Reign of Sapphire [On Hold]

O n e

Evira had sold her soul.

She might as well have, given the hell to which she had subjected herself.

As the couple beside her engaged in a cringe-inducing kiss, Evira knew she was doomed. She pushed herself farther away from them until she was just inches from falling off the plush, velvet loveseat. It provided adequate space to fit all three bodies, but now her presence was unwelcome.

She drummed her fingers against her knees, her back rigid and patience stretched thin. Then, twisting a lock of dark copper hair in her finger, she pretended to be entertained by its natural curl.

She eyed the second pair of boy and girl in the room, waiting for any sign of acknowledgement. But their conversation had sparked a mild attraction between them, and Evira knew it was only a matter of seconds before their lips were locked as well.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, pondering her forsaken existence as the fifth individual in the room. She was invisible and suffering under the circumstances of her forced attendance. No one had ever wanted her there from the beginning. She should have never listened to her mother.

It seems I still cannot make any friends, Mama, Evira thought caustically.

She was there to celebrate Carithy's seventeenth nameday, and Evira's mother had hoped the event would prove successful in obtaining Evira new friends. Any friends. But it was an unsupervised celebration that had turned into something other than a celebration.

Evira struggled to distract herself from the ghastly sounds coming from the couple next to her. Instead, she focused on the small enclosure of the ornate sitting room.

Aside from the velvet loveseat, there were two more armchairs and a leather couch upon which sat the second couple. None of the furniture matched. Bookshelves with tomes of all sizes lined two of the room's walls. They had gathered a rather unfortunate layer of gray dust. Plants of different species stood guard at all four corners, and for a long moment, Evira thought she had lost herself in some otherworldly forest.

The entire room was so outrageously atrocious that Evira wondered if its design had been deliberate.

Carithy's wealthy family owned the largest house in the town of Mistal. For them, extravagance was a necessity. Her merchant father, the most skilled salesman Evira had ever met, was currently on his way to trade in Mausulan. Carithy's mother, who was far more cynical, was off gallivanting with a younger man from town. This, Evira had seen on her way to the dreadful house. The hostess, Carithy herself, had disappeared off somewhere an hour ago.

Once again, Evira caught the horrid stench of alcohol that wafted in the air. She had refused to drink with them earlier. Perhaps that was why they continued to regard her as an unwanted nobody. Brimming with a nauseating headache, she decided she had finally had enough.

She stood. "I am going to look for Carithy," she announced.

No one made a response - not a single reaction.

"Well, then," she said, pushing herself past the empty glasses on the floor. "It was a pleasure not getting to know you all."

She exited the room via a tall door, briefly remembering how its gold handle was the only thing in the house she admired. The hall was as congested as the sitting room, far too many plants and hallway tables that made the house appear less like a home and more like some storage shed. Evira found it much harder to breathe.

She made it up a flight of narrow stairs, her lungs desperate for air. When she reached the second floor, she heard footsteps coming from inside one of the bedrooms.