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Olruggio wrung the hem of his billowed shirt. His step-mother adjusts the collar before finding his embroidered cloak.
“Look at my little flame! All grown up and marrying a Librarian!” she squeals. His clean-shaven face feels off as she places her hand on his cheek.
“Ma, I don’t want to do this,” he whispers. She barely acknowledges the comment.
“Don’t be silly. Now, arms to your sides,” she says as the cloak sweeps around him, ivory white and dazzling in the flame light room. His step-mother clasps it with the family’s flame crest, the only speck of color in his outfit. She sweeps his hair out of his face, revealing his sad eyes.
“Ma, I can’t marry her. Ms. Arklaum is–”
“Hush, boy. You’re damn lucky that her father chose you to marry his daughter. Adina is a great woman and you will go through with his marriage.” His step-mother turns away from him to grab a crown of white myrtle and orange blossoms. It nestles into his hair.
“I love you, Ma. I want you to know that,” he whispers as she lets her hands away.
“Little flame, she’ll be a good bride. Don’t worry,” she whispers back. His step-mother turns him towards the mirror before walking out of the dressing room.
Olruggio looks at himself in the mirror, dark windows barely open, blowing in cool summer air. His hands grabbed the mirror and pushed it into the wall, shattering it silently. The broken fragments slowly shift down out of the frame like soft subtle sways of the candle light.
“I don't want to marry her,” he whispers as he pushes his fists into the table. He brushes the glass onto the floor before getting up and sitting at the window bench.
Olruggio walks down the aisle to the small arch, turns and waits for his bride. Her family cheers and claps as her dress sleeves trail behind her. The long sleeves and skirt make her drown in the fabric. He turns his mind off during the ceremony, not even registering the words he says. He looks to where he asked Qifrey to sit, Alaira close by, but the seat is empty with only a sheet saying "Reserved" on it.
As the ceremony finishes, he reluctantly kisses Adina, becoming an Arklaum. He walks out with her, hand in hand like expected. He lights the way down the path through town with the phantom flame, a soft flickering blue that burns the page. He stops in the middle of the street at one point, looking into the woods.
“Olruggio? Is everything good?” she asks him, facing his back. He shakes his head and keeps walking.
“Of course, I– I just got lost in thought.” The pair step into the backyard garden of the pavilion.
Adina hangs off his arm, cloak long forgotten on a chair somewhere in the ballroom. She pushes another drink towards him, herself drunk and barely working.
“Adina, if you don’t want this marriage, I’ll let everyone know and I’ll get us an annulment,” Olruggio pleads as he pushes the drink away. Adina giggles as she spills the drink.
“Olruggio,” she hiccups. “I wuv you.”
“I think you’ve had enough to drink,” he says as he carefully pulls the two drinks from her hand. He sets them on the bench before walking her over to the gazebo.
“You’re nice. You know that?" she sleepy asks. Olruggio looks down at her.
“I do. A good friend always reminds me,” he lies. He helps her sit on the bench as his mind drifts to Qifrey.
He wanted Qifrey there. That marvelous witch was the only one he loved, the pale beauty. His spells always gave him a strange sense of hope, waves of watery flowers and beds of gorgeous animals. Qifrey never made him feel bad, never gave him a reason to leave.
Now, Olruggio couldn’t leave her.
He carried Adina inside as she began to fall asleep. Her father looked at his sweet daughter and led the pair to the little house near Olruggio’s family’s old burned down home. Olruggio carries her up the small staircase to the bedroom, lays her in bed, then goes down stairs to sleep on the couch.
He hears a knock on the front door as he steps on the base of the stairs. He walks over, slowly opening the door to see Qifrey.
“Olly, I’m sorry,” he says as he cries, one eye leaking tears. Olruggio pulls him into a tight hug.
“Let me run away with you,” Olruggio declares, clearly thought through as the night went on.
“Olly, I would, but I can’t leave Beldaruit until I pass the Fifth Test. I’ll run away with you another night. But for now, I’ll stay with you.” Qifrey buries his face in Olruggio’s shoulder. He carefully hugs Qifrey as he leads him to the couch.
“I want you. Only you,” Olruggio whispers. He tries to pull Qifrey in for a kiss or more, but he rejects.
“Olruggio, I want the same. I get it that we’re both sixteen, but it’s legal out here for you to be married. I don’t want you to get in trouble for me again,” Qifrey says as he slowly draws a spell with his pen. The watery rose slowly sprouts from the small paper and rests on the air. “Your–” his voice breaks and hitches before he breathes. “Your wife needs you with her.”
“I don’t want her. I need you, Qifrey,” he says as the tears begin to well. He grabs the rose and holds it to his chest. “I can’t love her. I'll only break her heart. She’s sixteen too. We’re both playing pieces and I don’t want her. I want you.”
Qifrey brushes Olruggio’s hair out of his face. “Olly, I love you more than anything in this world. But I shouldn’t have come tonight. You’re drunk. Go to your wife,” he says as he gets up and leaves.
Olruggio tosses the spell into the fire once he hears the front door shut.