Chapter 43 #2
Mother gave me a lecture today about not pestering the physician.
He went and tattled on me after I followed him around all day asking him over and over how you are doing and kept telling him I wouldn’t leave him alone until he told me.
He finally said he would tell me after I took my medication and he finished his rounds, but I suspected that he slipped in a sleeping draught.
So I only pretended to drink it then dumped it into Hubert’s grape juice when he wasn’t looking.
When the physician came back, I was up and waiting for him. He told me that he couldn’t actually say anything about your condition and that he had lied before. I told him he looks like a flabby toad and to try and figure out if I was lying or not and see how he likes it.
Your best friend,
Curtis
P.S. Hubert is still out cold after drinking his grape juice. Don’t tell Mother.
P.P.S. The physician really does look like a toad.
I couldn’t help but grin through the sting of tears. Even in his frustration, he never lost his humor.
Dear Truly,
I am feeling gloomy. Kind of a first for me. I wish you were here. I could use some company. Will you come save me?
I wanted to gather up a bucket full of toads to throw into the physician’s living quarters because he wouldn’t tell me about you. But I couldn’t work up the energy. Without you there with me, it didn’t seem worth it.
Your glum friend,
Curtis
Poor Curtis. There I had been, wallowing in my own grief, when my friend had needed me. We could have helped each other, but instead I had become a recluse, hiding away from the world. I thought that would be the worst of it, but the next letter broke my heart.
Dear Truly,
I have been thinking. I haven’t heard from you at all, and I feel like I need to apologize.
Perhaps you blame me for the attack. I guess I am partially responsible for what happened to you.
I saw your sister today and badgered her into telling me the whole truth.
Comfort told me that your arm was broken, and your face and hair were badly burned, and that you are feeling depressed.
If it wasn’t for me wanting you to ride beside me, you could have ridden with the guards and stayed safe.
If I had gotten to you sooner after the mob came, you wouldn’t have been injured.
I was lucky and got off easy with just few minor scars, but you got the worst of it.
Not just physical injuries, but on that day.
I could hear the mob when they took you.
I heard a lot of what they were yelling when I was trying to get to you.
It still haunts me. I cannot even count the number of times that I have wished I had been the one taken instead of you.
I would have gladly borne that if I knew it would have spared you even a moment of pain.
Please believe me when I tell you, I was trying my best to save you.
I saw them dragging you away, and I was beside myself trying to cut down anyone who stood between us.
There were so many in the mob. I wanted more than anything to protect you, but I couldn’t that day. And I will regret that forever.
I am so sorry, Truly. I should have been there for you, but I failed. I hope you don’t hate me. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that you hate me. It doesn’t matter to me if you look different now. I want to be with you. I can’t imagine a future without you in it.
Love Forever,
Curtis
I couldn’t breathe. His words poured through me, raw and desperate. All these last two years, had he continued to think I blamed him for the mob attacking? Had he thought I was angry with him and was refusing to see him because of his actions?
I had to fix this. Even though it had been years ago, even though he was now engaged to someone else, I had to see Curtis again, to explain and to apologize.
He needed to know it wasn’t his fault. I didn’t know exactly what Comfort had written to him in her letter, but it didn’t matter.
Now that he was engaged to Aria, it didn’t matter what we felt for each other. I knew what I needed to do.
My body seemed to act of its own accord. I stood up briskly, threw open my bedroom door, and marched down the flight of stairs to find Mother and Comfort helping their students curl their hair and Cynthia sweeping away the remnants left behind by the last group of girls.
“I’m going to the ball!” I announced loudly. They all jumped and stared at me. I handed Comfort the mirror she had requested so many minutes ago, which she took, open-mouthed.
“Wh-what?” Mother stammered.
“The royal ball tonight. I’ll be attending,” I said firmly.
Cynthia’s jaw tightened. “You do know that there will be people at the ball who will see your face, right?”
“Shut up, Cynthia!” snapped Comfort. She got up and hurried over to hug me.
“Oh, Truly, I am so glad you are coming with us! It will be so much more fun with you there!” Then she leaned closer to whisper, “And don’t worry.
If you want, Mother and I will fix your hair and cosmetics, and no one will notice anything. ”
“Thank you,” I told her, and gave her hands a squeeze.
More girls were beginning to arrive for their final ball preparations, so I retreated upstairs to get ready.
Before starting, I held the letters and read them over and over.
Memories flooded my mind, and this time, I didn’t push them away but reveled in those happy, golden times—playing pranks on Hubert, racing horses across the fields, staying up late and listening to the bard in Avivia, dancing together at the balls.
Resolve stole through me. I had to see him again.
Nothing would stop me.