# CHAPTER 9: The Rose, the Ruby, and the Girl Who Won’t Back Down
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 9 of "Of Curses And Kisses free digital audiobook." This chapter is a quiet storm of secrets, loyalty, and the heavy weight of curses—both the magical kind and the ones we place on ourselves. So settle in, because the tension is about to rise.
We begin with Jaya, who stumbles upon Daphne Elizabeth in the West Wing. Daphne Elizabeth is dressed in a vintage-style gown that looks deliberately ripped, her fists clenched around the tulle. She is startled to see Jaya, almost as if she had been waiting for someone else—or hiding from everyone. Jaya says she was looking for a bathroom, but the conversation quickly turns to Grey. Daphne Elizabeth notices that Jaya danced with him, something she calls a first. Jaya admits Grey seemed disconcerted, troubled, and then he left. Daphne Elizabeth sighs and calls Grey the tortured soul of their group. He doesn’t date, he won’t open up, and everyone has tried to get him to explain why. It’s as if he is punishing himself for no reason—or at least, no reason he trusts them enough to share.
Then Daphne Elizabeth’s gaze shifts behind Jaya. Someone with shiny black shoes, a beautifully cut black suit, and blond hair steps around the corner, just out of sight. Jaya turns back and asks, “Alaric?” Daphne Elizabeth puts a finger to her lips and says, “Don’t judge me.” There is a lightness in her words, but Jaya senses the weight underneath. Daphne Elizabeth admits she has been thinking about what Jaya asked her before: why she feels the need to be with Alaric. She still doesn’t know. Every time she thinks about what they are doing to Caterina, she feels sick. But another part of her—the DE who craves Alaric’s attention—wants him anyway, everyone else be damned. She is afraid that part is getting louder. She thinks about breaking it off, but then she thinks about being alone again, about Alaric looking through her, about being invisible to him just like she feels at home. She can’t keep away from him. She hangs her head and wonders if something is wrong with her.
Jaya tells her there is nothing wrong with her. Absolutely nothing. Then she offers something simple but profound: if Daphne Elizabeth becomes invisible to Alaric, she will not be invisible to Jaya. Jaya will be there to hang out, talk, or go shopping—if she wants. Daphne Elizabeth smiles faintly, squeezes Jaya’s shoulder, and says that means a lot. Then she disappears around the corner after Alaric, leaving Jaya alone with her thoughts.
And Jaya’s thoughts drift to Grey. He wouldn’t—couldn’t?—date anyone. He isn’t planning to manage the Westborough estate, and he doesn’t speak with his family. Why? What links all those things together?
Meanwhile, Grey’s feet carry him to the far west corner of the West Wing, to the tower. His tower. He unlocks the heavy door in the dark corner, shuts it behind him, and stands in near-complete darkness. The blood rushes in his ears. He tries not to drown in self-pity, but sometimes the sheer unfairness of his situation hits him between the eyes. He is seventeen, almost eighteen. He danced with a girl who wanted to dance with him. Why is that a crime? Why does it have to be so fraught? Why can’t he just be like every other guy and dance without being weighed down by all the other shit?
The room is lightless and silent, as familiar as his own name. He climbs the steps into the tower in the sky, stands suspended above the world, and looks out through the big, curving windows. The tower is dank and cold, home to bats and undesirables, but Grey knows he belongs there. He pulls out his phone and dials. Reception is unreliable through the stone, but it will have to do.
His father answers. Their conversation is awkward, terse, like a dance they perform every time they speak—which thankfully isn’t often. Grey asks about the ruby, the one cursed by the Rao matriarch. His father grows cautious. Grey asks how one would know if they found it. His father explains that the ruby was broken up and put into a rose-shaped pendant. The curse talks about the rose “dimming,” so it would involve the undoing of the rose—metal tarnishing beyond repair, a clasp or chain that keeps breaking, or the rubies falling out. Grey quietly says, “Or the rubies falling out.” His father asks why he wants to know. Grey says he was just curious. He shares nothing of himself with his father, and this is no different. Then static hisses, the signal dies, and Grey is left staring out at the blackest night beyond.
Back at the mixer, the party has descended into louder, wilder chaos. Jaya returns after finding a bathroom and a directory, hoping Grey might have come back—but she knows he would never subject himself to this. People are dancing in alarming gyrations, couples have drifted into corners to be intimate, and someone has sneaked in alcohol. The teachers are noticeably absent, as if they have given up. Isha is still dancing with her friends, seemingly in control.
Then a thin, cold hand lands on Jaya’s upper arm. Caterina La Valle appears, glittering under false eyelashes, wearing a red one-shouldered cocktail dress and six-inch Jimmy Choos. She looks like she stepped off the pages of Vogue, but her breath carries the metallic scent of strong alcohol. She asks if Jaya has seen Alaric. Before Jaya can answer, Rahul interrupts, awkward and greasy-haired, trying to compliment Caterina’s dress as “witchy.” Leo quickly drags him away. Caterina says Alaric has been gone half an hour. Jaya deflects, suggesting he might be in the bathroom or getting fresh air. She remembers Daphne Elizabeth rushing after someone with shiny black shoes and hopes her expression doesn’t betray her. Daphne Elizabeth has become a friend of sorts, and Jaya can’t tell Caterina the truth without feeling like she is betraying her.
Caterina moves on, mentioning a charity gala on a yacht at the end of November. She will send Jaya an invitation. Jaya asks what charity it is for. Caterina says One World, serving children around the world who live in poverty. She grows oddly defensive, throwing out statistics about 385 million children in extreme poverty. Jaya says she thinks it’s wonderful and that her mother loves charitable giving.
Then Caterina’s mood shifts. She asks, “Why do we love?” Jaya ventures that perhaps it is to feel less alone. Caterina considers this, then says, “I love Alaric.” But she wonders if there is someone else for Alaric. When she talks about her interests, his eyes glaze over. Sometimes he doesn’t answer her. When she asked if he could get a cummerbund to match her green Valentino dress for the winter formal, he said, “Who fucking cares about the winter formal, Caterina? Who knows what we’ll be doing by then.” Caterina is sure he wants to break up with her. Then she asks Jaya if she knows anything about Alaric and Daphne Elizabeth.
Jaya’s heart pounds. She waits, unwilling to say anything. Caterina says she doesn’t like asking for favors, but there is no one else. She points out that Jaya is new, in Daphne Elizabeth’s group but not best friends with her, so Jaya could help. Jaya tries to gently refuse, saying she can’t get in the middle of this. Caterina’s expression clears, her face closes off, and she seems taller somehow, colder. “So you won’t help me.” Jaya says not getting involved doesn’t mean she opposes her. Caterina replies, “Is that what you think?” Then she sweeps away, her regal exit only slightly ruined by her unsteady sway. Jaya watches her merge back into her group of friends and feels that things are about to get a lot more complicated with Caterina La Valle.
Later, in physics class, Mr. Martinez has them sitting on the balcony, using the brisk air to keep them attentive. Grey stares at the horizon, at snow clouds smothering the mountains. Without permission, his eyes steal to Jaya—and the pendant at her throat. It has been more than a month since the mixer, and no other rubies have fallen. It is as if they are waiting, biding their time. Jaya keeps trying to advance their friendship, but Grey keeps her at a distance. The rubies glint in the muted light, their red shine searing his retinas, mocking him. The pendant knows who he is. It knows he is near.
Mr. Martinez calls on him: “Mr. Emerson? Grey? Or do you only answer to Lord Northcliffe?” Everyone stares and titters. Jaya looks at him with concern, then makes urgent motions—eyebrows raised, nodding, gesturing. Grey feels detached, as if watching a train hurtle toward a cliff. Then Jaya answers for him in her crisp, clear voice: “Inertia. An object at rest will remain at rest until an outside force acts on it.” She glances at Grey and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. Grey mumbles, “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Mr. Martinez praises them and returns to the demonstration. Grey and Jaya lock eyes again, and there is something in her gaze that says her answer has to do with more than just physics.
After class, Jaya asks if Grey is going to Aspen tomorrow to shop for winter gear. She says Dr. Waverly has tickets to a ski resort, and she would like to ski but doesn’t want to do it alone. Grey shows no emotion. He thinks Jaya is compelling when she lets her real self shine through, when she gets mad and says what she really thinks. But she is a Rao—the entire reason he is the way he is. And that pendant really doesn’t want him near her. So he says, “DE skis.” Jaya studies him, her smile fading, as if genuinely disappointed. She says okay, she’ll ask her. Grey nods, sets his chair down, and turns away, ignoring the slight regretful tug in his own heart.
Jaya is left standing there, confused, unsettled, and mildly irritated. Grey Emerson turned her down. The past month since the mixer had been mostly progress. She had felt fissures of doubt crack through her plan, but she decided to continue because there was no other choice. Between a stranger who orchestrated her sister’s scandal and her entire family, who was she supposed to choose? Grey was still gruff and standoffish, but occasionally she had gotten glimmers of something genuine from him. She thought she was moving in the right direction. He was not supposed to turn her down. He was supposed to fall for her, head over heels. And a small voice inside whispers that she is just the slightest bit disappointed at his rejection. She scoffs—Princess Jaya Rao is never disappointed, let alone by an Emerson. If Grey thinks she will be put off that easily, he is wrong. She just needs to chip away a little longer.
Later, Jaya sits in the library, the wind howling outside, winter encroaching. She feels safe among the books. She has a big calculus test coming up, one Leo called “epic,” which caused Rahul to ask him to repeat himself seventeen times and sent Daphne Elizabeth into peals of laughter. Jaya smiles at the memory. Things have changed since she arrived at St. Rosetta’s. She has friends now, something she never thought possible. They won’t be her friends after she executes her plan, but at least she has them for now.
She opens her email and finds a message from Kiran. He never texts, refusing to use his phone for email out of some unfathomable sense of propriety. The email is full of random capitalization and a sanctimonious tone. He mentions it has been nearly four months since Isha’s incident. The media has died down but not entirely. His family has doubts about a possible alliance, but he believes he has calmed them down. He still thinks an alliance could benefit both royal estates. He says he is thinking of her, asks how Aspen is, and adds, “Girls in trouble need their Parents, we all know that.” He tells her to stay strong for her family. He signs it “Rajkumar Kiran Hegde.”
Jaya is irritated. She mentally lists everything wrong with the email: the gratuitous capitalization, the sanctimonious tone about their “Alliance,” the implication that the Hegdes are conferring a great favor on the Raos, the condescending line about girls in trouble needing their parents, and the absurdity of signing a personal email with his full royal title. Before she can stop herself, she types a sarcastic response in mocking capitalization: “I AM Sor Ry m Y fa MILy si TUAtion ha S Been s O Har D on You...” She really wants to send it. But she knows that is not how royals act. That is something an uncouth brute like Grey Emerson would do. She is Jaya Rao—always poised, always self-possessed.
So she types a more appropriate response. She thanks him for the update, says she is disappointed the media continues to libel her family, and that she is staying strong for her parents and Isha. She asks about his meeting with the tax attorney and even jokes that if the Hegde and Rao estates merged, the accounting might be easier. She closes with regards.
After sending it, Jaya sighs at the notion of an alliance between the Raos and the Hegdes. It is not completely bizarre. For so long, it seemed the right thing to do, the way forward that would benefit both families. But now, with time and distance—and looking over their tepid email history—she finds herself waffling. A lifetime with Kiran? Someone she has no spark with, no friendship with? Someone who is only with her out of duty? What would they talk about over dinner—tax laws? Whether the crops are getting enough rain? The thought bores her nearly to tears. And doesn’t Kiran deserve better too? She takes a breath and pulls out her textbooks. She doesn’t need to make these decisions now. She has years and years.
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## Reader’s Impressions & Star Rating
This chapter is a masterclass in tension and emotional layering. It gives us so many quiet reveals: Daphne Elizabeth’s self-awareness and pain, Grey’s desperate isolation and his direct connection to the cursed ruby, Caterina’s vulnerability turning into icy resolve, and Jaya’s internal war between duty and genuine feeling. The physics scene is especially brilliant—Jaya answering “inertia” while Grey murmurs “Nothing changes if nothing changes” feels like the thematic heartbeat of the entire book. The chapter doesn’t rely on big action; instead, it builds pressure through conversations, secrets, and the slow realization that everyone is trapped by something—curses, families, expectations, or their own hearts.
I also love how the ruby pendant hangs over every scene like a silent warning. Grey’s phone call with his father confirms the curse is active, and the rubies falling out is no accident. That knowledge makes every interaction between Grey and Jaya more dangerous and more heartbreaking. And Jaya’s email from Kiran is perfectly infuriating—it highlights exactly why she is starting to question the alliance, even as she tries to remain the perfect princess.
**Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars** ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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## Next Chapter Prediction
The trip to Aspen is clearly going to force Jaya and Grey into closer proximity, especially if Daphne Elizabeth ends up skiing with them—or if she doesn’t. I predict the ski resort will become a turning point: Grey may try to keep his distance, but the mountains, the cold, and the sheer unavoidable closeness will crack his defenses. Meanwhile, Caterina’s warning will linger, and I suspect she will start playing a much more strategic game against Jaya. Daphne Elizabeth’s situation with Alaric will likely explode soon, and the cursed ruby may react again—perhaps at the worst possible moment. This chapter set the board; next chapter, someone is going to make a move.
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