Daisy II | Levi Ackerman

Chapter 35 - The Burden of Vows

854

[Naomi]

August quickened by like an empty gust of wind, as the Military tried our best to navigate the increasingly bewildering ordeal of this war. Factions had been dividing the Regiments, protests were clamoring down the Headquarters' gates almost every single waking day, pernicious rumors were splitting the leaders into suspicion against one another, and it didn't help my anxiety that the noble board was warned by Minister Winston that we were basically parading around the streets with a bullseye clipped to the back of our heads.

The fact that I was also a high-ranking military leader made it even worse. I didn't worry much about my safety, for I was always on guard and I could easily defend myself. I worried more, incessantly, feverishly- so much so that it troubled me enough to cause insomnia- about my Nicholas and Lilian. If revolutionists or opposing factions wanted to target me or Levi, they might take our kids as an option. Or some other opportunistic madmen might take advantage of this revolt and take them for the hell of it, to extract whatever benefits they needed from me or my husband.

Of course, this was probably just me thinking way too ahead of the exhausting, nerve-wracking present. There had been no threats to the Court so far, and the subdivision in which we resided was of course, heavily guarded. The twins were safe in our Mansion with the servants while the Military Police constantly patrolled outside.

It was truly a period of dark rule, and it kept weighing us down like shackles.

The only thing that made me smile, even weakly, or at least induce a bit of uplift in my spirits were either the twins; or, though flustered and embarrassed I am to say it, my conversations with Zeke. Before long, I always looked forward to my weekly visits to the Forest, just because I needed someone to talk to amidst this haze of terrible confusion, fear and loneliness. It was a necessity of course for supplies and reports, but there was a different motive to go there now. And I could sense that he felt that subtle enthusiasm too.

Every half of the week, I sent Kurt with either Reid, Timothy or Cara to the Forest so he could substitute for Levi at times when I was occupied. Knowing Levi, he wouldn't appoint one of his reporting scouts there to take his place for him every once in a while, so I just took my liberty and left him with no choice but to take a rest, with the help of Kurt. And every time Kurt returned to the Interior, he always had a note from Zeke to me.

Zeke wrote the shortest of messages, given only a brief time to write and limited resources to use. But he always made me smile, or even laugh sometimes with using his goofy  humor to comment on the books I sent him, contrasting their serious tones. He always seemed to go back to my favorite novel whenever reminded, and it still flustered me how similarly we thought and felt about it. Of course, Zeke never brushed close to the excitement I felt when debating with Levi, but perhaps that was just because Zeke and I agreed on everything.

I never wrote back, though. I hadn't even made a visit yet since the last time because of how worried I was with the kids, and how anxious I was of what happens next.

I knew well that when I came back, I might be able to divert us back to the subject of the Dietrichs, through that necklace. I might even tell him that I was Celestine Austerlitz just to make him relate everything he knows about these enigmatic aristocrats to me. I weighed the liability of my divulging the fact that I was the girl he was looking for, the girl that gave Bertholdt that valuable piece of jewelry.

Would that put me in graver danger? Would that jeopardize my family? Knowing that it had something to do with half of my blood, I did not want to risk the probability of any harmful ripples affecting Levi or our kids. So I had to be cautious in taking steps through this minefield.