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And the entire time I helplessly watched the woman who was carrying my child slowly disappear behind the rope, I wanted to scream. I wanted to demand for this to be over. I was so fucking tired. I was so damn exhausted fighting the moral battle within. This was wrong. What kind of man allowed this? What kind of man would risk a woman and his baby? For what? Money? A business? Pride? Blueblood heritage laced with sin? What kind of man was I?
It didn’t matter how many damn baby books I read. The one thing I did know was that it was my duty to do whatever I had to do to protect the mother of my child. And as she stood in a glass box, surrounded in knots of silver, I realized I was slowly failing her… one Trial at a time.
“Beau Radcliffe,” an Elder said, breaking me from my thoughts. “It is your duty to free your belle. Save her, and you complete the Trial. Failure to do so means…” His voice trailed off as the sounds of the canes intensified.
Means what?
What?
I had heard rumors of past belles and women who had accidents at the Oleander. Tales of nameless graves in the graveyard up the hill. Missing girls no one really cared about. Secrets never to be spoken. Ghosts of belles walked the grounds due to Trials gone wrong. But were they just rumors? Were they just ghost stories to scare boys like me growing up? Or were they truths?
Jesus Fucking Christ. Was Abilene’s life in danger?
Not wasting another second, I charged to the glass box and began tugging at the rope. I could quickly see that I had to be smart about undoing the knots. Pulling and using brute strength was only tightening them.
“It’s okay,” I heard come from the other side of the glass. “You got this, Beau. Stay calm. Don’t let this rattle you.”
I could see enough of Abilene between the rope, and I knew she could see peeks of me, but there were so many knots getting in the way of us.
An Elder called out, “Allow the Radcliffe riches to rain down on the belle.”
The black box above her opened and a small stream of clear glass marbles mixed with diamonds began to rain down upon her.
And there it was. The worst Trial yet.
I needed to free my belle or she would be suffocated by my family’s diamonds. The Radcliffe jewels would destroy her unless I could somehow unleash these binds.
Nothing would stop me. Nothing.
I started one knot at a time, trying to ignore that Abilene was buried up to her ankles already. “Are you doing okay in there?” I asked as I pulled and maneuvered the rope.
“Focus, Beau. I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“There’s so many fucking knots.” I undid one only to reach for another. And another and another.
“You can do this. Don’t quit this Trial. Don’t let them win. Don’t let this Trial be the one that makes us fail. Whatever you do, don’t quit. Promise me.”
I couldn’t promise her that. No way would I allow this to go too far. If the diamonds and marbles got too close to her face, all bets were off. But for now, I worked frantically at the knots with every intention of freeing her.
But the rain of sparkling hell fell fast, and her body was slowly being covered. Knot after knot, I made some progress. I could see her face now. I could see her eyes, and though she was covered up to her waist, she revealed no fear. Her calm soothed me and allowed me to fight on. My fingers bled from the skin being rubbed raw. My fingernails were pulling up as I refused to let the Elders beat me with their handiwork.
When the diamonds and marbles covered her belly fully and reached her breasts, I panicked. There were still so many knots, and the glass box was filling up quicker than I could undo them. Pools of rope coiled at my feet, and yet it felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Abilene reached out her hand and placed her palm against the glass. I looked up from a bloody knot and made eye contact with her.
“I’m trying, Abilene. I’m fucking trying.”
“You got this. I trust you. I know you can do this.”
“Is the weight too much on you? Tell me. Is it too much? Can you breathe?” I could only imagine how suffocated and claustrophobic Abilene must feel.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Keep going.” Her eyes went to the remaining knots and, for the first time, I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes.
She saw what I saw. The speed of the box being filled was beating my own speed with untying the knots. The diamonds were winning.
There had to be another way. I wouldn’t be able to do this in time. There had to be another way.
