The Beautiful Ones by Kody Boye

Author:Kody Boye [Boye, Kody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The hours that pass are slow, and, in a way, haunting. With the knowledge that I will soon come to meet my future husband clearly in my mind, I wander about the small apartment, pacing to and fro and trying, without success, to keep my nerves from getting the best of me. My stomach feels like it’s in knots and my heart continuously beats hard against my ribcage. It is, undoubtedly, the worst kind of suffering, and causes me grief unlike any I have felt before.

You’ll be fine, I want to say. Everything’s going to be all right. The Revered Mothers would not have picked someone you weren’t compatible with.

The only problem is: the Revered Mothers don’t know me. They may think they do, but they do not know my history, my person, my likes and dislikes or my deepest, darkest desires. Worst of all, they don’t know my fears—which, in hindsight, may be my downfall.

As I stare at my reflection in the mirror, I consider what this mystery man may think of me and wonder if I will be everything that he could hope and want.

You are kind. You are smart. You are giving. But most of all, my mother had said, you are beautiful.

“I am beautiful,” I say. “I am—”

A knock comes at the door.

A short moment later, it opens; and with no consideration for my person or privacy, Mother Terra enters. “Kelendra,” she says, her normally-calm voice clipped and commanding. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, Revered Mother,” I say.

“Good. Let us go then.”

She leads me out of the room and into the expansive hallway, then down it and toward the elevator. She pushes a button to hail it before looking down to consider her timepiece, and it is at this moment, while she is momentarily distracted, that I consider the skyline of the Glittering City. Near dusk, the sun is still shining. The clouds have parted for the evening, and all manners of colors bleed across the horizon—from red, to orange, to blue and even purple and pink. The fact that I am bearing witness from such a height is nearly impossible to comprehend.

I struggle to believe that, once upon a time, I had longed to be here.

Now, in the shadow of it all, I can’t be so sure.

The elevator door opens. Inside we step.

“Revered Mother,” I decide to utter a short moment later.

“Yes?” Mother Terra asks.

“Is there anything I should know before I meet with this man?”

“I’ll explain as you’re having your makeup done,” she replies as the elevator begins to descend.

“You’re sure?” I ask. “In front of… well… whomever does my makeup?”

“Stylus knows everything there is to know about the process. He will understand just as anyone would.”

I nod, and wait silently as the elevator descends.

When it finally does open, I brace myself for what is to come before we make our way across the lobby and through the ornate double doors that I’d entered no more than a few days prior.

At this hour of the day—near nightfall, and just before dusk—there are few people milling about, save Stylus.

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