Catherine had taken her good old time getting out of bed. She was finding it very difficult to greet the day after what had happened. She wasn't sure how long she'd been laying there but she knew it was definitely long overdue for her to get up. But what reason did she truly have to do so? She buried her face in the pillow for a moment. It still smelled like him. She took deep breath in. She smiled a bit, but then groaned before rolling unwillingly out of bed.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Bash had just arrived when he ran into Francis in the hallway. He didn't realize that he had a big goofy grin plastered all over his face.
"Have you been gone all night? Where were you?" he asked curiously.
"I was out tracking Delphine...I still haven't found her." he lied just a little.
"In the middle of the night?"
"I made camp. I was too far away to make it back."
"You look oddly clean, and overly happy to have camped out in the woods all night."
"I suppose it was a very good camping spot." he said unconvincingly. Francis cocked his head to the side questioningly.
"Were you with someone?" he prodded.
"With someone?" Francis raised his eyebrow as if to let him know he wasn't fooling anyone. "Alright, I...ran into this woman in the woods...it was nothing." he tried to play it off.
"Nothing? The expression on your face says otherwise brother...Do you fall in love with a woman every time you go into the woods?"
"I did not fall in love with a woman in the woods...She was hunting...I ran into her...we started talking. I simply didn't realize it had gotten so late. That's all." It was as close to the truth as he could get with out him asking more questions.
"Well, just be careful. Look at what happened the last time you brought a someone home."
"No worries, I won't be bringing anyone home." he said. He wished that part wasn't true.
He went about his obligatory duties and then he was off again.
"Off to see your huntress again?" Francis said as he caught him leaving.
"No. I'm going to continue looking for Delphine, and she's not a huntress." he said as he put his cape on.
"You said you found her hunting."
"And you like to make swords. That doesn't make you a blacksmith does it?"
"So what does this, non-huntress look like?" he asked suggestively. Bash's eyes went wide.
"Trust me, she's not your type." he said.
"Relax, it's not as though I'm interested."
"No. I don't suppose you would be." his stomach almost lurched at his last statement.
"Should I wait up for you?" he asked.
"No." Francis grinned at him. "I'm going to search for Delphine. There's no need for that look."
"Alright, whatever you say." he said before walking away.
...Once Catherine finally forced herself to get dressed and start her day, she found herself more depressed than she was before. The occurrences of the last two days made her realize just how pathetic her existence had become. Here she sat, all alone, trying to down the same disgusting lunch she'd eaten for the last week. Is this what she was reduced to? Simply trying to make it through a day of silence. She dropped the piece of food in her hand back on the plate.
Then the thought hit her...what if she'd made a big mistake with Bash? What if she'd only fallen for him because she was lonely? Or what if she'd just wanted to keep him close because he was a connection to home, to her family? Could she have been fooling herself out of desperation once again? No. She couldn't be. Not with him. The way she'd felt, that couldn't be fake. She'd never felt like that before. Like she'd had a fog around her her whole life and suddenly it had been lifted. She felt safe with him. She trusted him. He hadn't done all that much to earn it, she just did. But how could she just trust him? She's never trusted anyone. Not even herself. Trust had been the downfall for every relationship she ever had, including those with her children. But somehow here she was, trusting him. But why? Because he said he loved her? Because he'd brought her a rabbit? He had saved her life...but wait...she'd trusted him before that truthfully. When he'd spoken to her about Claude, she'd taken his advice. When Francis had made him his deputy, she was surprisingly pleased. When her sons had been kidnapped by Clarissa, despite what she'd said, she knew he would do everything he had to to find them. Perhaps she'd never understand. All she was sure of was that she already missed him.
'I wonder how long it will be before he returns?...If he returns. What if he's more like his father than I thought?' she thought.
Just then, she heard sounds coming from outside, snapping her out of her thoughts. It sounded like someone at the door. It couldn't be Caitlin on her day off. Could Bash be back already?
"Bash is that you? I didn't think you'd be back so soon." she said as she opened the door. It wasn't Bash, but Delphine on the other side of the door. She charged Catherine, knocking her onto the floor.
"Do you think you can just take him from me? We are bound. He belongs to me." she said angrily. Catherine had the wind knocked out of her, but she still had her wits about her.
"Bound by what exactly? We both know there was no spell. You just wanted him to think there was so he would be too afraid to leave you." she replied as Delphine broke off a chair leg and came back at her. Catherine grabbed onto it with both hands and tried to push it away from her throat. They struggled back and forth.
"How did you do it, hmm? How did you get him to be with you so easily. Did you threaten him?"
"How did you...?" she choked out as the chair leg came closer and closer.
"I saw you. I saw you in your bed with him. But he will be mine again."
"Well aren't you a few pawns short of a chess set."
They continued to struggle and then Delphine pulled the leg away and raised it over her head.
"It's time to finish this." she said as she started to bring it down on her, but she stopped halfway, something throwing her to the floor. Catherine sat up to see that Bash was now struggling with her. She grabbed a knife off the table. She watched them, waiting for the right moment to go in. She finally saw her opening.
"Enough!" She yelled while she came up behind Delphine, holding the knife to her throat. Delphine stopped fighting. "What potion did you give him?" Catherine questioned.
"There's no potion. It was blood magic. It's irreversible." She said.
"Lies! Tell the truth or I cut your throat."
"Catherine..." Bash started.
"Tell me now!" She ignored him.
"Catherine!" He yelled to get her attention. She looked over at him. He was holding up a vile. "It fell out of her pocket."
"No potion? Then what's that?" She asked. "Trying to give him a second dose were you?"
"Bash don't let her do this. You're supposed to be with me. She's manipulated you." She pled.
You're the only one whose been manipulating me. Now what's in this?" He asked holding up the vile. She knew she was found out. She started to struggle again and was able to twist out of Catherine's grip. She got the knife away from her and went after her.
"No!" Bash yelled and grabbed the hand with the knife just before she stabbed her. She tried to pull away but tripped and fell right into the knife. Bash caught her before she hit the floor and let her down carefully. "It didn't have to end like this...I didn't feel the knife, It was all a lie wasn't it?"
"Don't leave me." She mumbled as a bit if blood dripped out of her mouth.
"Delphine?" Bash said, but she was already gone. He got up and went over to Catherine, who was just getting up. "Are you alright?"
"I think so." She was trying to catch her breath. He hugged her. "Are you sure you are?" She said as she pulled a bloody hand back from his chest. He looked down and touched the spot.
"It's alright. The cut from the other day just opened back up." He said. She sighed with relief, then smiled at him.
"You came back."
"Of course I did. Did you think I wouldn't?" he asked.
"No, no I knew you would, it's just, well it was so soon." she tried to cover. She didn't want him to know how insecure she'd been just a few moments before.
"It would have been sooner, but half way here I felt guilty about lying to Francis about where I was going, so I thought I'd at least do a little investigating first. She had told me about a girl that was drowned for being a witch, so I decided to go to that village in ask some questions. That girl was her sister, and the man who drowned her was her husband." he said. Catherine looked over at her.
"She was married? But she was obsessed with you."
"She used to be married. As it turns out, he didn't have her drowned because he thought she was a witch. He was having an affair with her and used the witch excuse to keep stop her from telling his secret. She was going to come clean. When Delphine found out, she killed him too."
"So that's why she clung to you. She didn't want to lose you the way she lost her husband."
"And that's why she came after you. Although, I'm not sure how she knew about us."
"You don't want to know. Let's just say, I won't be leaving any windows open anymore."
"You mean she..." he said as she picked up the vile again.
"Yes." she opened the vile and took a whiff. "This is what she gave you alright. It caused you to feel like you were burning. It was wearing off."
"If only I hadn't led her on." he said looking over at Delphine.
"Bash this isn't your fault. She wasn't right. It's nothing you did."
"If I'd gone to that town sooner I would've known and maybe I could've gotten her some help." she put her hand on his chest.
"There was no help for her. She was too far gone. You can't save the whole world...she's at peace now." he looked back at her and pulled her in placing his forehead on hers.
They stayed that way few moments, until Catherine broke the silence. "Let me bandage that wound back up." he shook his head.
"Let me bury her first, clean up this mess."
"Don't torture yourself over this." she said kissing his cheek.
"I won't. I just need a few minutes." she nodded and left him to it.
