“I don’t mind,” he said. “There’s plenty of room. She’ll have to ride on the horse with you while I walk.”
“I’m not going with Sorcha,” I insisted. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Wrong or not, we can’t deal with this this week. You have to go. Unless you want to be courted.”
I was sure I was going to pop a blood vessel. “You can’t just send me away as punishment!”
Mama jumped in, always trying to keep the peace. “We’re not sending you away to punish you. It would be… more comfortable for everyone, including you, if you went.”
“And it’s only for… a month,” Mother said, as if that made anything better.
Here everyone was again, trying to sweep me under the rug for some wrongdoing. No matter what I did, it seemed I was asked to leave, or get out of the way, or whatever other way they wanted to say ‘you’re a screw up.’
Before I could argue more, the memory of the invitation I had in my drawer came to mind. “Fine, I’ll go. But I already did have plans to leave.”
“You did?” Mother asked.
“I was invited to Octavio Kalfin’s going away soiree, and I planned to attend. I leave tomorrow with Paige. I’ll just… stay a bit longer than planned.”
I had no such plans to go to that party, but it was better than spending a month away with my sister and her husband, who I’d probably be in the way of as well.
“Fine,” Mother said after some thinking. “Just please don’t cause any more trouble while you’re there.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll do my best.”
Chapter 3
Sage
The carriage tilted as we moved over a large rock.
“Ugh,” Paige huffed, straightening out her dress. “Doesn’t he know how to drive?”
“He can’t control the rocks on the road,” I said, my eyes never leaving the window. Most of Peradona was the same. Outside of the city it was mostly flat, with fields of all different crops and plants. There was the occasional forest, like we were traveling through now. They were dense, with large canopies of green keeping the sun away and small critters you could see scurrying by if you were paying attention. We’d passed a family of faun earlier, grazing on the forest floor.
“He should watch where he’s going at least.”
I rolled my eyes but I was sure she wasn’t paying attention, and if she was, she would never say anything.
“Do you think Octavio is just as hot as everyone says he is?” she asked, continuing the mindless conversation.
“Maybe,” I conceded. All of these men were attractive in their own way. Their money and status gave them the ability to keep themselves healthy and they stayed very clean.
“I’m sure he is. I’ve heard such wonderful things. Apparently, he used to be a real stick in the mud, but in the last few years he’s really become quite the partier.” Watching her get heart eyes over someone she’d never met wasn’t unusual behavior for her, but I still found it strange.
For me, physical attraction could come early, but nothing about the emotional connection was fast. And I’d never met anyone interested in staying around long enough to want to experience it.
We were almost there. The smell of the ocean made me nauseous. We were probably still too far away for me to actually smell it, but my mind just knew.
Though I had to admit Stonevale was very beautiful. It had similar architecture to Yresa, as most cities did, but they used brighter colors, with lots of blues and tans. The buildings were all pressed together against the sand colored cobblestone street, which was more common for port towns. People were out and about, going about their normal business for a weekday.
The gates to Octavio’s manor were large and cast iron. There were magestone lanterns on either side, but it wasn’t quite late enough for them to be lit. They opened to a full lawn of perfectly cropped grass lined with bushes blooming with boranis flowers, a purple flower with eight very round petals and a distinct golden center that bees flocked to during the season. The cobblestone was smoother here, granting an almost perfect carriage ride I was sure Paige appreciated.
We pulled around the large fountain to the front doors depicting a mermaid pouring water from a jug in the center. The large double wooden doors flew open and staff began coming down to receive us, along with I was assuming the home owners. Though there was no way they greeted every guest. As a princess, we always received the royal treatment.
No one wanted to be in my bad graces. A blessing and a curse.
I rubbed the blue gem nestled at my chest, letting it comfort me. The blasted thing used to be a symbol of what happened, but after a while, it started to feel a bit comforting, which I couldn’t deny was nice.
