The Duchess Cannot Sleep || ONC 2021

20 | The Finale, Part I

The purpose of Heiress Jenriset's ball was to find her a suitable partner. As per tradition, a masked ball was held whenever a Judge chose an Heir, if the heir was not already married or planning to be. Reide knew of no actual law requiring Judges to be married, though, so it must have been mostly tradition at this point.

He wondered how many of the guests entering the grand ballroom with them were genuinely interested in Jenriset's companionship, and how many of them, like him and Andreya, were here to fulfill either end of a deal made with the Judges. The thought tainted the warm glow through the ballroom doors as they entered, soiled the pleasant music playing in the background, sullied the chatter around them from masked guests whose smiles now appeared more self-interested than celebratory, more sinister than spirited.

It made him want to hold Andreya all the closer to his side.

But Reide was hardly Andreya's focus. He had expected her to be scanning the growing crowd for whomever the Judges had sent to kill her, but she definitely appeared as if she did not want to be here. Her gaze was set straight at the floor, her hand hooked loosely around his arm but with a decided tension.

Perhaps she didn't want to go through with ending the curse after all.

He was not entirely wrong. Andreya closed her eyes for a single moment to banish her doubts, and when she opened them again, she flicked her gaze up to Reide with her most convincing smile. "The last ball I attended was my own coming-of-age celebration. And that was... over twenty years ago, now."

Reide's brows shot up and she imagined he'd somewhat forgotten her actual age. She couldn't blame him since she didn't act stuffy and mean like the Radenbutans or anyone else her age. She still looked more than a decade too young, too.

But that would change today.

She chuckled to hide the discomfort of her smile.

The ball had just begun, and the sun had not yet set. The Judges said the women who would help her would meet her after the dance, which was after the dinner, which meant after dark. For now, the ball was simply her and Reide, and their last conversation, if she remembered correctly, had left them both bawling into their pillows.

Several young women bustled past and Andreya stepped closer to Reide to let them through. Technically, the guests were supposed to be finding seats or places to stand for dinner while others were still being admitted into the ballroom, but Andreya had no appetite, and she didn't imagine Reide did, either, so she let him guide her up a flight of stairs along the wall and to one of several balconies overlooking the courtyard. From there, they had a clear view of the beginnings of sunset, where the sky was getting its first blooms of yellow and orange and the clouds obtained their linings.

In a place as populated as a palace ballroom, Reide had still somehow found a place to be alone. Andreya hated his silence, the way he pulled his arm from hers to lean against the stone railing, the somber note of his voice. How just that note struck an entire chord in her chest that wasn't supposed to exist. She hated that she enjoyed it.

"You've already seen several sunsets here in my country," he said, "but I can't say I've ever seen one from a palace. Would you like to watch it with me?"

Andreya gazed coldly out at the courtyard and refused to look at him, though every part of her body wanted to. "It seems I am a captive audience."

He let out a short sigh and turned to the sunset himself, and she stole a side glance at him. Leaning casually on the railing, his gloves held in one hand, blinking at the sun with his amber eyes and embracing the breeze through his hair with a gentle breath, he was torture. Beautiful torture.

"You still want to die when there are skies like this to watch every day?" he asked, and she returned her eyes to the courtyard with a bitter taste in her mouth. "There's so much to live for and you haven't even seen the best of it."

All he was doing was echoing the thoughts that had already plagued her for days. "I've told you I'm already dead. I died eighteen years ago."

"But clearly you didn't, because you're still here." He still hadn't broken his eyes from the sunset. Now, pink was leaking into the sky. Finally, he looked at her, and she did the same—a mistake, even with his mask. He showed his emotion where she hid hers away, and it played with her heart in cruel ways. "If you had died then," he said, "I never would have met you, and you wouldn't have traveled all across Isantad with me, and you would never have seen this sunset. Maybe you reviving means you aren't supposed to die, Andreya. Maybe it means you're supposed to live."

Elegant music wafted out from the ballroom and Andreya found it harder and harder to stand next to him, listening to his questions and ruining what would hopefully be her last night with him. "It's as if you enjoy feeding my doubts. If you love me, don't you want me to be happy?"

She knew it was a cruel thing to say even before she said it, but it felt warranted all the way up until Reide pushed off from the railing and removed the mask from his eyes, for once actually scowling at her. Instead of arguing further, though, he simply asked, "Andreya, do you love me?"

And she blanked.

Only a step away, he bit his lip in frustration and extended a hand, delicately lifting her veil from her face and tracing his fingers along her jaw. He was angry, and yet it was yearning that fueled his frustration. He loved her, and yet he couldn't do a thing about it.

Andreya had stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped thinking—all there was was Reide, staring at her lips and making her whole body tingle with his touch. He cursed so softly she barely heard it and forced his gaze away, and she lost whatever restraint she had left.

"I do love you," she breathed, and just as his eyes widened, she stumbled back and ran.

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Hey, y'all! This chapter turned out really long, so here we are, I guess the finale is two parts! All critiques and suggestions are welcome, and don't forget to vote if you enjoyed! <3