The Carnelian Legacy (36 page)

As Marisa sank down into the soft mattress, she thought about her birthday the year before, and how her father, brother, and uncle had all surprised her with a birthday party. She missed them all so much. The thought that she might never see them for the rest of her life filled her with an overwhelming sadness.

Marisa stood all alone in the garden at Beauriél, soaking in the peace of the country air and admiring the lushness of the trees. The spring flowers were already starting to bloom once again as she quietly sipped a cup of tea.

Without warning, a rijgen rushed out of the forest and bared its teeth as it charged straight toward her. Her porcelain teacup fell onto the stone terrace and shattered into a thousand pieces as her screamed pierced the peaceful stillness.

Just as the beast was about to pounce on top of her, Darian leapt between her and the beast and swept his sword in a broad arc through the creature’s midsection. The animal’s body fell forward on the terrace.

Frozen in fear, she watched as it slumped to the ground, its blood quickly spreading across the stones. She turned to thank Darian for saving her but his stony eyes glared at her with a cold stare.

Suddenly a man shouted her name, and Marisa turned to see Savino coming out of the castle, striding toward her with orange flames shooting out from his eyes and mouth.

Terrified, she turned back to Darian, but both he and the slain beast were gone. There was no sign of the creature’s body or the blood. Savino continued to advance toward her menacingly as he shouted her name.

Marisa awoke with a start. Her palms were sweaty and shaking. The nightmares had been occurring more frequently. She took a sip of water from the cup on her nightstand and tried to slow her breathing. The image of Savino breathing fire had been burned on her retina and was not one she could easily forget.

As the mid-afternoon sun streamed through the windows of her room, she lunged for her phone and saw that it read 2:38 p.m. The afternoon outing would be getting underway in twenty minutes, so she didn’t have much time to get ready.

Rushing to her closet to find something warm to wear, she scolded herself that she’d slept so long. She slipped into a pumpkin-and-brown dress with a camel riding jacket and hat. She splashed water on her face and loosened her hair from the braid, hastily brushing it out. Deciding it would be windy on the lake, she braided it back up again.

Marisa tapped on the earpiece twice to make sure it was working. She was thankful for the small device. As she finished getting ready, there was a hasty knock at the door.

“Is the birthday girl ready to go?” Arrie asked, smiling cheerfully and offering her his arm.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said with a sigh.

CHAPTER 27

EXCURSION

THE
CASTLE
WAS
BUSTLING
with activity as Marisa followed Arrie across the ancient courtyard. She was amazed at how the citadel had been totally transformed from the somber, dreary house of mourning the day before into a festive, party-like atmosphere for her birthday ball.

Colorful, velvet banners hung on poles all the way from the castle gate up to the entrance of the Knights’ Hall. The purple carpet had been rolled out, and in just a few short hours, guests would be lining up for their chance to walk down it to attend the masked ball. Anybody who was anybody would be arriving soon in their fancy costume, ready to mingle with royalty and the country’s elite.

“I gotta say, I’m pretty intimidated,” Marisa said.

“Nonsense!” Arrie replied. “You’re the most exotic creature these people have ever seen.”

“They must not get out much.”

“Now, remember—we must keep up the pretense that you are a mute around Savino, his minions, and Lady Matilda, at least until this evening,” he cautioned her.

“What happens this evening?” she asked curiously.

He held his finger to his lips as they approached and entered the stables. Inside, there was a small circle of guests waiting to go on their outing. Savino saw her approach and rushed over with a sly smile.

“Marisa, come—you must ride with me in my carriage.”

He took her hand and led her over to a white carriage. She noticed Darian was engaged in a private conversation with Lady Matilda and she quickly looked away.

On the surface, Marisa was calm and smiling, but deep down she was trembling with fear. The nightmarish images of Savino were still fresh in her mind. Perhaps she had only imagined it, but when he took her hand, it felt like a chunk of ice. She glanced over her shoulder at Arrie and relayed a silent SOS message to him.

He saw her plight and strolled over. “I will be acting as my cousin’s chaperone this afternoon,” Arrie said sternly.

Savino’s jaw dropped as Arrie hopped in and plunked down across from them. When Gaspar climbed in and sat down next to Arrie, Savino was unable to hide his disappointment and he turned to stare out the window. Marisa breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she wouldn’t be forced to ride alone with him.

The carriage lurched forward and Marisa peered through the rear window. Darian’s attention was focused on Lady Matilda. He helped her into the carriage and sat down next to her. Helena, Adalina, and Cinzia stepped into the last carriage at the rear.

As they rode in a convoy down through the streets toward the edge of the city, the people stopped to look, bow, and wave. Savino ignored the crowds, calling them “peasants,” but Marisa and Arrie waved politely to the people as they passed.

Savino held Marisa’s hand in the carriage, but for the most part, he remained formal toward her. Arrie stared at him during the journey, almost daring him to make a move. Marisa tried not to giggle at the frown of disapproval on Arrie’s face. His antics in playing the role of the austere chaperone were highly entertaining.

She glanced out the window as they passed the gated entrance to Castle Beauriél. She exchanged knowing glances with Arrie.

“Is there something interesting to see here?” Savino asked suspiciously.

“Only if you’re a Fiore,” Arrie said.

Savino exhaled a puff of air and stared out the window. She smiled at Arrie when she saw his triumphant smirk. Clearly he didn’t like Savino any more than Darian did.

Thirty minutes later, the three carriages arrived at a boat landing on the edge of a large lake. The water was surrounded on three sides by mountains, and it reminded Marisa a little of Crater Lake. She stepped out of the carriage and gasped as Arrie pointed to the royal ship moored to the dock.

The beak of the galleon rose and fell slightly as the waves lapped softly against the hull. Three tall masts were connected by a tangled mass of ropes and ladders. A royal standard whipped in the wind at the peak of the tallest mast. Crew members scurried all around the ship, preparing to set sail.

Darian led the guests down to the dock and invited everyone to board. Savino had not let go of Marisa’s hand since the moment they’d first stepped into the carriage. As each guest crossed the narrow gangplank to board the vessel one by one, she finally had the excuse to wrestle free of his grasp. She noticed that Darian and Savino seemed to be avoiding each other like the plague.

Once everyone was aboard, Darian gave orders to set sail, and the captain signaled the men to unfurl the sails. The burgundy-colored canvas unrolled to catch the wind and a cold wind hit Marisa’s face.

The oak timbers creaked and groaned with every rise and fall of the ship. She gripped the railing firmly as she admired the view of the high, snow-capped mountains on the other side. The weather was cloudy but dry, and her cape flapped in the breeze as the wind whipped across her face and hair.

On the opposite side of the ship, Darian and Matilda were engaged in deep conversation. Unable to watch them together, Marisa turned to stare out across the cold waves. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be expected to attend the royal wedding. The worst thing she could imagine would be to stand by and watch the man she loved marry someone else. She needed time and space away from Darian to allow her heart to heal. Although she was happy for him and wished him well, she could not bear to stick around to watch him pledge his life to someone else.
Just a few more hours and you won’t have to see the two lovebirds anymore.

Cinzia noticed Marisa standing at the railing alone and she approached her cautiously. “Why is there such gloom on this beautiful young face?” she asked so the others couldn’t hear.

Marisa hesitated, not sure if she could share her secret. Finally, she glanced over her shoulder at Darian and laid her hand over her heart, motioning the thumping rhythm of a human heartbeat. A single tear slipped down her cheek.

Without a word, Cinzia followed Marisa’s gaze to Darian and Matilda. The intimate manner in which the two of them conducted themselves could not have been mistaken for anything else except mutual love and respect and the source of Marisa’s pain was all too apparent. The middle-aged woman who had lost her husband years ago was sympathetic to all forms of unrequited love.

Although the two women’s circumstances were different, they were bound together though their own versions of heartbreak and disappointment. Marisa knew in that instant that even after she left the palace, she would still have true friends in Carnelia. It energized her with fresh hope.

Arrie found Marisa and Cinzia and offered to escort them below for afternoon tea. They descended the steps into the spacious captain’s quarters at the rear of the ship, where a large table had been set with an assortment of exotic food and drinks.

Savino coaxed Marisa to sit next to him at the end of the table. Darian, Matilda, and Darian’s mother sat and the opposite end. Unable to hear the conversation on the opposite side, Marisa decided that it was probably for the best. Darian stood and raised his glass to make a toast.

“First of all, I would like to welcome you all for joining us today. We’ve all withstood some very difficult times, but tonight we will be celebrating a new start for our country. This afternoon is simply a taste of things yet to come.”

Savino coughed loudly.

Darian ignored his cousin’s thinly-veiled distraction. “Second of all, I hope that you will all join me in wishing a supremely happy birthday to our lovely guest, Lady Marisa.
Ap eirie
!”

“
Ap eirie
,” everyone shouted in unison as they all stood to toast.

Marisa stood and raised her glass as she dipped a small curtsey. Everyone around the table raised their glasses and took a sip of wine. As he sat back down, Arrie missed his chair. His hand flew out to catch himself, but instead he accidentally knocked over Matilda’s wine and water goblets. The wine quickly bled into the linen tablecloth, and a servant appeared to clean up the mess.

“Oh, do forgive me, Lady Matilda,” Arrie said as he scrambled to sop up the dampened tablecloth with his napkin.

“No harm done, Lord Arrigo,” Matilda said sweetly. The steward quickly replaced her empty glass with a full one as Marisa looked at Arrie and giggled.

When the meal had concluded, Darian suggested they all try their hand at fishing before returning to the dock. Everyone jumped up from the table and hurried outside on the deck.

“Marisa, you are going to love this!” Arrie said excitedly as he shoved a fishing rod in her hand. “Have you ever caught a fish with
wings
?”

Her eyes widened. “
Wings?”

“We call it
flegan
fishing. Flegan means flying in Crocine. The fish are quite large, sometimes as large as a man, and they have enormous wings they use when trying to get away. If you aren’t careful, they can pull you right up out of the boat!”

Arrie laughed at her stunned expression and stuck a chunk of bait on the hook. “Now, let’s see if you can fish,” he said, squinting into the sun as he tossed the line into the water.

Marisa’s eyes scanned the deck. Savino had gone below and everyone else was on the other side of the ship. “Arrie,” she whispered, “have Darian and Matilda set a wedding date yet?”

“What are you talking about? What gave you the idea those two are to be married?” He glanced over his shoulder and watched as Darian helped Matilda slip the bait on her hook.