Page 37 of The Golden Rose Of Valenul

“She is kind,” Azriel continued, his voice tight and rough. “She’s intelligent and funny, and I want to make her laugh. I want to speak with her about anything and nothing and…”

“Azriel—”

“And I hate her,” Azriel cut him off. “I hate her so much for doing this to me. She ruined everything, and I would do absolutely anything to stop feeling this way, but I can’t. I can’t, Madan, and it hurts so, so much.”

“I know.” Madan put a hand over his. “I wish I could take it away for you.”

Azriel shook his head, closing his eyes. “I just want her to be happy… and she would never be happy with me.”

“Everything could change.”

“No,” he whispered, “it can’t. Because as much as I love her, I couldn’t ask that of her.”

Madan squeezed his hand. The gesture had passed between Ariadne and Emillie a multitude of times. This time, Azriel squeezed back. Perhaps it could mean something to them, too, for there were no words he could use to express the pain of his broken heart.

Emillie knocked on Ariadne’s door after returning from the Dodd Estate. A quick acknowledgment of her request to enter and Emillie slipped into the room, closing the door behind her with a snap. She needed to hear how the walk with Loren had gone and to discuss everything she and Camilla went over.

Inside the suite, Emillie found Ariadne pulling her own curtains closed against the impending sunlight at the balcony doors on the far side of the sitting room. Over the last year, those doors had never been so much as unlocked. Her sister’s last suite in a wing across the manor still bore the marks of the struggle which took place inside it. No one went in there anymore.

Ariadne’s new sitting room, lit by several candelabras and a fireplace, included two small couches and several plush chairs. A low table sat in the midst of all the cushioned seats, and two tall bookshelves took up the wall opposite her bedroom door.

It was similar enough to the other suites of the manor to be familiar without it being a replica of the rooms Ariadne now hated.

Her sister turned, her dark braid reflecting the candlelight like spun obsidian. Those eyes, so much like her own, glittered as Ariadne smiled. She closed the distance between them and held out her hands, which Emillie took. The gesture, more common in public, set off warning bells in her mind.

“How is Camilla?” Ariadne asked, pulling her to the couch and sitting.

Emillie settled in and slumped back against the cushions. With anyone else, she would never slouch, but this was different. The last year changed more than just her sister’s mannerisms.

“I do not know how she does it all,” Emillie said in a rush.

Ariadne raised a brow, mimicking the relaxed position on the couch, and turned her head to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“She exudes confidence,” she said, staring at the ceiling. “I do not think I will ever be like her.”

A soft chuckle from her sister, then, “What did she do to make you think this?”

Waving her hands before her, Emillie struggled to put words together. “Everything!”

“You are being oddly specific,” Ariadne teased. “You had tea. What could have possibly happened?”

“It was not just tea!” Emillie sat up and stared at her wildly, mind reeling at the events of the evening. “She invited Dierdre and Belina. Revelie could not attend.”

When she had arrived at the Dodd Estate, Emillie expected her friends and no one else. What she discovered, however, was that Dierdre Kolson and Belina Fletcher had overheard Camilla’s invitation to Emillie, Ariadne, and Revelie at the ball and immediately invited themselves. As prominent wives of Central Province’s Councilmen, it would have been impertinent for Camilla to deny them.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Ariadne’s voice was flat, and Emillie could not contain her smirk at the slip into Rusan colloquial language.

“I wish I was.” Emillie rolled her eyes and fell back against the couch again. “They would not stop asking about you. I did not know what to do, so Camilla warded off all their questions.”

Ariadne shook her head. “Thank the gods for Camilla.”

Neither Dierdre nor Belina had been particularly kind to Ariadne over the last year. They had been less than civil prior to her sister’s sudden disappearance and, as wives of Councilmen, they knew more than most of the Society. What they did not know was why Ariadne vanished or why every soldier in Eastwood Province was sent to find her.

“What did Camilla say?” Ariadne’s voice was quieter then as the understanding took hold.

Emillie blindly found her sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “She told them, in her most diplomatic way, that neither of us had the authority to divulge any information on the matter.”

Ariadne snorted airily. “I doubt that dissuaded them.”

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