past a group of people who are having a rowdy drinking contest, then down a narrow hallway.“Hey
RubyEdith is sitting in the armchair by my fireplace when I enter my room.“Well well,” she says, uncrossing her legs. She stands and saunters toward me with her arms folded across her chest. “Look who came home.”“Oh, piss off, Edith,” I growl, tossing my boots down on the floor. “I’m not in the mood.”“Aw, but you sure were in the mood to sneak out of the castle against your mate’s wishes, weren’t you?” she says. She crosses over to my vanity, picking up my tube of lipstick and turning it over in her hand, then smirks and pockets it.“Yeah, I was,” I say, brushing past her and heading into the bathroom to take my makeup off. “And I’m glad that I went, because a friend needed me,” I say.It feels strange to call Beck my friend, but I mean it. If I hadn’t been there at the party to stop Earl from going further and revealing his disgusting behavior to the entire school, who knows how many more girls he would have hurt in the future.“Well, let’s just say this,” Edith says condescendin
RubyWhen I get back to the castle, I quickly grab a few slices of toast from the kitchen before retreating to my room to read the letters.Thankfully, the letters are still stashed safely away underneath my mattress. As I sit down on my bed and take a bite of my breakfast before untying the bundle of letters, I’m glad that Edith didn’t find them last night when she was in my room.The letters are old and yellowed, some wrinkled with water damage; but they’re still readable.I unfold the first letter and begin to read.“To M:I’ve fallen ill. The doctor doesn’t understand my symptoms. I’ve lost contact with my wolf, and I feel weak and vulnerable. Every day my fever grows worse, and my body aches. I can barely hold my pen as I write this…I don’t think this is any ordinary sickness. The Queen warned me of a curse last night. Could this be the curse that befell the Lycan King’s wife during the final summit when she ate the berries?Please let me know if you have any information that pe
RubyFollowing my strange interaction with Atwood, I scurry back to my room with the letter still in my pocket and lock the door behind me, letting out a sigh of relief and leaning my weight against the door once I’m safely inside.There are a million things running through my head right now. Who poisoned Vivian? Was it the Queen, Alice, or even Atwood? And why did they poison her? My heart aches for poor Vivian, who had to take a special tincture from the witch to end her suffering.That leads me to my next thought: who killed Marisa Elder, and why did they steal her body and burn her house down? I find it hard to believe that it was simply the Bears who did all of this; sure, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if they killed her and burned her house, but why steal the body? Why release the birds that were caged in her hut?None of it makes sense.My hands are shaking as I pull out my phone. It’s well past midnight, but I have to call Nancy and tell her what’s happening. Right now, sh
RubyNancy’s eyes widen as I tell her my theory.“You really think she has something to do with it?” she says. “But she’s so nice!”“I know,” I answer, glancing over my shoulder at the herbalist’s shop. “Lately, I’m learning that the nicest people can sometimes be the ones we should worry about.”Nancy sticks her hands in her pocket and chews her lip. “So what should we do?” she asks. “It’s not like she’s gonna give us any information, and she already kicked us out.”“There has to be a back entrance to her shop,” I reply thoughtfully, twisting a strand of my long, white hair around my finger.. It’s officially grown to its original length before I cut it, thanks to the hormones that have been coursing through my body since my wolf emerged. I’d forgotten how much I missed my long hair.Suddenly, my stomach starts to growl, making me realize just how hungry I am.“Let’s get something to eat first,” I say, grabbing Nancy’s hand and pulling her toward the cafe. “I can’t eat anything at the
Ruby“Come on out,” the herbalist says, suddenly looking far more sinister than the woman we met in the shop earlier as she brandishes a gardening trowel in her free hand. “Give me the phone.”I want to tell her to buzz off, but she’s got my friend, so I comply and slide the phone across the floor to her. She catches it under her foot and crouches to pick it up, yanking poor Nancy along with her, then stands and opens it.“Password,” she says.“Um… 9286,” I answer, gulping as I watch her open the phone. She taps on the screen a few times, likely deleting the picture, then pockets the phone.“The police are already on their way,” she growls, gesturing for me to come away from the door. “If either of you says anything about that room, just know this: I could mix up a poison with that plant that would kill you instantly.” She shoves Nancy over toward the corner and lets go of her collar, leaving her whimpering there as she marches over to the hidden door and shuts it, then shoves the tab
While the pain of Ruby not trusting me is terrible, the pain that I feel for not being open with her hurts even more. I know that I should have talked to her about all of this ages ago. I should’ve been open and up front with everything from the start, so that we could work together to figure this out… But I was afraid that if she knew about the curse, she wouldn’t want to mark me.It seems, however, that her love for me is far greater than I imagined, because she marked me even when she knew about the curse. And by herself, with no help from me, she learned far more about it than I ever did.I can’t even be angry that she went against my wishes and went into Vivian’s room, because I am simply so impressed by my mate’s incredible intelligence and ability to persevere. I know now that I need to follow Vivian’s instructions from the time that I spent in the void, because she was right. I do need to trust Ruby, and no one else.Someone killed my Vivian, and if I don’t act fast, they’ll k
Ruby“I’ll never doubt you again,” Atwood says as he holds my face in his hands. A soft smile plays on my lips as I lean my cheek against his palm.For the first time, I feel confident that Atwood is on my side. Now that I know that there is no curse and that Atwood will protect me from being poisoned, I feel as though I can finally rest easily.On the way back to the castle, I realize how exhausted I am from everything that has happened recently and fall asleep on Atwood’s shoulder, the taste of his kiss still lingering on my lips.I’m awoken back at the castle by a gentle kiss on my forehead.“We’re here,” Atwood says softly as I open my eyes. “Do you want me to carry you to bed?”I nod, still exhausted from the stress of the past few days and the pancakes in my belly. Once all of the turmoil is finally over and I get my happily-ever-after, I imagine that I’ll probably just want to do nothing but sleep for a week straight.Atwood slides his arms under me and scoops me up to carry me