There was a knock.
Augustine lifted his chin. “Perfect timing.” And then, “Why don’t you come in,” he called out.
The door opened.
I turned in my chair.
Alice stood in the doorway.
“Please have a seat. We were just going over Adora’s indiscretions.”
I looked down, trying to breathe, but I couldn’t. My chest was heaving. I was backed into a corner. I had no cards left to play. What was I to do? Call Alice a liar? Say everyone was lying?
“Adora, you were saying?”
There was an island in my mind.
On it was a lighthouse, tall and strong.
Inside the lighthouse were my husband, and me, and our children holding my hands. We all had smiles on our faces. We were all happy, surrounded by family portraits, a warm fire, stories we’d read a hundred times, games we’d played, blankets we’d snuggled under, and there was a spider in the corner of the room none of us could part with.
But then the spider faded away. Like it was never there.
So did the blankets, the board games, the books.
One by one, everything in the lighthouse was dissolving into thin air.
Next my hands turned cold. There was no one there. My children were gone. And in my mind, I’m looking into Stone’s eyes as he disappears.
My mouth parted to speak, but emotion threatened to escape. So, I closed my mouth again and took a deep breath, waiting for this weakness to pass.
“I will only marry Cyrus if you free Stone of all charges, in writing, in the books.” I sucked in another breath, my voice shaking. “If you do not free him, I will burn alongside him. Those are your options.”
The only peoplein the room were the four of us. I stood in the middle of Augustine’s office with Cyrus to my left. It seemed like forever ago when Augustine first ordered our arranged marriage.
Cyrus wore denim-blue eyes on this day as he held my hands.
He didn’t want it to happen like this, and I wished I could have held back the blank expression on my face, but I couldn’t. It was either all my overwrought emotions or none. So, I was absent-minded throughout the entire ceremony.
It slipped by like a blur, and the ring felt cold and heavy on my finger when it was over. Augustine said husband and wife, but my brain couldn’t register. My heart couldn’t accept it.
Viola stood beside Cyrus, with disappointment in her eyes.
This was how her first-born child was getting married after weeks of planning.
I wanted to tell her that my mom is suffering right now. That it could be worse for her. And to get over it.
Cyrus leaned in to kiss me, and I turned my head to the side. He paused, dropping his chin to his chest for a moment, then decided to kiss my cheek.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly before pulling away.
I nodded.
Twenty minutes later,the two of us were in the library.
“Adora, what did I do to you that was so terrible?” he asked, exasperated, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his collar. Like he’d been holding himself together and it all burst out of him. “Why was a Heathen on his fucking knees for you, and why did you go with him? Is this because I had sex with Ivy for all those years? Is this a rebellion or a taste of revenge?” I’d never seen Cyrus so hurt, pacing the library, raking his hand through his hair, pushing up his sleeves. “Say something!”
“No, this has nothing to do with you.”
