Ruby & Onyx by Summer Grace

Author:Summer Grace [Grace, Summer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Clutch Side Enterprises, LLC and Summer Grace
Published: 2024-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

For hours, I sat there mulling over every possible meaning to no end. The words in the book are just as foreign to me as ever. There must be a connection between Paul, the woman in the market, and that snippet of a prophecy, even if I can’t see it.

Exhausted, sweaty, and ready to give up, I make the trek back up to my room, doing my best to remain unseen. I scurry up the cliffside stairs and dart toward the door leading to the hallway. I peek my head inside first to ensure nobody is milling about. The last thing I want to do is explain why an old book of prophecies has me rattled.

Neither walking nor running, somewhere in between, I beeline through the hallway on tiptoes with a quick, shuffling pace. And once I’m halfway through, fully exposed in the center, the voices of two chattering men echo past me. My heart lurches, and I mutter a curse under my breath. I recognize that laugh. It’s as arrogant and prideful as ever.

Where can I hide? This hallway offers no camouflage, unless I wanted to hide behind one of the statues, but I cross that out as an option when I remember that some statues can talk. Plus, there is no chance that he wouldn’t spot my tall frame crouching behind a shiny marble figure.

The only way out of this is to backtrack. I slowly tiptoe my way back toward the door. My sandals squeak with each step, so I quickly try to remove them before they grab Olly’s attention. But when I place them in my satchel, the heavy book falls on the floor, and the thud reverberates down the corridor. Gods damn it. There’s no time to stuff the book back in my satchel, so I grab it and sprint toward the door, praying that he may have suddenly gone deaf.

“What has you in such a rush?” Derisive amusement dances on Landers’ tongue.

I turn over my shoulder, red-hot embarrassment burning my face. Olly’s grin widens into an all-too-familiar smirk that makes me shrink back into myself. Landers, standing shoulder to shoulder with Olly, turns to his friend to say his farewells as if being in my presence is too much to bear. His eyes rove up and down the length of my body with a cruel severity.

“I’m in no rush.” The lie is as transparent as the crystal-clear glass windows that line this hall.

“Then stay and have a drink with us,” Olly says.

Landers scoffs and lifts his chin high. “I’d rather be anywhere –”

Olly’s elbow slams into his friend’s ribs faster than he can finish his sentence. But he doesn’t need to. I already know he hates me and has no qualms about making that fact known.

“I have other business to attend to,” Landers amends, sneering before skirting past me. And somehow, even the back of his head seems hostile.

“I’ve barely spent two minutes with that man, and he already hates me. Please tell me that he’s always an ass, and it’s not just me.

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