Chapter 100

Ruby’s POV

“I’ll always protect you, no matter what.”

Atwood’s words stick with me, even after he leaves me to go back to the wedding preparations.

I know that he’ll always protect me, but how can he protect me against something that may not even exist? How can he protect me against something that has manifested in my own mind; a token of my own guilt and fear?

When Atwood leaves me to go back to the ballroom, I still feel as though there are eyes staring at the back of my head. When I turn around, however, there is nothing there.

Just then, the sun comes out from behind a cloud and shines through the small stained glass window in the alcove. It casts deep red and purples on the castle floor, and for a moment, I don’t feel so afraid.

Maybe I just need to go outside. Maybe some fresh air will help.

I run back up the stairs, taking two at a time, and head back to my room to get changed. I send a quick text to Nancy to ask her to meet up at the castle, to which she immediately replies with an enthusiastic “Yes!”

After quickly throwing on my usual black jeans and the red turtleneck that Atwood gave me on Christmas, I pull my boots on and head outside.

The air outside is surprisingly warm. Much of the snow from the blizzard has melted, leaving only a thin layer of slush behind. The sound of the melted snow dripping from the tree branches and the birds singing happily makes for a pleasant atmosphere that causes my anxiety to dissipate, much like the snow.

The garden calls to me with its hedge maze and bare willow trees, so I decide to wait there for Nancy. I cross the lawn to the garden entrance and pass through the arched gateway, stopping along the way to run my fingers along the damp hedges and watch the glistening water droplets fall to the ground.

“Hello.”

I’m startled out of my meditation by a male voice coming from behind me. When I spin around to see who’s there, it’s someone I’ve only seen once.

It’s the Bear hostage.

“Oh. Uh… Hi.”

I knew that Atwood gave him free roam of the castle with supervision, but he’s mostly stayed in his room from what I’ve heard. I haven’t seen him at all since the night of the attack, when I was going to kill him but Atwood stopped me.

Looking at him now, I’m glad I didn't kill him. He looks my age, maybe a little younger. He’s slender with a youthful face and a soft jaw that narrows into a point at the chin. There’s almost something feminine about his face, but in a handsome, boyish way.

As he looks at me, his tawny brown hair flops down into his eyes from the wind. He pushes it out of his face with his long, slender fingers and looks at me with rounded eyes. They’re hazel; nothing too extraordinary, but there’s something magnetic about his gaze that I can’t quite place my finger on.

“Are you the Princess?” he says, walking up to me with one hand in his pocket while holding out his other hand to let some water droplets from the branch above fall into his palm.

“Not quite yet,” I reply, averting my gaze to look back at the hedges. For some strange reason that I can’t explain, the Bear’s presence makes me nervous. He’s not threatening in the slightest, and I know that he wouldn’t do anything bad at this point -- from what I’ve heard around the castle, he’s been given a medicine that temporarily prohibits the user from shifting -- but my heart still races a bit at his presence.

There’s a bit of a silence. I glance over my shoulder to see if Nancy is coming yet, but instead I see a guard headed our way from across the lawn.

“Do you want to be?” the Bear asks.

“Um… What?”

“Do you want to be the Princess?” He turns to look at me. His eyes are so round that I can see the whites below his iris. There’s almost something sultry about it, but his words sting.

“Of course,” I respond, feeling a bit angry at his question. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

The Bear simply shrugs as the guard gets closer. “Just thought I’d ask. I know how royal families work.”

“You don’t know anything about us,” I growl in response.

Before the Bear can say anything else, the guard approaches and calls out to him. “Come on, Bryce,” the guard says in an annoyed tone. “Quit bothering Miss Ruby.”

The Bear -- Bryce, I guess his name is -- turns and walks toward the guard to leave. When he reaches the garden gate, he turns back toward me one last time to perform an almost exaggerated bow. It feels sarcastic, but I’m too stunned to say anything. Without another word, Bryce and the guard leave.

Before I really have much of a chance to contemplate the strange interaction I just had, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway breaks my train of thought. I look up and can’t help but smile when I see that it’s Nancy. She parks the car and we meet halfway on the lawn.

Nancy throws her arms around me in a tight hug, her large breasts squeezing so hard against me that I feel as though I might burst.

“I missed you so much!” she says. “Once Atwood explained everything to my mom, she eventually calmed down and told me it’s okay to hang out with you again. Not that it really matters anyway, since she and my dad are already on another business trip. Oh, and I heard the news. Everyone’s talking about it. I’m not gonna lie and say I’m not at least a little upset that you didn’t tell me personally, but it’ll be fine so long as you let me be your maid of honor.”

Hearing my friend talk so rapidly makes my head reel, but it makes me smile as well. There’s something endearing about Nancy’s excitable personality. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“I’m sorry,” I answer, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as we walk back toward the garden. “Things have just been crazy lately. Let me catch you up on everything.”

Nancy’s green eyes are wide with shock when I finish telling her about everything that’s happened since Christmas, from the confrontation on Christmas morning to the poison to the ambush and my vision of Vivian.

I also tell her that Atwood and I finally had sex, but although she wants all of the details, including how big he is, I decide to keep that information to myself.

“Everything is gonna be okay now, though, right?” she asks, squeezing my hand as we sit on the stone bench beneath the willow tree. “I mean, the Queen is gone, along with her evil minions. And Atwood will make sure that they never come back. You’re gonna be the Princess now!”

I nod, biting my lip as I look down at my lap.

“Yeah,” I say wistfully.

Nancy looks at me with a concerned look on her face. “You don’t seem so certain.”

“Well, it’s just… I had a vision this morning about the wedding. There was a shadowy figure staring at me, and when I came out of the vision, I could still feel it there. Atwood thinks it’s just my nerves, and maybe he’s right, but… What if it’s something else?”

Nancy furrows her brow. “What else could it be?” she says. “I think it’s pretty normal for someone who’s been through the stuff you’ve been through to start dealing with negative feelings. Maybe you should talk to someone. My mom and dad made me start going to a therapist about a year ago, and while I was against it at first, it’s actually been really helpful. I can give you her number, if you’d like.”

“Alright,” I respond. “Maybe that’s a good idea.”

Maybe Nancy and Atwood are right. I’m just having anxiety from everything that’s happened recently and I just need to process it. But my wolf’s words still stick with me…

The other one was full of light, but this feels like a looming shadow.