Half of Ruby

Chapter 40 (Part 1)

By two in the afternoon, Ember was starving. 

By three in the afternoon, she was ravenous. 

By four in the afternoon, Ronan still had not returned. 

More and more carriages had begun filing down the driveway, bearing loads of food and decorations for the ball. Servants hired for the night shifted into the house, heads bent as they carried the refreshments indoors. 

Night steadily burned away the sun in a blaze of marigold, the moon opening its round golden eye in the encroaching darkness. Ember shivered as her stomach let out another pitiful rumble. 

Where is Ronan? She glanced over her shoulder, fingers digging into her arms as her eyes flickered towards her closed bedroom door. It seemed as though nobody had the time to come pay her a visit. 

As if they wanted to. 

She swallowed, gaze darting to her neatly-made bed. 

The dagger laid within the white cotton folds, silver gleaming like a sliver from the moon outside. 

Do not take the dagger. 

Corva's harsh voice sliced through her mind, nails digging into her skull. 

She hadn't taken the dagger; it had been forced onto her. But now that she had it, she couldn't just give it away. And how would a dagger do her harm? In fact, it would protect her....

"Ember?" 

She yelped, spinning around to the door as it opened a crack. 

Susannah shrunk back in the threshold, gray eyes blinking hesitantly. 

For a while, Ember could not find anything to say. And then she stood up. 

"Why don't you...come in? Do you require something?" 

Susannah nodded, then shook her head. Sliding sideways through the crack, she produced a large, cloth-covered package.

Ember blinked. "What is that?" 

Susannah did not answer, but her eyes flickered to the blade, as though expecting it to be there. "I...I would be careful around that blade, if I were you." 

Her words, spoken in feather-soft whispers, sent shivers down Ember's spine. "What do you mean?" 

"My mother was talking about it," said Susannah. "She said that a blade of silver dipped in the blood of the three you love the most will always find your heart." 

Ember's eyes widened as she stepped away from the knife. "No." 

"It is too late. That blade will find your heart no matter what. You just have to make sure it does not happen tonight." 

"Did she tell you this?" asked Ember. "Did she say this to you?" 

She shook her head. "I heard her saying it to Ronan." 

Ember gasped. Ronan. 

The blood of the three I love the most....

"Where is he?" she demanded. "Where is Ronan?" 

"Still out," said Susannah. 

"Has Elizabeth—has your mother left the house in the hours Ronan and I were gone?" 

"No," she replied. "She has stayed here the entire time." 

"Are you sure?" 

Susannah hesitated. And then she frowned. "Actually, I believe she left sometime. Sometime between twelve and one."