Celtic Fiction Novel- A dash of historical fantasy!- We Come Back-: Vol. 1: Chapter 5.1- Deadly Sweet
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Deadly Sweet
Aubrey arrived outside the palace quite relieved to be home.
As soon as he reached the bridge, he messaged Raea with his ring. The closer he got to the palace, the more he wondered why she hadn’t responded. They had always stopped whatever they were doing in order to respond, yet she still hadn’t. He felt himself start to walk faster, and then he began to run.
He opened the front palace doors out of breath.
Trix happened to be the only one in the vicinity when he burst in. She ran to him.
“Aubrey! Is something troubling you?” he was panting.
“Where is she? Where is Raea?”
“She is… on Earth. Why do you ask with such urgency?”
“I am relieved to hear she has had no harm come to her. I messaged her, and yet for the first time, I have not yet received a response.”
Trix hated keeping anything from Aubrey,
and in fact wasn’t great at it, but she figured Raea ought to do her own explaining as to the reason she hadn’t responded.
“Well, I am sure she was extremely preoccupied.”
“You mean painting?”
Trix smiled at him. He could always read her like a book. He knew there was something she wasn’t saying. Though he was not in the habit of manipulating her feelings for him in order to get the answers he was seeking, he had considered it a time or two.
Trix could see he was contemplating her answer,
or rather lack thereof. She went to say something more, but they were interrupted by his seasonal parents, who had just come into the room. His father spoke first.
“Son, we weren’t expecting you home so soon. What a pleasant surprise.”
His mother kissed his cheek, whilst his father shook his hand.
“I wasn’t intending to come home so soon father, but I finished early. In fact, I was just asking Trix if Raea had returned from painting yet.”
“She doesn’t return until right before dinner, you know that,” his mother responded.
“Of course.”
His father and he exchanged glances.
His family was keeping something hidden from him.
“I thought I would go upstairs and change into something more comfortable. Then perhaps we could have tea in the drawing room mother?”
“Of course, my dear.”
She set off to find Andean. Trix glanced at Aubrey, smiling at him as she was so relieved that he was now home, before excusing herself.
“Father?”
He gestured to the stairs. His father followed him up to his room. When they were alone, and he was removing his shirt, he confronted his father.
“Tell me what is going on with Raea?”
“You caught on to that did you? Not that your mother is the best at hiding anything.”
“Come on now. Nobody in this house keeps secrets very well, except perhaps Andean.”
His father and he shared in their laughter.
Andean had many times proven to keep secrets, and everyone in the household relied upon him to do so. Quite a few times in fact, Aubrey had spent a late night with Master Dyvin, drinking too much wine and coming home so late that Andean would have to let him in. His father on the other hand, well let’s just say, his pride was his biggest flaw, and on a few accounts Andean saved him from himself, with no one else the wiser. Thinking about the times with Dyvin when he were younger, reminded him of when he and Raea had, had a drunken night of truth and love together. They’d only kissed but it was so strong he never lost hope.
When his father had headed down stairs,
he finished getting dressed for the evening. As a painter, his job was typically growing trees of all sorts. The trees painted on Earth were based on the trees that grew in Aubrey’s world. He looked out his window fondly at the massive trees that surrounded the palace. However, upon doing so he noticed movement. He peeled his eyes in the dimming light for the source. It was Trix! She was such a beautiful woman. Aubrey knew how fond she was of him, but she didn’t know how fond he was of her, as he had always been rather close to Raea. She was curvy in all the ways he adored, and she had begun as a painter at the same time as he. Trix however was just as beautiful in a different way. She had long dark auburn hair and grey eyes, and a sense of mischieviousness about her.
Master Dyvin was his mate, and Trix was Raea’s,
but he and Raea were the closest. He had known even then how Dyvin felt about Raea. Dyvin was a good guy, a bit arrogant, but a good one nonetheless. However, it seemed Raea wasn’t as fond of him as he was of her, and Aubrey often felt comfort in that notion.
“Yet she must be fond of somebody,” he pondered aloud.
Aubrey headed downstairs, deciding he would go out the back and see what Trix was up to. He slipped out the kitchen entrance in his dinner jacket. He looked around and saw her leaning against a tree watching the sunset. He stuck his hands in his pockets and blushed, feeling slightly awkward. Now that he was outside, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He started to walk towards her trying to think of what to say when he stepped on a twig and broke it, making a loud noise. She spun around, and seeing that it was him, relaxed and started laughing.
“You startled me! What are you doing out here?”
“Well, I saw you from my window, and thought I’d see what you were up to?”
He stepped closer to her, now seeing her long wooden pipe,
stacked to the brim with the best rowan leaves grown in their world.
“Ah! Seeking clarity are we?”
She took a few puffs, and let out various smoke shapes,
offering some of what was commonly referred to in their world as Peacon, a traditional medicine that offered her kind both clarity and moments of utter contentment. He accepted and together they stood their smoking, and laughing. When she turned to move away from the wall, she tripped on the root of a tree, and he caught her. As she used his arms to pull herself upright, she momentarily forgot her fear. She looked up into his eyes, and for a second it was a perfect moment. Then that moment ended. The door opened and Andean called for Aubrey.
All watercolor artwork from this chapter can be purchased through @scribes!
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