Chapter 2 – Raelyn
Chapter Two
RAELYN
Asliver of rare sunlight slips through the drawn curtains—a beckoning call, a siren song meant to lure me toward something that can only do me harm.
The rebellious side of me wonders what would happen if I were to stick my toe in that bright beam of light.
Would I burn? Father never specified, but I trust he’s not lying when he tells me how ill I would get as a child, so I live in darkness.
Not completely, but I stay out of the sun.
Father’s efforts at finding a cure for me have gone nowhere.
I stretch my pale arm in front of me in the dim light, not for the first time wishing my skin matched the sun-kissed hue of the rest of my family’s.
Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with me, why I can never touch the sun.
Perhaps my mother passed this affliction on through her family line or ate something she wasn’t supposed to while carrying me.
At least that’s the story I prefer instead of the rumors that I’m not my father’s daughter.
Surely he would have told me if there was any truth to that.
Mother never spoke of it, and I can barely remember her now. Funny how eighteen years can erase a person from one’s memories. I vaguely remember raven hair and eyes like the deepest pools of water, but still, she feels foreign to me. She rarely doted on me or had a pleasant thing to say.
Sometimes, I have dreams of a green-eyed woman singing lullabies over me with the kindest smile.
However, despite all my searching, I have yet to find someone in our family—or even a previous servant—who matches the description.
More affection flows from those dreams than I ever remember receiving from my mother.
Perhaps this mystery woman is merely a figment of my overactive imagination stemming from my lack of love at home.
“Raelyn, darling, why ever aren’t you dressed yet?”
I groan as I lie back on my bed, reaching for a pillow to cover my face and ears from my sister Erika’s obnoxious voice.
“Leave me alone.” The few hours of sleep I managed to get were far from enough to be awake right now—my entire body aches. My tumble with the handsome thief didn’t help either.
Who was he? What was he looking for? I really ought to tell Father about him at breakfast, but then I’d have to admit how he got the better of me and Father would likely take his unbearable disappointment out on me at our next training session.
Not to mention, I’d have to deal with my siblings’ mockery . . .
“Father will kill you if you’re not down to breakfast on time,” Erika says in a sing-song voice, and I wince at the grating scrape of the curtains opening. “You know he has news he wants to share, so we really mustn’t be late.”
I peek my head out from under the pillow, noting that the light shining into the room won’t touch me as long as I stay on the right side of the bed.
“Fine. I’m up,” I say with a huff.
Erika lets herself into my dressing room and swiftly re-emerges with an emerald day gown draped over her arm. “Now, Raelyn.”
I roll my eyes. She’s so bossy, one might think she’s the older sister. Dropping my feet onto the chilly stone floor, I yelp.
“I don’t understand how you bear this darkness,” she says morosely.
“You just opened the damned curtains, Erika. Stop complaining.” It’s not as if she actually cares how isolating it is, how it forever sets me apart.
She throws the dress at me, and I catch it, making my way behind the green-and-gold dressing screen.
“Do you have any idea what his news might be?” I ask as I strip off my cotton nightgown and throw it onto a chair.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” the snide voice of my other sister, Chessa, rings out.
“You could knock first,” I mutter under my breath. I have absolutely no privacy with the twins walking around like they own the place.
“As if you have anything to hide,” Chess croons.
The derision in her tone makes me want to claw her eyeballs out. How I loathe this dear sister of mine. She acts as if the entire realm revolves around her, and if for one moment she feels it doesn’t, she throws a fit. It’s embarrassing, really. She’s twenty years old, for Luna’s sake.
“It’s a good thing I’m behind the dressing screen. Unlike you, I prefer not to show off my body to anyone who will look.”
“Trust me, no one would care if you did, Raelyn,” she retorts, ignoring my comment. “Or have you forgotten your lack of suitors? Always so forgetful . . .”
I shrug off her comments and stride out to my mirror so I can fix my hair. Chessa’s dark, judgmental eyes mock me in the reflection as she twists a piece of her black, silken strands around her finger.
“You look terrible,” she says.
“Thank you. You’re so kind.”
I glance at Erika, and sure enough, she’s trying to hold back a smile.
She’s slightly more bearable than Chess.
While the twins have their obnoxious similarities, Erika is quieter than Chessa, a little bit softer, and perhaps a touch kinder.
There have even been moments when I thought we might be friends.
“You’re practically an old maid now,” Chessa prattles on. “Father has completely given up on arranging a marriage for you. Clearly, no one is interested in you, especially not with this being my season.”
My eyes nearly roll out of my head as I drag the hairbrush through my long, wavy hair, wincing as it snags on a tangle. It’s Erika’s season too, and Chess thinks far too highly of herself. I pity the man who ends up saddled to her for eternity.
A screech drags me out of my thoughts, and I whip my head around to look at Chess. “What in the realms?”
“My nail is broken! This is all your fault.”
My brow wrinkles. “How do you figure?”
“If I hadn’t been sent to fetch you, I never would have broken this nail!”
I have no words. When I glance at Erika with a “can you believe her?” look, she gives a shrug and smirks in response.
“Time to go, girls,” Erika commands, tossing her pin-straight onyx hair over her shoulder as she ushers Chessa out of the room.
I tie off the ribbon holding my hair back and pinch my cheeks.
Good enough. After sliding on my satin slippers, I run after them, knowing that angering Father is the last thing I want to do.
Ever since our mother died, his temper is one to be feared, but he still seems to have a soft spot for me.
He treats me somewhat like a prized possession, which has only created more friction between my siblings and me.
I’ve always had the best healers and teachers, and many plans or appearances at court have been declined due to my affliction.
My sisters’ chattering ceases once I catch up, and we walk together down the grand staircase toward the dining room.
Their silence makes me feel unwanted, reminding me of how I’ve never quite fit in.
As much as I want to pretend Chessa’s words didn’t hurt, she wasn’t wrong.
Perhaps Father truly has given up on trying to find me a match.
Is it my fault that I’ve managed to scare off all my suitors?
A wife with my affliction isn’t the greatest prize, but my father is well-respected at court and a close friend of the king.
Surely, that has to count for something.
The intoxicating scent of bacon wafts through the air, making my mouth water as we enter the formal dining room.
“Girls, so nice of you to finally make an appearance,” Father says from his seat at the head of the table.
Sunlight pours into the room from the wall of windows, and I stick to the opposite side, looking for a safe place to sit.
Father notices me, then glances at the windows, an aggravated look crossing his face as he signals to one of the servants. “Pull the curtains. It’s far too bright in here for Raelyn.”
Guilt over the accommodations I need is a sinking stone in my gut. I don’t miss the annoyed looks of my siblings at the lack of natural light in our home when I’m in the room or the muttered curses Father throws at Kyros, the sun god.
“The dark is so depressing, Father,” Chessa complains. “We so rarely get to experience the sun!”
“Hold your tongue, girl,” Father spits out. “I’ll have none of that from you.”
She bows her head, staring at her empty gold-rimmed plate. “Yes, sir.”
“Now, eat up, children. We have much to discuss,” Father says, turning his attention back to his breakfast.
Just as I reach for the last croissant, Charlie, my baby brother, snatches it from the plate. “Too slow, Ratlyn,” he taunts.
“You’re such a child.”
Father always wanted a son, and tragically, his birth stole our mother from us. As the baby of the family, he is spoiled rotten, and he acts more like a ten-year-old boy than a man of eighteen years.
I fill my plate with a heaping pile of fruit and a large serving of eggs. Who needs a croissant anyway? Me. I really wanted that croissant. I glare across the table at my brother.
“You’ve kept us in suspense long enough, Father,” Erika speaks up. “What is this news you have?”
Father wipes his mouth and sets his napkin down as we all wait with bated breath.
“There is to be a wedding in a fortnight.”
Chessa claps excitedly. “How fabulous! Did my first choice accept your proposal? Though, does it really have to be a fortnight? Two weeks is not nearly enough time for me to have a dress made,” she rambles.
“That’s enough, child,” Father shushes her. “This wedding is not about you.”
The clatter of silverware hitting her plate drags all of our eyes to Chess. She looks like she’s either going to cry or scream.
“Let me make myself crystal clear,” Father continues. “I am to be married in a fortnight to Lady Olivia Carlisle.”