The Sapphire Pendant

Chapter 8

 Chapter 8

Adeline

My bare feet peeked past the hem of my dress and dangled off the edge of my velvet chair.  I started to swing them back and forth deeply immersed in my book.  My legs were swung over the armrest of my chair and my back was rested against the opposite armrest.

There was a chair placed next to me.  Josh sat behind me, his head leaning on mine.  He was reading too but I knew that he wasn’t paying attention to the words on his book.

“Addy,” he said quietly turning his head slightly but enough to disrupt my concentration on my book.

“Josh,” I whispered back, annoyed, trying to find out where I just left off in my reading.  I ran my fingertip on the page trying to find the sentence I just read.

“Why does your father never talk to you?” He asked.  I read then re-read the same sentence before giving up and lifting my eyes off my book.  I twirled a lock of my hair around my finger.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably, “After my mother died my father didn’t take it well.  He distanced himself from my sister’s and me.  Penny always told me he especially ignored me because I looked so much like my mother.” 

I started crying, at first I didn’t notice the light tears pooling in my eyes.  But once they started falling from my eye staining the pages of my book with tears.  I never said that out loud before now.  The words tasted like metal in my mouth.

My shoulders shook slightly which I guess was what made him look at me.

I turned to him wiping the tears from my eyes with my fingertips.  I took a deep breath through my nose to clear any other tears than may be forming.

Josh wiped the tears from my cheek with a calloused finger and surprising gentleness.  I leaned my elbows on an armrest, cradling my chin in my hands, looking at his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“Don’t be sorry, now it’s your turn, where is your mother?” I asked him.  Fair was fair.

“My mother is probably somewhere in Trebeth with a cabbage farmer,” Josh told me.

I looked at him waiting for him to elaborate.

“My father fell in love with her in a diplomatic event, married her had me and Miles then she left him.  Never saw her after that, can’t help but wonder if she ever loved my father or married him for his money,” he said looking confused but he laughed without humor.

I took his hand holding it in mine.  I decided to change the topic.

“Do you know how to get to your chambers from here?” I asked him smiling faintly.

“No,” he said squeezing my hand lightly sensing an adventure.

I dragged him out of my library, instead of bringing him to his chambers I brought him to a staircase.

“What are we doing in a staircase,” Josh asked haltingly.

I ran my hand over the brick wall of the wooden staircase.  I finally found the portion of the wall that I was looking for.  I pressed a brick, it fell into the wall.

Suddenly the stair case started to turn away from the room.  I’ve done this before so I was able to keep my balance.

Josh on the other hand crashed into me the moment the staircase started to move.  I started laughing at his startled and somewhat scared expression.

The staircase stopped moving, I shoved him off of me.

This staircase was the back entrance from the castle that I always used to go hunting.  It was the only exit that also exited out of the castle walls as well.