Free Spearwood Academy Volume Two (The Spearwood Academy Book 2) by A.S. Oren

fists. “Please tell me that it’s Triton.”
    They look at each other
and then down at the table. “No, we have wedded you to Paden Hansen.”
    “What! Paden? I haven’t
spoken to him since I was twelve and he was fourteen and too cool to hang out
with us. I don’t even know him anymore.”
    “Regardless of that, he’s
a Royal.”
    “Triton’s a Royal too!” I
stand.
    “Sit—”My mother starts to
say, but then she starts to cough.
    My dad rubs her back and
hands her a napkin. She coughs into it. “He’s only a half Royal and with the
rarity that you are, we want you to have heirs with a full Royal. We’ll discuss
this later. I need to attend to your mother.”
    I look at her and the
napkin in her hand, it’s stained with red. “It’ll be okay, Honey. The healers
will figure out some way to cure you. I’m sure of it. They are the best in the
world.
    ~*~*~*~
    The healers didn’t find a
cure, and we didn’t talk about the arranged marriage again before her funeral.
Two days before it, I was forced to tell Triton of the arranged marriage. He
was furious and refused to talk to me about it. He told me that if I wasn’t
going to fight it, then we were done. The truth? I felt guilty for trying to
fight it while my mother died at a rapid pace.
    Now, I sit outside the
Shrine chamber, where her body lay. Waiting for the sun to rise and greet her.
    The sound of footsteps
alert me to the fact that someone is standing in front of me. I look, for a
split second, I hope that it’s Triton. The moon is full and bright on this
night. “Oh, hi,” I say, to Paden. I hang my head, hiding my tears from him. He
takes a seat on the ground next to me.
    “I’m sorry for your loss.”
    “Which one?” I ask. I
glance at him through my curtain of hair.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Because of our arranged
marriage. The love of my life refuses to speak to me, and because it was my
mother dying wish, I refuse to fight it. Guess you and I will have to be forced
into a loveless marriage, so that we can bear powerful heirs.”
    “Who says it has to be
loveless? Sure, I’m not your first pick, but we don’t have to be miserable
because of our parents.”
    I scoff. “You are
optimistic.”
    He moves my hair out of my
face and tilts my chin up. “I don’t feel like I got the short straw. You’re
beautiful and strong. I know your world is crumbling right now, let me help you
pick up the pieces and rebuild it again. I will be here for you, even if you
love someone else.”
    I don’t know what to say.
    He reaches into the inner
pocket of his black suit. “I’m supposed to give you this at the dinner of our
families meeting, but screw it. I hope you like it. You liked things like it
when we were younger. I hope it’s still your favorite color.”
    In his hand is a small red
velvet box. Slowly, he opens it, revealing a ruby ring, with a snake wrapped
around the stone. He remembered how I used to play with garter snakes, and how
everything in my room had to be a deep red.
    He lifts it out of the box
and I hold up my hand. He places it on my left ring finger. “I really love it.
How’d you remember all that?”
    He smiles and leans
forward to kiss my forehead. “I’m glad you like it, Avalon.” He stands and then
bends down. Gently, he picks me up by my arms and steadily places me on my feet.
“The sunrise will be here any moment. Soon your mother’s essences will go to
meet the Sun god.
     
    I turn to look at my dad. He
has no emotion on his face. That was one of the most difficult things I have ever
had to relive, his wife died again, and yet he isn’t even crying. “Please tell
me that was the last one.”
    He nods. “I’ll let you wake
up now.” I smile and stand. “Oh, and Avalon?” “Yeah?”
    “Your friends might seem a
little weird tonight. Don’t pay it any mind, they will be back to normal by
morning.”
    I give him an odd look. “All
right.”
    He reaches out and pats my
shoulder. My world falls into