[Look at me, getting in early today! Sadly, now my head is rather more in a certain Creepy Warden than in Damien or Paz, but Oh well...It won't take much to get back.]
[By the way, props to anyone who can guess who the Creepy Warden is...!] :)
[The same thing applies to this Chapter; Lines in Bold (Excepting the need for emphasis,) are not spoken in English. They are Alegra taking advantage of Damien's interest. ;)]
[Oh, and I Promise that this one is better, as far as me potentially not having enough control over my imagination. Back to Original Damien!...Mostly.]
Chapter Six
It's early when someone knocks on the door. Alegra, down for breakfast to not arouse suspicion, answers it. One of Damien's men is standing on the front step. In his hands, he holds a small, flat, package. He hands her a letter, addressed to her, written in Damien's own hand, and stamped with the Vesper Crest. For a moment, her heart stops. Then she hands it back to him. He won't explain a thing. He'll only tell her what he did before, and she knows that's a lie. The one thing she can't do is let herself believe it. "I don't want it," she tells him. "Take it back to him. Tell him that." The man hesitates. "NOW," she says, giving him a glare worthy of fear. He backs away, then turns, and walks back the way he'd come.
"Who was that, Allie?" Katherine asks her, when she returns. "No-one important," Alegra replies. "I took care of it." She sits back down.
When the meal is over, she returns to her room. She sits on the bed. Then she lies down. She has to figure out if there's anything she missed. Anything that could point to a reason for his reaction. Anything to tell her why he left. Anything. So she closes her eyes, and returns to the next year.
1504. They were late, and the feast had already started. Gideon met his friend's eyes in apology. Damien gave him a small nod in acknowledgement. But Alegra had waved at him from behind Gideon's back, and he smiled, though he was obviously trying not to. She smiled back.
After the feast was over, Alegra had jumped up before anyone could restrain her, and gone to join Gideon. "Hi!" She said, cheerfully, and obviously not to Gideon. Again, Damien tried not to smile. His dark eyes flickered over hers. She could tell he wanted to talk to her. Wanted to...But didn't know how. Well that was new; So she started talking to him, without Gideon's permission.
"I told them we should start getting ready earlier, but they did not listen," she said. Damien really did smile, then. Gideon frowned. "Allie," he hissed. But she was too preoccupied looking at Damien, who'd stopped himself smiling again. She glared at him, exasperated. "Oh, honestly!" She snapped. "Can't you just let yourself smile, already?" And again, he got that slight redness in his face, because he knew she was talking to him.
Gideon, however, didn't notice, and clamped a hand over Alegra's mouth to stop her from talking to Damien that way. She glared at him. Then he spun her around, and shoved her away from the table. She opened her mouth, but the look on Gideon's face stopped her. She sighed, bobbed at Damien, and walked away. But before that, she saw the look in his eyes. Almost a flicker of hurt. Well at least it was something.
Alegra opens her eyes to the sound of someone knocking at her door. "Allie?" Jane. She sighs. Then she gets up, and opens the door. "You just won't give up, will you?" She asks. "No!" Jane says, cheerfully. Then her young face turns serious. "I am telling you, there is a perfectly good reason for Lord Vesper leaving like that." "And I am telling you, that it was because he didn't want to be here." "And I am telling you," Jane returns. "That he would not be so." Alegra sighs, again. "And I am telling you that you are wrong. But if you must know, I am going through every memory at my disposal, since the day we met, in case you were unaware, and trying to determine if there is such a reason as you seem to think there is."
"Really?" Jane asks, smiling brightly. "Yes, and so far I have found none. And if you tell anyone else, I will hunt you down. Okay?" "Okay! Just keep looking, though, or I might have to." Alegra looks down at the floor, and for just a moment, Jane is able to see just how much this is really hurting her. But then her eyes return to Jane's face, and the moment is gone. "I will," she says, quietly.