Gilthunder's Half Sister

Chapter Nineteen: Houser

Houser continued to stare as the group shifted back and forth, waiting for the moment to end.

"Right." King said as he clapped his hands, breaking the tension. "Now, what do you say we all go back to the king?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and started off back to the main section of the castle to find the king, with Houser bringing up the end. Once back into the main section of the castle, the King looked at everyone curiously. "Is everything alright?" The King asked, noting everyone's red face.

"FINE. Everything is fine!" Houser blurted in response. The King looked around, but decided to move on.

"Right. Well" the King turned to Keeva, "Keeva you are owed an apology for everything that happened. I'm sure Gilthunder has apologized several times but allow me to add mine as well. I'm dreadfully sorry." The King knelt as he said these last words. Keeva' eyes widened and she started to panic.

"Oh. Uh. No. Please..you don't have to. Please stand. It's fine!!" Keeva babbled, waving her arms in a panic. Gilthunder laughed in response. The King slowly rose to his feet.

"Now that you are all back, what do you all say about having a feast?" The King asked. The group smiled in response.

"YES!" They answered in unison. Meliodas rubbed his belly at the thought of the delicious food. The King smiled.

"Wonderful we will get everything ready and feast tomorrow night. Until then,  do whatever you wish. I shall see you all tomorrow night." As he left, he stopped and gave Elizabeth a hug before being followed by several servants.

Unsure of what to do, everyone looked at everyone else. They all decided to head back to the Tavern as it was starting to get dark. Ban quickly started cooking the others sat around, talking about their adventures and drinking. Keeva excused herself and went up to the roof for fresh air. She heard footsteps coming after sitting on the ground.

Keeva looked up at Houser. The sun had set and it was just stars and the light flowing in from the Boars tavern that lit up their night. They sat on the second story, watching the stars go by.

Houser felt her looking at him and looked down to see she had quickly turned away. He walked over to her and sat down. "The stars are pretty tonight." He said, as it was the only thing coming to his mind not relating her her.

Keeva turned her head to look at Houser. "Yes, they are." She responded. There was a breeze that blew through the two and Keeva instinctively shivered. Houser took his coat off and laid it across her shoulders. Startled, Keeva looked up at him. "Thank you." She responded and scooted herself closer to him.

Houser looked surprised, but also scooted slightly closer to her. Keeva suddenly turned and faced him directly. "Houser, when we first met, you liked Dianne. Right?" Houser's eyes became big as he pulled his head back in surprise. Flustered, he was only able to answer with "Uh, yeah I suppose."

Keeva moved closer to him, her face now inches from his. "Do you still feel that way?" Keeva was not usually so blunt. But she didn't want to waste her time and feelings if he still loved Dianne. It wouldn't be fair to anyone if she did that.

Houser looked down at her. He was unsure of how to answer. It was true he loved Dianne. It was also true that he had feelings for Keeva as well. He was unsure of which feelings were stronger or which was the correct ones to act on. Seeing her face look so concerned and sad hurt his heart, but he also couldn't lie to her.

He looked back up at the sky as he thought about the best way to respond. The pause in his answer was enough to make Keeva's eyes tear up. She knew if Gilthunder was asked about Margaret, he would have answered in a heartbeat. Houser's pause was enough for her to realize either he liked them both or only liked Dianne and was trying to figure out the best way to answer.

Keeva slowly stood up and gave him back his jacket. "Never mind. It was a silly question anyways. Thanks for letting me use your jacket." Keeva said, voice quivering as tears continued to form in her eyes.

Houser also stood. "Keeva..." He started but Keeva put her finger to his lips. He looked at her face and seen tears falling down her cheeks. He wiped them away gently as Keeva spoke.

"You don't have to explain. I understand. It was a silly question. I'm sorry." Those sentences were all Keeva was going to manage to get out. She was a second away from full blown tears and she didn't want Houser to see that. She pulled away from him and walked through the door where she shut it and ran across the hall into her room, threw herself on her bed, and cried until she fell asleep.

Houser stood, watching the door, hoping Keeva would come back out, but she never did. He sat back down and looked up at the sky as he thought about his true feelings.

Suddenly, the door opened. Houser turned around quickly, only to see Elizabeth standing there. "Sorry, I know I'm not who you wanted to see. But I seen Keeva crying and wondered what happened."

Houser sighed. "She asked how I feel about Dianne and honestly...I don't know how I feel. I didn't have time to answer before she said nevermind and ran back inside."

Elizabeth walked closer and sat down next to him. "You don't know how you feel about both of them or just Dianne?" She asked.

Houser replied quickly "both. I have feelings for both. But I don't know who I have stronger feelings for. Who would be better, ya know?"

"I see. Maybe it would be good to start with what you like in both of them?" Elizabeth suggested.

"Dianne is nice, doesn't hold grudges, beautiful, and spunky. She can be bossy, but I like that she's not afraid to take charge."

"Okay, what about Keeva?" Elizabeth asked.

"Keeva is gentle, kind, beautiful, and selfless. Sometimes she puts too much on her own shoulders but I know it's because she doesn't want to burden others. She's just like her brother."

"Nothing stands out more to you?" Elizabeth prodded Houser.

"Not really."

**I'm sorry for my long absence. I can't promise it won't happen again to be honest as a lot is happening right now in my life BUT I will try to keep up writing chapters! I haven't seen any of the new seasons so just an FYI on that one haha. Thank you all for the support 😁

Picture is not mine. You can find it and the artist here: https://www.tumgir.com/tag/frey%20rune%20factory%204