Other Lives Read Online Free PDF Page A

up before I solemnly ask for your hand in marriage, then you are a bit of a fool.”
    He was smiling again. It was a different kind of smile though. It had an edge.
    “It’s the whole reason Nikolaos has dragged you here, isn’t it? Don’t feel bad. Many other men have piled their nieces, daughters and even mistresses at my feet hoping I’d pick one of them. To tell you the truth I think marriage doesn’t suit me, but what do I know?” he chuckled. “I like you, though.”
    She thought she saw movement in the silver surface of the cups. She backed away from him and felt her back press against a bookcase. He frowned.
    “What is it?” he asked.
    “I’ll bring you bad luck and shame and—”
    “I’ve had plenty of both since the King barred me from court.”
    “Barred you?”
    “For being a wicked, ambitious man. I can vouch it is true, that my ambitions are indeed quite high and I intend to wed you and place a crown upon that pretty head of yours. For you are my talisman, Miranda, and with you I shall have the whole world in the palm of my hand.”
    “You are joking and it’s not funny,” she said, for he was talking treason and insanity.  
    He laughed and she could not help it, despite all her misgivings and her fear, and the reflection upon the cups, and despite it all she smiled at him. And she thought perhaps he was mad, but she liked his madness, his pretty lies, the stories he spun for her.    
    But she thought of Nikolaos with his solemn face and her smile died on her lips.
     
    ***
     
    She tried to appear dignified. Instead, she succeeded in looking like a flustered child and stammered, forgetting her well-rehearsed speech.
    Worse, Nikolaos stared at her without uttering a word for what seemed forever until she couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Well?” she blabbered. 
    “I’m extremely pleased,” he said. 
    His face, drawn and stark, displayed little joy. 
    “It’s what you wanted,” Miranda said. “All this time you’ve been telling me how I must marry the man. Now the man wants to marry me and I do not know what I should say.”
    “Say yes. It’s simple.”
    “Yes, I guess it’s simple.”
    “We discussed it. We talked about it at length.”
    “I know.”
    “Then why are you acting like this? As though you didn’t know this would be the natural conclusion.”
    “It is all very easy for you.” 
    “Could we spare each other the melodrama?” Nikolaos asked. “It is not as if this is some terrible bargain.” 
    “No, it’s not a terrible bargain. I’m sure you will also obtain some nice trinkets. A new title, some jewels. The little things one gets when he sells a woman.”
    “If you want to act the part of the victim you may. I know you are happy.” 
    The room seemed very small and cramped. Suffocating. She exhaled. 
    “Of course I’m happy. You brought me here and for the first time in my life I’m not alone,” she said. “Everything is different. I want to be different. I want to pretend I’m not a monster. And it’s your fault. You’ve made me want this.”   
    The few paces between them seemed like an endless void and Miranda’s heart flinched in pain. She moved towards the opposite side of the room because she had to do something to prevent the pain from tearing her apart and she could think of nothing more. 
    “I should tell him yes then, is that what I should do?” she asked. 
    “Of course,” he grunted. 
    “I could still…why, I,” Miranda said, feeling bold. “You could take me anywhere. I’d go.”
    Such a thing to say. Shameful. Flinging herself before a man. 
    Nikolaos’ eyes held nothing. 
    “No,” he said. 
     
    7  
     
    Miranda defied the winter in a gown of pale yellow. She sparkled, sitting next to her summer lord, while the others chattered. And she did not look at him. Her gaze seemed to skip him, evading his seat, although he was in plain sight.
    Nikolaos drank and simmered. A scant few meters from him Darius was