She stared at the blank parchment. Her mind crept to a halt as her breathing slowed. The perfect words would not come, no matter how much she begged. And so she placed the tip of the quill on the golden parchment and wrote.
Malachite,
I hope yours is as well. There’s a duel tonight, and I imagine you’d be putting them all to shame.
-Maeve
She rolled up the parchment with a smile and sealed it with red wax and a gold ribbon. Cheers and applause echoed down the hallway from the duels below as she snuck quickly to the west tower where there was a small mail desk she knew would have access to Vaukore.
She placed the letter at the center of the desk, and after a moment, it burst into flames. Dissolving into nothing.
Maeve smiled.
She re-entered the party as Leslie Loxerman was taking the stage to make, what looked like, a toast. Loxerman was the current head of The Committee of The Sacred. She had short brown hair and a perpetual frown.
“Thank you all for coming to such a wonderful evening, and thanks graciously to the Rosethorn’s for hosting us,” said Loxerman.
The room applauded. Maeve watched her Aunt Beatrice relishing the praise.
“Now,” continued Loxerman, “One of the best Sacred Party traditions and something we all know to be the backbone of preserving our Pureblood lines. . . An engagement announcement.” There was an exciting buzz throughout the room. Engagements were becoming more and more rare as pureblood lines died out. “Please raise a glass to Titus Iantrose and Arianna Sinclair!”
Her jaw fell open.
Maeve scanned the crowd quickly and laid eyes on her father, who was embracing Titus happily. Her sister Arianna was perfectly poised next to Titus.
Suddenly, Arianna’s expensive dress made sense.
Maeve knew perfectly well Arianna barely knew Titus and had mentioned upon occasion that he looked like an oversized goblin. Yet here she stood, her arm wrapped around his, looking up at him as though he hung the moon.
It was her duty as a Pureblood, nothing more.
The whole affair was grotesquely fake and not the first time Maeve had witnessed two barely of-age friends rejoicing, or so it seemed, celebrating their arranged marriage.
No one had even bothered to tell her.
The crowd raised their glasses. “To Titus and Arianna!”
“Oh, Maeve,” said Juliet, suddenly appearing at Maeve’s side. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
Juliet sighed happily and squeezed Maeve’s arm. “Just think how soon that’ll be me up there.”
Maeve nodded, not paying her much attention. Her eyes were locked on her twenty-three year old sister.
“Even sooner,” continued Juliet, joy oozing from her tone, “you.”
Maeve’s stomach dropped as she plastered on a smile. “How exciting.”
Chapter 12
Maeve walked up and down the rows of books in her father’s library, looking for anything that might help Mal find even a hint of his ancestry. It would seem utterly unorganized to a proper librarian, but Maeve felt her father would know precisely what she was looking for.
After close to an hour of perusing on her own, she resigned and pulled her father away from his work in his study.
“What in particular are you looking for?” Asked Ambrose.
“I suppose, blood lineage?” Replied Maeve innocently. Ambrose stopped and eyed her. There was a glimmer in his eyes.
“That’s very vague,” said Ambrose slowly.
