When the Moon Rises
Chapter 12: Pivot Point
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-Corridors-
My lunch with Jax had been uneventful and tedious. He was the kind of man that had one favorite subject- him. What ever hold his appearance had over me before, quickly vanished.
In order for me to win back my freedom I had to make some vague excuse about a dress fitting that he accepted with a knowing smile and a nod. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes.
I moved as fast I could in my shoes and didn't stop until I had gotten lost in the twisting corridors of the castle. I leaned against a wall panting and pulling hard at my hair in angry, frustrated tugs. I tried to clam down- thinking carefully about the layout of the castle.
It was like a poorly planned town- main streets, avenues, allies. Judging by the silence I was in an "ally". I looked back the way I had come and then in front of me. "Which way?" I muttered, raking my hands thru my hair.
I stopped, all my motion, and listened. I couldn't hear anything but my breath. It was quiet. With a quick laugh I sunk to the stone floor, my legs finally giving out. I was alone! Alone! The word that most dreaded was a euphoric antidote. Alone!
I put my hand over my mouth to quiet my laughter so I wouldn't be found. After my fit subsided I took a deep breath. I was alone. My thoughts started to jumble and I took in how my life had changed in the last 2 months and a week. I was startled by the change in the last two days. I took a deep breath.
"Focus Tara," I whispered.
"Alright, people first." I was speaking to the flagstones, but it was a healing thing- voicing my thoughts, accusations, assumptions out loud.
"Dimitri." I started with the newest of these people. "He's a general. He says that he didn't mean to kill my parents, that it was a false letter. Who did it? He didn't say… Does the Prince know that Dimitri hasn't aged? Is he cursed? But I don't believe in that… I shouldn't be having relations with him…" I was speaking in a low hushed whisper. I paused for breath then continued.
"Ceneth… the prince… him. I keep calling him that- "him", "the prince". C'mon Tara, Gods know how long you're stuck with him. Keep up his façade, even if that means thinking like that. He's not "the prince" he's Ceneth. Ceneth my fiancé… " I gulped, but forced my self to go on. "And for all he's done, he hasn't hurt me too bad… Maybe. No. I'm not going to convince myself. Ceneth is a mean, cold, hard person, he's the prince of fief, king after he marries me, but he's Ceneth." I took a deep breath, feeling a little nauseated.
"Torin." Last one, I thought pushing onward. "He's hurt me, he enjoyed it. The act made him happy. He has a lover, he's in this conspiracy. He's a bastard and can go to hell." I stopped, swallowing He's hurt you so many times. I blinked shocked by the words that had dropped those words one by one in my mind, but there was nothing around. I took a breath and shook of the incident.
"This conspiracy. Dimitri, Jax, Tobin, Torin, and Eva are all apart of it- consciously because they know what happening and nothing surprises them. The whore, Alenya, is a pawn, so is that woman from dinner the other night." I tried to shake the image of Ceneth's tortured face from my mind.
"And then these…dreams." I whispered.
I understood them. Well, except for a few. The first one from last night made sense. It was Dimitri and Torin, talking about their conspiracy. The one after it made sense as well. What didn't make sense was the one of the pregnant woman running. I tried to get a meaning out of it when I heard footsteps somewhere down the hallway.
I pulled myself up off the ground and hurried away in the opposite direction, my shoes clacking loudly, giving me away. I kicked them off, desperate not to be found, and ran down the hallway, my bare feet slapping the stones.
When I reached a carpeted hallway I slowed down to a walk, turning right and following voices. I was in the great hall again. Women where milling about, some standing some perched elegantly on the settee's placed around the room. There were about fifty or so of them and as soon as I stepped into the hall they went quiet, unabashedly looking at me.
I walked as dignified as I could toward the French doors that opened to the balcony, keeping my head high and back straight. They started to whisper to each other, loud enough that I caught a couple of things.
"That's her."
"Look at what she's wearing."
"She must be wearing slippers."
"Look at her skin!"
"So pretty."
"Looks cold."
"My Lady," A woman stepped forward to meet me.
"Alenya's not going to like this…" they whispered. I inclined my head toward the woman, motioning for her to fall in step beside me.
I studied this new woman as we walking, using quick glances out of the corner of my eye. She was taller than be by a couple of inches, but that because of her heeled shoes. Her skin was an iridescent white with a dusting of tiny golden freckles across her nose. Her hair was a rich curling brown that was pulled back to show of her graceful throat and delicate collar bones. I couldn't see her well enough to guess the color of her eyes. She was all in all a woman of contrast. Her features were delicate but at the same time sharp and over powering for her average structure. By her dress I could tell that she was of the court, not a courtesan.
We stepped out onto the patio the hot stone burning the souls of my feet. I moved to the railing where the stones where cooled by the shade and stood with my back to the hall. The woman stood next to me her hands resting on the railing, her fingers raising up, not lying flat, she was a pianist.
"How may I help you?" I asked her.
"My lady, it is such an honor to have a moment with you." She said. I turned to face her- taking in her smile and her overall presence.
"Miss, if you could cut to the chase it would benefit both of us." She raised her eyes to look at me. Her brilliantly green eyes. I was so startled that I fought to hold my composer, chocking down my shock. I had seen those eyes before…
"Forgive me. My name is Ondine Boklov. I believe that you have meet my brother- Dima." I looked at her, confused as to who she was talking about.
"Excuse me?" I managed. She laughed, her face lighting up and her shoulders shaking.
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry- my brother Dimitri." I tried to ignore the heat in my cheeks. She couldn't be lying. They had the same color eyes and the same hair color. They spoke with the same accent, rich, heavy, like honey.
"Yes he is a good friend of my fiancé, it is quiet entertaining to watch them together." I lied. Again with me and the lying. When will it ever end? She bit her lip and looped her arm thru mine, making me move with her toward the balcony that I had seen Jax and Tobin fighting from earlier.
"Tell me, my lady, how is Cen- I mean his highness?" I smiled tersely at her.
"Ondine please, let us be friends, you'd do me a great favor by calling me Tara and his highness Ceneth." She smiled at me, a big bright smile.
"Well, thank you…Tara for such an honor. Now, really, how is Ceneth doing? Is he happy?" I glanced at her
"Ondine, I don't know. Sometimes he seems happy and others he becomes very frustrated," with me. I added silently.
She nodded her head and bit her lip again.
"I had feared as much." She whispered. "After Dariya, Alenya, came into his life, Ceneth has been much more…angry."
I nodded my head silently listening as the other courtiers flooded out onto the balcony, ready for the fight. I knew without looking or hearing that they were pointing and whispering about me. Dimitri stepped onto the field, his muscled torso bare for all to see. In his hand he balanced an elegant silver sword. He looked up at the crowd, his eyes searching, I ducked behind his sister, but his eyes locked onto me and he smiled and waved. Ondine smiled and waved back at him and I knew that she had no idea about our relationship.
"Come we must go down." Ondine said, looping her arm thru mine again.
"Why?" I asked dumbly. Her smile hardened.
"You must give Ceneth a token of your affection." she whispered.
"Naturally." I replied, moving with her down to the filed.
We stepped off the stairs and onto the grass as Ceneth stepped onto the field. My breath got trapped in my chest as I noticed the two scars on his back. One ran up the length of his spin, silver and raised a little. The other was from fire. It was on his left shoulder and the skin look shiny, warped almost.
Everything thing seemed to slow down, Dimitri and Ceneth walking toward each other, shaking hands. Then time moved again and everything was crystal clear.
"We know this is for Tara."
I don't know if I heard what Dimitri had said or I read his lips, but Ceneth's grip tightened at the words and his smile became forced. He turned on his heel abruptly leaving Dimitri to the care of his sister as I walked toward Ceneth. The courtiers had grown quiet and were watching us.
"Ceneth." I whispered. He looked at me.
"I didn't think you'd come down here." He said.
"Well here I am." I said forcing a smile.
"Your particularly short today." He commented with a slight smile. I fumed silently. Yes I was shorter than average for my age, but still.
"I come down here to play good little fiancé and that's all you have to say? You're short?!" I demanded. He laughed, and stepped closer to me wrapping his arms around me in a hug.
"Do I get a kiss?" his smile was bright and happy. He enjoyed the banter. I would never understand the man.
I looked up at him from under my lashes and bit my lip a little.
"I don't know. How bad do you want one?" I asked him. My cheeks heated up as I remembered my conclusion from earlier. My…jealousy. There! I said it!
He made a low sound in the back of his throat.
"You little tease."
I stood up on my tip-toes and kiss his cheek, the stubble scratchy against my lips. He let me go and looked at me with wide eyes, not believing I had done it. My stomach knotted in on itself.
"I do try." I whispered. He smiled.
"Have dinner with me tonight." He said.
"Do you I have a choice?" I asked him. His gaze didn't waver.
"Yes."
"Fine." I said, desperate to get away from him. He looked pleasantly surprised and then focused his attention on his sword.
Unlike Dimitri's it was black in color with tiny white stone set into the hilt. I moved away from Ceneth and back onto the balcony to a spaced cleared just for me. Ondine joined me shortly and Jax stepped on to the field. He recited the rules of the game, the bet and then told them to have at it.
It was a slow start, they circled each other and banter and a couple of the spectators grumbled.
"They've fought each other enough; I don't why they are sizing the other up." Ondine said, crossing her arms over her chest. I know why, I thought.
Dimitri made the first move, lunging toward Ceneth in what looked to me just to be a reckless move that left his right side wide open. Ceneth side stepped the blade easily, smiling widely as Dimitri pitched forward.
"Oh Dima! Don't fall!" Ondine said beside me.
"Yes, but that was a particularly good move on Ceneth's part." I said.
She nodded her head and bit her lip thoughtfully as she watched Dimitri regain his ground. Ceneth stood, waiting like a gentleman for Dimitri to recover himself from the almost fall.
"It is odd, is it not?" a man's voice said from my right.
I looked over toward him, raising an eye brow.
He was one I hadn't seen before. His skin was honey dark like the others but his looked somehow…more natural, which was ridiculous considering the only reason the men here where dark, was because of the time they spent out doors. He looked like he'd been born with his skin color. His hair was a thick swatch of dark brown and dusky cinnamon highlights. His hazel eyes were looking out over the field but he was smiling, his perfect white teeth for all to see.
He glanced over at me.
"Seeing as Lord Boklov is the General and the Prince has been trained in combat for many years, they are simply toying with each other." I nodded my head, trying to pin point his accent.
It wasn't like Ondine's or Dimitri's, theirs was thick and rich, I compared it to honey. But theirs was more of like syrup.
This man… his voice was beautiful, mute, deep, and articulated with an accent that drawled out his vowels and made it sound like when he spoke that honey was being poured over your limbs. He would be a very persuasive person with a voice like that.
His hand came up and he brushed his dark hair with his fingers. A lock of it fell to shadow his eyes and tendrils curled around his ears and on the back of his neck. He was dressed down, much more so than the other men, with a simple linen white shirt black pants and boots.
On his finger was a thick ring of silver inlaid with an emerald and on his neck was a pendant hung from a silver chain. The pendant itself was odd, hammered out silver that was somehow connected together to make an odd shape, like an ancient rune.
"I'm sorry, I don't know you." I said, trying to split my attention. He held up a finger.
"Watch," he said. I looked back at the field and did as he commanded, watching as Dimitri finally got serious and started to fight for real, backing Ceneth up until he was dangerously close to the edge of the ring.
"Oh, that's cowardly!" Ondine protested. I patted her arm and she giggled a bit.
Ceneth somehow maneuver himself so he was behind Dimitri and poised his sword level with Dimitri's throat. The courtiers murmured and I knew that meant the fight was over.
"Wait!" called out Ceneth. The man next to me laughed quietly and played with the ring on his finger. "First blood." He said.
I looked wildly around, trying to figure out what was going on. The ladies were laughing the men nodding appreciatively.
"They will fight until on of them draws blood." The man on my right said. I swallowed my throat dry. I turned to Ondine
"They are going to take a quick break, right?" I asked her. She nodded her head.
Without further ado I got up and went down to the field. Ceneth was lying down in the grass his hands behind his head and his eyes closed.
"What are you doing?" I hissed. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at me.
"Lying down. Care to join me?" He asked. I felt like spitting on him.
"No! What the hell are you thinking? First blood? Knowing you two you'll cut each others arms off!" he smiled and sat up, glancing at Dimitri.
"Hmm. I'll be careful."
"No, you won't I know you well enough to know that." I spat. He looked up at me in surprise.
"You're concerned." He stated.
"Oh, don't look so smug!" I fumed silently while he got to his feet.
"Here's what will happen. Dimitri will be upset because he lost the first match. He will be too cowardly, trust me. The only thing he will do is he will nick my arm or something, I'm not the one you should be worried about." I looked at him and the across the field, remembering the words Dimitri had said earlier.
"If you loose?" I asked him. He looked away from me, his jaw taught and his hands clenched.
"I…I break off our engagement." He had faltered. What was he not telling me?
"And when, if, you do that?"
"You're Dimitri's, indefinitely." My heart started to gallop.
"You can't do that to me. You can't." He looked at me in surprise.
"are you saying he's worse than me?"
"He killed my parents." I whispered.
Ceneth's face stayed carefully calm, but the muscle in his jaw twitched. With a sigh I moved away from him and back up to the balcony where Ondine hadn't moved and inch and was watching me intently. The man that I had been sitting next to was also watching me with interest. I sat back down in-between them.
"Please tell me your name sir." He glanced at me but his eyes stayed focused on the filed.
"Philippe, everyone calls me Philip." I looked at him a bit dazed.
That was my father's name, I thought. I
"Because you ask them to or because they do it any way?" I asked him, licking my dry lips.
"They call me Philip regardless my whishes." He murmured.
"So what would you like to be called?" I asked him. He glanced at me.
"Whatever you wish is fine." He replied. I bit my lip and looked down at the field where Jax was announcing the rules.
Soon they were at it, both men with a concentrated look on their faces. I crossed my arms and giggled my foot. There were pros and cons to this battle. The good part was that should Dimitri win I would be set free from Ceneth, but I'd bee under Dimitri's discretion. The bad part…I didn't know it then.
Dimitri made the first move again, but this one wasn't clumsy, it was cold, calculating, and precise. Ceneth just managed to fend off the blow with a parry. And with the first clash of metal they were off. The spectators were quiet this time; the only sound was of metal grating against metal and the occasional insult. And the deadly dance began.
As they fought the insults became less and less until they stopped all together. I was uncomfortable, embarrassed because this ferocity was over me, nervous for their safety and appalled by the joy the court took in watching these two friends fight each other until first blood.
It was close, neither one tiring, neither one lagging. The positions would constantly change, defending to attacking. Each lunge, thrust, parry, and sidestep putting me on edge.
At one point Dimitri almost stepped out of the ring and Ondine's breath whistled over her teeth. Her mouth was in a tight line and her brows furrowed with worry. Philippe was stoic, watching them fight with a sort of bored amusement, but he didn't comment.
When it looked like no one would win and this would go on for hours the courtiers started to leave, but the fight stayed just as ferocious.
Then time did that funny thing it does when something pivotal happens- it slowed down. Dimitri lunged and cut right, his blade just nicking Ceneth's arm, if it wasn't for what would happen to me if Ceneth lost I would have found it ironic, but I didn't.
Little beads of blood lined the cut, dark red, I didn't know what I was doing, just that I did. I stood up, swaying.
"Tara?" Ondine asked. Immediately I was the pinpoint of attention.
"I'm…I'm okay." In the shakiest voice I could manage.
`Then I did the hardest and scariest thing- I pitched forward and prayed that someone would catch me. Someone did and I could tell from the band of metal that was pressing into my arm it was Philippe. I tried to keep my eyes shut as I was maneuvered onto my back and my head propped up.
"I saw that." Philippe whispered in my ear and I fought to keep my face slack and my breath normal. Some gently patted my cheeks.
"Is she okay?" I heard Ceneth's voice demand.
"Lady?" Dimitri.
"I don't know why she fainted." Ondine.
"She will be fine, trust me." Philippe.
"Should we get a doctor?" Dimitri again, he sounded miffed.
"No, my Prince, will you take her to her room? Ondine, please accompany him and see that my Lady gets the proper care." Philippe, it dawned on me how much I liked him. I started to blink my eyes and tried to sit up. "No, no, do not." Philippe said, pushing me down.
"What?" I whispered.
Ceneth's arms went under my knees and around my back and he cradled me to his chest my ear pressed to where his heart was beating, slowly.
Thump-thump.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will not be picked up this fight later today, let's call it a draw." His voice sent vibrations thru my body.
Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.
I put my head on his shoulder and whispered as the talking started up, "Look at your left arm." I felt his neck turn as he did as I asked and I hoped that he did it stealthily
Thirty. Thirty-one. Thirty-two. Thirty-three.
Ondine's footsteps where next to us.
"Ondine, please go ahead and pull down the sheets and shut the curtains."
"Yes." She paused. "Will she be okay?" she whispered. My heart was touched, she honestly cared.
"Yes, I'm sure she will. We'll be right behind you." She hurried ahead.
Forty-five. Forty-six. Forty-seven. Forty-eight. Forty-nine.
Thump-thump.
Fifty seconds between beats, I was smart enough o know that was not normal.
"You're insane." He whispered.
"I guess." I murmured in reply.
"How did you even see that scratch, it's tiny."
"I don't know, but you were bleeding."
"Tara…I'm sorry about your parents. I shouldn't let him near you…I…" his hands tightened around me. I lifted my head up.
"It's fine. You can put me down." He smirked.
"No, I can't. I can't believe you faked that just so no one would notice it."
"Let me see it." I demanded.
"No." his voice was firm and the smirked had slipped from his lips.
"Ceneth. Let. Me. See. It."
"Absolutely not."
"I don't see why-"
"Act like you did faint for a second, we're here." I dropped my head back to his shoulder as he fumbled with the door handle. The door clicked and then opened. Ondine wasn't anywhere, but the curtains where drawn and the sheets turned down.
"Where is she?" he whispered.
"The closet?" I suggested. He dropped me on the bed.
"That wasn't nice." I complained. He grinned broadly.
"I thought you knew that I wasn't a nice person."
"And your cold, mean, hateful, spiteful and-"
"Enough with my personality," He grumbled.
I nodded my head and looked at his arm, the cut on his arm was not a scratch- it was a gash. The bleeding had stopped and I was about to yell at him for lying when something stilled me.
I swore that his skin was moving back together. I watched the wound very closely, watching in amazement as the skin did what I thought it did, it knitted itself back together until there was no record of the cut, just a small pink line and a bead of blood. I looked up at his face; he was looking at me eyes wide.
"What are you?" I asked him. He blinked.
"What?"
"What the hell are you?" I shouted, back up frantically, trying to get out of reaching distance.
"I-I don't un-understand." He stuttered. I grabbed a pillow and pulled it against my chest.
"Your heart, your skin…what else?" I could feel my heart beating wildly against my ribs my lungs felt like they couldn't get enough air.
"Tara. What are you talking about?" his voice was placating, patronizing.
He knew it.
He knew what I was talking about, but he was going to pretend he didn't. That's what he was. A pretender, wanting to be something he wasn't.
You're the same. Something whispered. I tried to shake the voice away as the edges of my vision were being bleached with black.
XoxOxoX
I opened my eyes. Ondine was hovering over me and the room was dark. I bolted up, looking around, the towel that had been on my forehead falling onto my lap.
"What happened?" I whispered. Ondine look relieved.
"You fainted, Tara." She whispered.
"The fight?" I whispered.
"It wasn't a dream."
"No one won?" I asked her. She shook her head no. "What happened after I fainted?"
"Ceneth brought you here, gave you to me and then left. He was quiet distraught." My stomach knotted up and Ondine's did not waver from mine.
I tried to grab at something, a shred of a memory, but then it was gone. Not for your eyes. What…? I blinked and looked up at her.
"Is there anything going on tonight?" she grinned widely.
"I thought you'd never ask!" She laughed.
"What?" I asked her. She shook her head and pulled on my hand until I was out of bed.
On light feet she flitted thru my bathroom and to the closet she came back a quick second later with a dress and a pair of shoes. She held up the dress for me to see. It was lilac in color, cotton from the look of the material. It was a modest dress with a graceful neckline and sleeves that ended just above the elbow. The shoes she had fished out were simple white slippers.
"I approve," I said. Ondine smiled wide and motioned for me to get dress.
With a sigh I did as she asked me. My mind wasn't on the dressing though, I was trying to get that memory I had forgotten back. It was important, but every time I almost got it, it slipped thru my fingers.
XoxOxoX
Ondine led me out onto yet another of the many patios of the castle and with a giggle left me to fend for myself.
My thoughts were a jumbled mess and my forgetfulness bothered me more than it usually did.
I walked toward the candlelight that was coming from the other side of the patio and found myself pleasantly delighted. There was a small table set for two places and a bottle of wine in the middle next to a candelabra. The moon was hung low in the sky the starts were sparkling brilliantly and the fireflies where blinking in the garden.
"Wow." I whispered.
"It's beautiful isn't?" I turned around my hand to my throat in surprise. Ceneth was standing there a playful smile stretching his lips
"You scared me!" I breathed. He ducked his head, looking down at his shoes.
"Sorry about that." He murmured.
"It's okay."
He looked up at me and smiled sheepishly and I caught myself wondering if he was that shy or if this situation made him uncomfortable. He moved to one of the chairs and pulled it out, with a small smiled I sat down in it and folded the napkin in my lap. He sat down opposite to me and also folded his napkin in his lap. It was all a very awkward business.
"Are you okay?" he asked me.
"Yes. I'm fine. To tell the truth I can't remember why I even fainted." He let out a breath and smiled sadly.
"Well, I guess it was the heat, you never do know."
"No, you don't." I replied. He paused and poured us each a glass of red wine. I held the stem gently and took a sip. The heavy fluid ran down my tongue.
"Now, tell me, who lost?" I asked him. He smiled.
"After your little episode we stopped fighting, called it a draw."
"Has he tried to spring you in a hallway or something?" I asked him.
"No, Dimitri is probably more disappointed with the outcome than most would care to guess."
"I suppose. What makes me so valuable though?" I asked him. Ceneth looked up at me. His eyes grew hard and his mouth pressed into a thin line.
"That's what I want to know." He whispered. My palms started to sweat and my body went cold. "Did you do anything with him." It was a command to tell him.
"Why?" I asked.
"I have the right to know what goes on in my walls." Oh gods. I was in so much trouble… I swallowed.
"Well." I knotted my fingers together. "I don't know why I did it. I was so alone. And he had come in that morning to take me to see you, but he didn't he took me to Torin and I don't know why I did it. They both have hurt me and I guess I'm a horrible judge of character. I don't know." I whispered. It all came out in a tumble,
I would be surprised if he under stood any of it. He must have.
He slowly turned to stone. His eye hardening into chips of dark sapphire, he jaw taught and his shoulders tense. His chest barely moved with each breath he took.
"Why?" he chocked out.
"I don't know." I whispered again. Slowly the sing of his rage began to show, the twitch of the muscle in his jaw, his hands convulsively forming into fists his breathing speeding up.
"He killed your parents." He said.
"Yes."
"And you slept with him?" his voice was laced with disgust.
"Yes." I whispered.
"What the hell where you thinking?" he shouted, standing up abruptly.
"I don't know." I whispered.
"Didn't you even think about what you were doing?"
"Yes! And I regret it! Do you think I don't? Do you think I woke up and smiled because of my conquest? I didn't if your curios! And who the hell are you to tell me about relations?" I shouted.
"I stopped that when you asked me. You could have just let it alone." He hissed.
"I asked you after it happened!" I shouted, my temper flaring again.
"That's not the point."
"Yes, it is the Gods damned point!" I yelled, throwing my hands above my head.
"Do not yell at me." He whispered.
"You're jealous aren't you?" I said, feeling the wonder on my face. He shook his head no and laughed with out humor. "Yes, yes you are! You wanted me for yourself. All of me. That's twisted."
"Shut up." He hissed, his hands clenching at his sides. I laughed, more of a shrill bark.
"That's it isn't it? You are such a sick and twisted man!"
"Shut up."
"You wanted to save the reluctant girl-"
"Stop!" he shouted.
"All for your self!" I yelled over top him, not relenting. "You sick bastard." He glared at me.
"Don't. You. Dare." He whispered.
"You wanted my virginity." I said, I felt the nasty smile that twisted my lips.
"You don't know anything." He said.
"I don't know anything? Then tell me Ceneth. Why don't you tell me what the hell is going on around here?"
"Nothing is going on."
"Yes, but back on the previous subject- you wouldn't have gotten it." I said in a sing-song voice. He stared at me, mouth open his eye helpless. "You'll never guess who took it. Nope! Torin. He took it. Do you want to know what he did?" I was whispering toward the end. All of my pain, my rage hatred for Torin and Dimitri was bubbling to the surface. Ceneth was just on the receiving end, somewhere I felt guilty for my behavior.
"No. Tara. Please. Just…don't." he whispered. His eyes seemed to shimmer.
"After he gave me this lovely bruise," I said, still using that high pitch patronizing sing song voice
"Don't. I don't want to hear it, please." He whispered.
"No, no, wait! It gets even better!" I sang.
"Tara. Please."
"He raped me." I said, using that same voice, but I could feel the hyseterical laugh bubbling in my chest.
What have I done?
Ceneth sat down and hung his head in his hands. I sat down too. Sick and tired. So, so tired. I rested my head on the table and looked at my feet. This was hell. Just like us two.
"You and I can ruin a perfectly good night. Can't we?" I whispered. His fingers brushed over my hand and I glanced up at him. He was looking at me, but his expression was guarded and he looked tired as well.
"Its not us," He whispered, "it's everything else in this world." I nodded my head. Cliché. Cliché. Cliché times three!
"You know when this all began I thought it was a bit like beauty and the beast. I thought I was the beauty, you the beast. Looks like I was wrong." I whispered. He smiled sadly.
"You have no idea." I looked at him, a question dawning on me.
"How? How can you forget that? I just screamed at you and tortured you and you're back as if it never happened."
"When you live with disappointment, lust, rage, jealously you easily become immune to it. What you said didn't make me angry, well a little. What makes me angry is seeing the toll this horrid place is taking on you. It's selfish of me." He whispered.
"You'll let me go home?" I asked him, suddenly hopeful.
"No. I can't."
"Why not?" I asked, sullen again, feeling tears finally threaten to break.
"Because if let you go I can't keep an eye on you." He said with a slight smile.
"What? Are you suddenly concerned about me?"
"We are still at war, the price for your head is just as high as it is for mine." He said.
"I'm sorry Ceneth. I said things that I shouldn't have."
"Its all right." He said with another tiny smile.
You poisonous bitch. I blinked. What was with that voice I kept hearing? With a shaky sigh I downed the contents of my glass.
"I'm not very hungry." I whispered. He nodded his head.
"Same here." I smiled sadly.
"Can I go to sleep?" I asked him. He smiled a little as well.
"Yes, I think we could both use some sleep and time to think about everything that happened today."
"Yeah." I whispered. We both moved thru the castle to our respected rooms. I stopped outside of my door.
"Goodnight Ceneth." I whispered.
"Goodnight." He called back. I turned the handle and stepped into my room, shutting the door behind me.
-Forest Room-
He sat on the edge of his bed, his boot thrown haphazardly across the floor. His shirt was untucked and his hair mussed from where he had run his hands thru it. There was a knock on the door, but he ignored it, continuing on with his brooding. The knocks came again, more insistent. He opened the door with a sigh.
"Ondine." He said. She put her hands on her hips.
"I did it."
"I noticed." He replied. She tapped her foot,
"You know, when I was sent here to watch you the job didn't say favors where required."
"You would have done it any way." He said.
"Yeah,. I know." She whispered.
"Thank you." He said.
"What ever. Goodnight." She said closing the door as she left.
He smiled a bit and went back to sit on the edge of his bed. This was hell. His mind kept going over the day. So much in one little day… One thing in particular bothered him.
Torin. The mere thought made his blood boil and curdle. It was all he could do not to hunt down the bastard and kill him. But why this anger? Why this sudden attachment? He rubbed his temples, sighing.
With a groan he fell back onto the bed, his hands behind his head. His eyes were closed and he was drifting to sleep when something shattered that peace.
He sat up bolt right, looking around for whatever had woken him up. But there was nothing. He didn't move, stating hard at the floor and straining his ears for any noise.
He was about to give up when he heard it again, a muffled scream that it was coming from what sounded like the next room over.
But that was impossible.
His heart started to beat faster and his blood ran cold. He didn't stop to think, he pushed himself off the bed and opened the door to the hallway with a quick flick of his wrist. When he heard that muffled scream again he broke into a run.
A/N~ took me two days! Two days to write all of this! So the good news is while the majority of this is confusing, we are getting to the good part, someone's asked me where we are in my plot and I think its safe to say that right now we are smack dab in the middle. I dunno if that means ill be writing another 12 chapters, I just know that know we will be moving at a whole lot faster pace and there should be some action. So tell me what you (Tara's life just sucks, doesn't?) Oh and really quick- if you're wondering what the cliché thing is- that's me mocking myself ;). Question, Comment, Concerns, ect- you know how to get me! And i want to know what you think of my two new characters!
One last little thing- one of my favorite authros used to write on this site, Cassandra Clare, she wrote the mortal instrument books (I loves those!) so if you know her pen name here, could you tell me? thanks!
