Hidden Truths - Ethan

54 - The Poison

The red-haired woman on the fully packed horse waves in our direction. She is wearing a thick blue, woolen coat with silver ornaments sewed on the edges. The way she is riding the horse, it is obvious that she is not wearing a dress but trousers. The warm leather boots tell me that she plans to move around in the camp freely. This also means she came to stay.

I sigh.

"Come on, brother, let's open the gates for the future Miss Connor," he winks before starting to climb down the barricade. Looking at the forest behind Celeste once more, I nearly have to force myself to follow him.

I have to admit that I am tired; in more than one way.

Cassy is waiting patiently in front of the barricade as we open the gates, with the prying eyes of the beasts that usually do that work, on us. They do not stop or question us. Like a royal, Celeste's horse is gracefully marching in. She comes to a halt at the middle of the clearing. As I come closer to her she reaches out her hand and waits for me to help her dismount it, but these times are over.

We both stare at each other before she smiles smugly. "You want to see me hurdle down this horse, don't you?" Connor then realizes what is going on and takes his chance.

"You could jump and I will catch you, beauty," he says jokingly, but Celeste takes his words for good. With a swing of her leg over the horse, she motions to stumble down. Connor hurries to grab her before she hits the floor and Celeste laughs as she lands in his arms.

"Oh dear, that was fun, wasn't it? Well done," she praises. He is such an idiot.

"Thank you, darling," she says then and softly kisses his cheek, before leaving him alone. He is totally lost.

"Celeste," I hiss through my clenched teeth as she turns to me with an appraising look.

"You look so... wild tonight, my dear. Did you have a hard day?" she dares to ask casually as if nothing happened. I really have no nerves for this woman tonight, but straighten out my stiff muscles. No matter what, I need to stay strong in front of her.

"Why are you here? Don't you have a room full of people to entertain somewhere far away?" I say coldly. She looks at me in surprise.

"Aren't we grumpy tonight... You can believe it, or not, I came here to help. Connor, darling," she turns her head to him, "would you be so nice to unpack my horse? I am sure there are some people here that would appreciate the contents," her head turns to me once more, "even though some are never pleased with anything."

Connor nods but still looks at the two of us as she comes to wrap her arms around my waist and leans her face at my chest. I can hear her taking a deep breath. The way she holds me, tells me that she really needed some support right now. "Did you hear from Nora?" I ask and push her away gently. She shakes her head and I snort. Of course, she did not.

In another attempt to stay close, she reaches out her hand to stroke along my cheek as her eyes observe my face. "It's interesting," she states. I take her wrist and move it away from me. She does not have a single scratch. This means she either was not close to the headquarters or moved as fast away from it as she could when the fire took over.

My stare does not prevent her to keep on talking, "It's interesting how little you care about the rest of the world," she then says before turning on her heels and walking over the clearing just to be greeted by Lyall. What does that mean now?

"Miss Lavertu, good to see you are well," Lyall looks at Connor, who started unpacking first aid supplies and medicine. "You brought presents?"

"I have to apologize that I am a little late and that you have to deal with our concerns now, but I arranged another cart full of materials and foremost food for the humans. Could you manage to spare some of your precious members to get them from the clearing?" she beams and I can see Lyall appeased by every single word that leaves her mouth. I have to admit that she is a far better ambassador than I ever would have been able to become.