Chapter 96

Ruby

Atwood thinks that I’ve fallen asleep, but the truth is that I can’t possibly sleep right now; not after what happened earlier today. When he shuts the door and I can no longer smell him, I flick on my lamp and jump out of bed, running over to the mirror.

I’m still wearing the brooch, but it looks normal now. No bright light, no strange magical properties. It’s just a regular old brooch.

Surely the brooch has something to do with my sudden ability to sprout wings, though. I’m not sure if Vivian’s touch awakened something in me, but I’m certain that the brooch is related somehow.

Is it possible that my mother had this brooch as some sort of protection charm?

If the brooch won’t activate its strange bright light again, then maybe I can force my wings to come out.

As I stand in the mirror, trying all sorts of methods to make the wings appear, I’m sure I would look utterly ridiculous to anyone watching. I try different poses, different phrases, and I even try focusing my mind on the wings. But no matter how hard I try, the wings won’t reappear.

Surely there has to be some reasonable answer for this. I wish Robert was still here to help me. I’m certain that he would have some answers, or he would at least help me in my search for answers.

But he’s gone, and I don’t know what Alice or the Queen did with him. Did they really want to hide the secret of the curse so well that they would go to the extreme lengths of killing a tutor just for providing me with a book on witchcraft? At this point, I wouldn’t put it past them.

After a few hours of pacing back and forth in my room and pondering my situation, I finally become tired again and decide that it’s best if I just rest and try again in the morning. And yet, even then, I can’t sleep; but for an entirely different reason.

The light in Atwood’s study is still on when I go to find him. I don’t hear voices this time when I approach, so I quietly open the door to see him sitting at his desk. He’s writing something and doesn’t notice me until I clear my throat.

“What are you doing awake?” he says when he lifts his head from his work and sees me.

I simply shrug, entering the room and closing the door behind me. I lock it subtly before turning back to face Atwood. “I can’t sleep.”

Atwood pushes his chair back from his desk and stands, walking over to me. He’s changed out of the pajamas he wore in the snow into a pair of joggers and a t-shirt, much like what he wore that day during training. Seeing his biceps bulge out of his shirt sleeves makes my panties wet, and before I can stop myself, I’m suddenly running to him and jumping on him, kissing him deeply and shoving my tongue into his mouth.

I wrap my legs around him as he lifts me up and carries me over to the couch, where he sits down with me on his lap.

“What’s gotten into you?” he asks as I kiss his neck seductively. Despite his words of disapproval, the small growl that comes out of his throat tells me that he’s enjoying this.

“I know we’re supposed to be married in a few days,” I whisper in between kisses, “but I’m tired of waiting. I want you now.”

Atwood pulls back a bit and furrows his brow as his eyes search my face. His cheeks are red and I can feel hardness in his pants from his arousal, but he seems confused.

“I thought we talked about this,” he says. “Tradition says we should wait until marriage.”

“Screw tradition!” I say, practically shouting. “You and I aren’t traditional. I want you tonight, and I’m the Princess, so you should do what I say.”

Another growl escapes Atwood’s lips. He picks me up and flips me around, pressing me into the couch with his body as he grinds his groin against me.

“You’re not the Princess quite yet,” he says with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, kissing me deeply for a few moments before pulling away to speak again. “But I’ll treat you like one.”

With a glance up at the door to make sure that it’s locked, Atwood picks me up again and carries me over to a bookshelf. He tugs on one of the books and a door swings open to reveal a secret bedroom; this must be where he’s been sleeping since we haven’t been sharing a bed.

It’s warm and smells like mahogany and cologne inside. He puts me down on the bed, kissing me again, before disappearing and returning a few moments later with two tiny shot glasses of whiskey. He hands me one and holds his glass up for a toast.

Without a word, we clink our glasses together and take the shots. The whiskey burns going down, but fills my body with a warmth that radiates out from my chest to my private parts.

When we’ve finished drinking, he takes my glass and sets them both down on the side table.

“Are you sure you want this?” he says, leaning over me. I can smell the whiskey on his breath mixed with his natural scent. It makes me tingle all over.

I simply nod and stand, taking Atwood by surprise as I push him down on the bed and climb on top of him.

When we’re finished, we lay in bed together fully naked, covered only by the sheets. My body feels light and warm, still throbbing from the way he felt. A light film of sweat coats Atwood’s neck as he breathes heavily beside me, holding me on his chest.

“You’re a special breed, Ruby,” he says in between panting as I draw circles on his chest with my finger.

I don’t know exactly what came over me to want Atwood so badly tonight. Perhaps it was the thrill of everything that happened today, or maybe it was something else. Maybe it has something to do with my newfound powers. Maybe it has something to do with Vivian saving me not once, but twice.

It almost feels as though Atwood read my mind when he asks me this next question.

“Do you have any idea what happened today?” he says quietly, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Those wings… I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I sit up, exposing my breasts in the dim light of the room.

“I don’t know exactly,” I reply. “But last night, when Alice drugged me, I woke up in the castle. A dark version of the castle. Vivian was there… She saved me from a horrible creature, and she saved me again this morning in the blizzard.”

Atwood is silent for several moments before sitting up and kissing my neck and shoulders gently.

“I went there, too,” he says. “When I was in a coma after the Bear attack. How were you able to see her again in the blizzard?”

“Right before the Bear stabbed me, everything froze. It felt like years that I was there, stuck in place, until Vivian came. She asked me if I wanted to stay here, or… if I wanted to go. I chose to stay, for you and Tamara. She did something that I can’t explain, and when everything started to move again, I felt as though I had this new power.”

“And… What happened to her?” Atwood says quietly. “If you don’t mind.”

“She said she always loved the snow,” I reply, to which Atwood nods and smiles slightly. “So she became the snow.”

There is another long silence.

Finally, Atwood stands, pulling on his pants.

“Get dressed,” he says. “I want to show you something.”