Juliet

Poison

Juliet forces her eyes open with the help of the rising sun. She was becoming tired after riding so long. It was 12 hours ago since their last stop, which Juliet felt was not long enough. Still Aleron insisted on moving. As long as they kept moving, the chances of being found was low in possibility.

Aleron looks over at Juliet, seeing her tired, "Do not worry, it'll just be a few more hours until we reach the city. Then we'll find someplace for you to rest." He says.

Juliet nods compliantly, but she did not know how much longer she could hold on. She grips onto the reins tightly, and tries to focus her balance on the horse. The rest of the journey goes by like a blur for Juliet. She did not remember reaching Milan, Aleron carefully helping her off of her horse, or how he carried her into an inn and laid her gently on the bed.

When Juliet wakes up, it was the next morning. She looks around for Aleron, but seeing as he was not in the room. She decided to just sit and wait, not wanting to go outside and risk being seen by someone who knew her like last time. She looks around the place, finding it more luxurious than the inn in Goito. While the one prior was small, this inn was a lot bigger and contained a small yet eloquent dining area. Not to mention how nice the bed was, warm and soft.

Juliet could not help but imagine laying in it with Aleron by her side. She shakes her head, trying to remove the devilish thoughts. She feels ashamed to have even been capable of thinking of him in such a way. She had to wonder, if it was her loneliness that was making her lean towards him. Aleron was atrocious, vicious, rude, and arrogant, yet comforting, caring, kind and a little sweet. She lies back in the bed staring up into the ceiling,
"Wonder, if the the thorns came before the rose, would that still make you sweet. If the roots were before the tree, how majestic would they be? If you came before he, would I have felt this way, or would I have passed you by with no other glances. How wrong would it be? How much betrayal will he see? If these feelings are wrong then erase them before they can spread, but if not the allow me this one wish. For I will no longer let my happiness be dead, and claim new if you would let him be mine."

                                                          ~ ** ~

Benvolio and Mathusela arrive in Goito with a horse for Guilelmo. They find him standing in front of a tavern with a look of anger plastered on his face. The two stop in front of him. "You movest slower than a sickly ass." He hurries to get a top the horse.

"Watch your tongue Guilelmo," Mathusela warns not taking any lip. "I suggest we search around Brescia and the surrounding cities first. It is more likely that that's where she would be hiding seeing as she chose this place."

Benvolio listens with half an ear as his cousin. Guilelmo seems to quickly acknowledge this wanting to hurry and search, but Benvolio was befuddled wondering why Juliet would want to come to Goito anyway, and how did she manage to get an inn, with no money, nor guide. He has also known Juliet to never steal a horse, and if she did. He doubted that she would be able to do so quietly. To him, this was fishy, and at first he did not want to believe it was indeed Juliet, but his brother insisted that he had saw her face and that it was her.

Benvolio believes that there was some other person with her, and leading her around. It could only be the most logical choice. As Guilelmo mounts his horse, Benvolio thinks about the possible place Juliet could be if they went west. "Let's go Benvolio," Guilelmo says impatiently.

"Ah, yes, sorry." Benvolio quickly replies.

"No apologies, now let's go search." Mathusela says taking the lead. The three ride west to search for Juliet. All the while, Benvolio was thinking of who Juliet could possibly be working with, hoping it was not any sort of vile man. He would just have to hope to find her before Guilelmo did so again.

                                                    ~ ** ~

Aleron comes back to find Juliet awake though still laying down in the bed. She stares at him as he comes in making him frown. "What is it?"

Juliet sits up and shakes her head, "I was only wondering if you had gotten any rest since we arrived here."

"Then stop wondering, that look is annoying." He turns away. "Also, there's no point in worrying about me, I got enough rest. Now, come, I wish to show you something."

Juliet gets up and goes over to him. She watches as he takes out a small dark bottle filled with a curious looking liquid and holds it up into view. "This is hemlock." He begins to explain. "This is what we'll use to take out your vengeance." Juliet continues to look at it, then reaches for it. Aleron pulls the bottle back from her hand. "Don't." He warns. "I'll keep this on me for the time being." He puts it away.

"Wait, why can I not touch it?"

"Because. I do not trust you with it. You know not of how to handle it and I do not wish for any mishaps to occur. On our way back to Verona, I'll teach you. You'll be the one poisoning them. After all this is your vengeance." He says and watches as she obediently gives in. He did not know how to feel about her compliance as of lately. It was good that she was working with him, instead of against, however, he had liked it more when she would talked back and questioned his every move. Aleron looks at her, "Now that this has been settled, would like to see the city?"

"Go out?" Juliet looks at him surprised. "Shouldn't we be more cautious?"

"We are, that's why I'll be with you., but you cannot stay cooped in here forever. The people that saw you back in Goito. I doubt that they would find you here in Milan, at least not for a few days. They will probably search the surrounding area first. I do believe they underestimate your stamina, because you are a noblewoman, though even I was impressed by how well you could keep up."

"Last time you did not think anyone would try to find me in Goito."

"And due to their surprise." Aleron cut her off. "I doubt they were searching for you, but merely stumbled there and found you in luck. That was my fault for running somewhere too close to Verona."

"Still." Juliet says unsure.

"Trust me. It's better for you to get out, than stay inside like a woman nearing labor." He holds out his hand.  Juliet looks at him cautiously. She holds back a grimace. It was becoming hard for her to say no to him.

She takes his hand, "Fine," She gives in. "But this time you take fault, if anything happens."

Aleron agrees to this assured that nothing would go wrong so long as he was there. "Let us go then, shall we?"

The two leave the room to sight see the extravagant city of Milan. They go to the markets and look upon the houses of the nobles that lived there, including the Royal Palace. They pass by the Duomo di Milano, that was still being worked upon and was rumored that work would probably continue on the cathedral for centuries. They stop to see the Columns of San Lorenzo left behind by their ancestors of the Roman empire. Juliet did indeed enjoy herself, and to his own surprise so did Aleron.