“I just don’t want to risk them saying no,” Laxus admitted, looking slightly abashed. “Celestine is wonderful, and I promised her I would do everything I could to make her my wife.”
“You love her,” I said, slightly surprised.
“I do.” He smiled, that love shining through as obvious as his love for his sister. I found myself strangely jealous of this Celestine, who had a man who loved her so truly.
I had never experienced such a thing, nor had I ever really cared to, not after my life was ripped away from me and my entire future went with it. I lived my life like it had already ended, like I was a ghost haunting this world until my desire for revenge was sated.
Yet now…I found myselfwishing, hoping, wanting.
And the dead didn’t wish for anything.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Jacinth
After speaking to Allirea and Laxus for a while, Allirea whispered that she had her task to complete, and I nearly smiled as I told her I did as well. I decided to mingle for a while to make that lie seem plausible, working the room until I’d exhausted my patience.
I found Lady Arianell on my way out, her opal eyes shining as she smiled slyly at me. I whispered what I found out in her ear, watching her eyes widen in surprise. She gave me a nod, and I went on my way, eagerly anticipating the results of this trial.
The thoughts sparked by my conversation with Laxus didn’t go away, however. They lingered, and I knew I had to tell Azurill the truth. I gave myself a thousand excuses of why I couldn’t do it right away, when the truth was that I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and went back to my rooms to hide like the coward I’d suddenly become.
When we were called for the elimination the next morning, I waited nervously for Azurill to appear. I couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting with my dress, plucking at the gems and embroidery. I’d never been so unsettled in my life as I was now just thinking about what I had to do.
He could kill me for planning to assassinate him. Or he could send me to some prison, never to see the light of day again. The endless possibilities weighed on my mind. A new voice inside me whispered that there was hope, but I had never known hope to be anything worth listening to. Not when it betrayed me every time.
And yet, my heart beat furiously against my chest, like it was reaching out toward where Azurill sat on his diamond throne.
That hope remained, fighting to get out amidst the ruins of my past.
I wanted it. I wantedhim. There was no use pretending otherwise, not anymore. I wanted the life I had lost back. I wanted to be a noble, I wanted to marry the High King. I desired nothing more than to keep Azurill forever, despite every negative experience from the past telling me it could never be.
If I was going to move forward, I had to beat those voices down and be who I always should have been.
Lady Linnea Jacinth Marit.
A noble woman unafraid to tell the king the ugly truth, with hope that he would see the realherthrough the mess, and want to keep her anyway.
“Thank you all for your efforts in this last trial.” Azurill smiled out at the crowd. “Unbeknownst to everyone except the competitors, they were each given a task to find out a specific piece of information about a noble at court.”
The crowd began to murmur, and Azurill put a hand up, silencing them. My lip twitched up, impressed at his control over his court.
“We gave them innocuous facts to discover, nothing that would be too invasive,” he explained, making the crowd relax further. I wanted to roll my eyes at their idiocy, but it worked out in our favor this time.
“Only one competitor was unable to obtain the information.” My shoulders sank in relief, knowing that I would be safe from elimination. “Lady Safira Mazarine, I thank you for your participation in the Diamond Queen Competition, but here is where it ends.”
Lady Safira bowed her head, her cobalt hair creating a curtain around her ghostly pale face. When she looked up, her defeated expression showed that she clearly knew this was coming.
“I thank you, my King, for letting me compete in the trials.” She curtseyed before glancing back to her father, who looked beyond pissed, his nose scrunched up as his lips formed a pale line to try to keep his outburst contained. Safira winced, and I found myself actually feeling sorry for her.
At least Laxus would likely get his bride now.
“The next trial will take place in three days,” Azurill told us. “Allowing the remaining ladies time to get some last-minute training in. Each competitor will have to fight the other, and then me. They will gain points during each fight, and the lady with the fewest points will be eliminated. This will be swords only, with no magic permitted.”
We all looked at one another, surprised that we would have to fight Azurill himself. At least we weren’t expected to win, merely gain enough points to outpace each other.
When court dispersed, I made my way back to my rooms, but paused as I heard a ruckus coming from next door. Thanks to the circular hall with its tall ceilings, the acoustics echoed the cries and screams coming from within like they were being amplified.
The rooms for Sapphire Court competitor were to my right of my own, and maybe because I was trying to find another excuse to put off going to Azurill, or perhaps because I’d felt bad for Safira, but either way, I knocked on the door.
