The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 27

Valentina is tense. She can feel it in the way the man before her holds her to him as they dance. She refuses to look at Elliot in his eyes. She doesn’t want to see the taunt in his eyes, the haughty expression she always imagined he would wear when he saw her again and saw what she had become. She keeps her eyes locked firmly on his shoulder where, if she looked over it just enough, she can see Damon dancing and speaking with Ava.

“How are you?” Elliot asks, a slight desperation in his voice.

She says nothing.

“I’m glad you came,” Elliot tries again.

Still, Valentina looks solely at his shoulder and says nothing.

“Please talk to me. You have no idea how long I have waited to see you, to hear your voice,” Elliot pleads.

At this, Valentina looks up at him. Seeing her now, he can see the anger flooding her gaze and watches the hurt pass through her eyes just briefly. Somehow, she keeps her expression neutral enough that no one would suspect something is wrong. Seeing her like this, Elliot thinks she looks impossibly more beautiful than when he first laid eyes on her at the start of the evening.

“I’ve missed you,” he finally says. The minute the words leave his mouth, he feels the sincerity behind them hit him hard. Before he can say more, Valentina speaks.

“You missed me? You’ve waited to see me? You’ve waited to hear my voice? You’re glad I came? Is that the best you could come up with to say to me after so long?” She releases question after question. “You left me without so much as an explanation and with barely a goodbye and the most you have to say is that you missed me.”

She stares up at him with a challenge in her eyes.

“I didn’t have a choice. My parents were sending letters to my host family, demanding me to return here to marry a woman of their choosing. You have no idea how much I fought them, how desperately I begged them to let me stay with you. I pleaded with them to visit, hoping that if they met you then they would understand. But they said that if I didn’t return home to fulfill my duties, then they would ruin you and your family. I couldn’t have that. I didn’t want to see you and your family lose everything. You have to believe that. You have to believe that I loved you enough to protect you. That is the only reason I did what I did,” Elliot says.

“I don’t believe you. You told me you already spoke to my father about your absence. You said you would come back. Why not just tell me the truth? Did you think I was foolish to believe we could have had a life together with what your element is? I knew better. I deserve your honesty more than your protection,” she replies.

Elliot is stunned silent. It was true that people with tanzanite hearts were very exclusive, only marrying those of the same kind. Outsiders weren’t welcomed and if someone with a different type of heart were to marry, the marriage wouldn’t last very long. He should have known even Valentina would know this.

“I was a fool. I’m sorry,” he states.

“I don’t want your apology. I don’t want your admission of foolishness. I don’t even want your explanations or justifications for your behavior. You have no idea what your leaving did to me. You have no idea the hurt you caused. You came back here and you married some woman you can barely stand, had a child with her and moved on with your life. I was stuck putting myself back together, repairing what you broke. Your apology means nothing to me when I can see so plainly what your life has become,” Valentina says.

“Do you think I wanted all of this? The only good thing that came out of me coming home is my son. Without him, I would have spent the rest of my life drowning in my sorrows, doing the bare minimum just to save face to all the ghastly people here for my son’s ceremony. I wanted all of this with you. I wanted to marry you. I wanted to have children with you, to have a blessing ceremony for our child. Doesn’t any of that mean anything to you?”

“It would have, years ago. Not anymore,” Valentina says with finality.

Elliot is stunned silent for what feels like the millionth time this evening. Valentina looks back down at his shoulder and he can feel the fiery rage coming from every inch of her. He thinks back to those months of isolation, to those months he spent so drunk he hardly remembers any of it. He wants so badly to say all of this to her, but his fear that she will dismiss him forces him to keep all of it to himself.

Valentina is back to looking for an exit. She wants to be free of this man, wants to be free of this room, this house, these people. She wants to go back to the country home. She wants to go back to her kingdom. She should regret saying what she did, considering she is here for Elliot's son. But she can’t replace it in her to care about his feelings when, despite his previous declaration, it has become obvious he had no regard for her own. Valentina senses the song is coming to a close and when it finishes, she takes a step back, curtsies and heads back to their table.

Damon knows he should check in with Valentina but seeing the barely contained fury in her eyes is enough to force his feet towards Elliot instead.

“What did you say to her?” Damon demands.

“Nothing that concerns you,” Elliot replies back coldly.

“She is my guest. Anything you say or do to her does, in fact, concern me,” Damon snaps.

“And you are my guest. Or would you rather I treat you as everyone else does? As someone to be feared," Elliot threatens.

Damon rears back at the threat, knowing it wouldn’t take much for everyone inside the ballroom to run screaming.

“If I were you, I would reconsider how you behave tonight. She may be your responsibility, but I can assure you, she is not your concern in regards to me. I would hate to burn the already loose bridge we have between us,” Elliot finishes.

With that final statement, Elliot scoops Ava up in his arms and heads to the platform with the orchestra. Damon stands rigid in his spot on the dance floor, wanting to hurt Elliot but knowing full well nothing good will come of retaliation. Instead, Damon forces his body to move in the direction of their table, seeing Valentina sitting stark straight, her spine tense, her shoulders high and her body unmoving. He pulls out his chair, sits and gently places his hand on her clasped ones that rest on the table.

Damon keeps his eyes on the platform with the orchestra, allowing the waves in his necklace to settle and provide comfort to Valentina. Elliot and Ava stand before their guests, announcing that the party will move to the gardens at the rear of the house. The sound of applause fills the air, drowning out the music of the instruments.

Like sheep being herded, the people exit the ballroom, clearing a way when Damon and Valentina make their way out of the room along with everyone else. Their chaperones quickly join them, acting more as personal bodyguards rather than chaperones. Valentina barely pays attention to the decor of the house as she marches along with everyone to the back of the house.

When they make it out into the garden, Valentina locates a stone bench off to the side and decently far enough away from everyone else. She goes and sits, Damon and the two chaperones not far behind. Damon sits on the stone bench, his waves providing her more comfort than she has ever felt from them in months.

She looks out to all the people moving from one green hedge to another, from one stone statue to another. They all mingle about in their ornate and elaborate ball gowns and suits. She briefly wonders how any of the women are able to glide about in their heels on this mulchy grass before remembering she artfully walked just like them just now. She shudders at the thought. Suddenly, she notices what everyone is gravitating to in the center of the garden. For the first time, she sees a pillar in the middle of an elevated stage made of stone.