The Rules of Blood-Volume Two ; Chapter 63 (279) - Letters and Liars
It took Blanc over twenty minutes and four pieces of parchment to finish writing the letter.
From compliments and stories to apologies and explanations. From writing them how much he missed the two to confessing what he had done. From hoping they were happy and healthy to writing them about the road ahead. From writing them a joke or two to writing his worries and fears.
Half the letter was almost unreadable, with Blanc rumbling about whatever came to mind, but he laid down on paper everything he had thought, everything he had felt in that moment.
He poured as much of his soul into that letter as it was humanly possible.
At a few points while writing the letter, he started laughing. At others, he was close to tears just because it felt as if every word written on paper took a weight off his shoulders.
Celine and Miyanna were his strength, and the letter was just the reminder that he needed. Even the food came while he wrote, yet he didn’t even look its way.
His eyes remained stuck to the parchment until he was done writing.
And only when he did, did he notice how everyone at the table was looking at him.
“Finally done,” the waitress said while heading over, grabbing his attention, “I was fearing we do not have enough parchment on hand.”
“Sorry,” Blanc chuckled lightly, “I had more to say than I thought I did.”
“No worries,” the woman smiled kindly, “I will bring an envelope and wax shortly, but before that, where is the letter headed to, and to whom?”
“Celine and Miyanna of Noble Blood Denegis, at the mansion of Noble Blood Maroux,” Blanc replied low enough for only the waitress to hear.
“I understand,” the woman nodded, before whispering in his ear, “Not to worry, we are working in secret. And in all our years, we have yet to lose or fail delivering a letter.”
“That makes me breathe a bit easier,” Blanc replied, “How fast can you send it?”
“The distance is an issue, so I would say four to five days,” the waitress explained, “That being our most expensive option at one gold and two silver coins if we take the food into consideration.”
“Then allow me to pay now,” Blanc nodded while placing a hand in his purse, not even attempting to negotiate the price, “Here you go.”
The waitress was a fair bit surprised when she saw how a man with rugged clothes could pull a gold coin with such a lack of care, but she didn’t mind it, accepting the payment in kind.
But inside her palm were three silver coins too many besides what she asked for.
When she tried to return the extra, Blanc pushed her hand.
“For your care tonight,” he smiled gently.
“You are too kind, sir,” the woman returned the smile. “While I go and bring the wax, enjoy your food and stay for as long as needed. Let me know if you need anything in the meantime, free of charge.”
With that, the waitress took her leave, leaving Blanc to return to the table and to the three companions who watched him silently.
“What?” he asked, looking at the three, but stopping his eyes on Velakia, “Is something wrong?”
“What could possibly take you four entire parchment to write?” Velakia asked.
“Everything, as I said I would,” Blanc pulled the bowl of stew in front of him before continuing, “Still, I’m happy to see someone finally found their tongue.”
“That everything should not have taken you four pages,” Velakia clicked her tongue, “Do not tell me you told them even how we did it.”
“I have not, my dear, I wrote about other things as well,” Blanc shook his head, “But tell me, what’s gotten into you? You told me to take the supplies back at the inn, then you ignored me for the rest of the day. Have I wronged you somehow?”
“Since when do I have to explain myself?” Velakia scoffed, “You forget yourself, my dear Blanc.”
“Is that so?” Blanc asked, not yet touching his food, “Very well then.”
“Very well, what?” Velakia frowned, looking into Blanc’s eyes.
“I will respect your wish, Velakia,” Blanc nodded, picking up a spoonful of food. “We will talk with each other only when absolutely necessary. Until that moment, we will both keep to ourselves, hm?”
“Aren’t you taking things too far?” Velakia’s eyes widened, her heart beating a bit too fast for comfort, “How about we talk more about it back at the inn, okay?”
Blanc shook his head, “No need. You made yourself loud and clear.”
Velakia opened her mouth. Then closed it again.
The words she planned to say, the explanations she wanted to give, got lost on the way out. The plan she came up with earlier in the day looked less and less like a plan and more like a futile attempt at convincing herself she didn’t really care.
But at least the end goal seemed to have worked. They grew distant in that moment. So why wasn’t she happy with it?
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, the violation.
Not even happy, why wasn’t she at least glad this made things easier for her in the future? Why has this only made her feel worse? Why was Blanc agreeing to it so easily? Why were Blanc’s words, the words she wanted to hear, bringing her such sadness?
Tahreni’s words rushed into her mind. But she refused them, even now.
There had to be another reason why this was making her sad.
She couldn’t afford to love now. Even if her mind wished for it, even if her soul wished for it, even if her body wished for it, even if she herself wished for it.
But how much of it was her choice, really? How strong was her will?
Just as Blanc finished eating in silence, the waitress brought the envelope, the melted wax, and the stamp of the Merchant Company.
He was not in the mood to continue any unnecessary conversations for the day, so he placed the folded parchment inside the small envelope, poured the melted wax, and sealed the envelope by pressing the stamp hard on the wax until it slightly solidified.
“Here, madame,” he said, “Please make sure the letter arrives safely.”
“On the Vita above, we promise to honor our agreement, sir,” the waitress bowed lightly. “Is there anything else you might like for tonight?”
“That would be all,” Blanc got to his feet, “It has been a long day.”
Velakia, Tahreni, and Lendors got to their feet as well, heading towards the door.
“In that case, we wish you all a pleasant evening.” The woman bowed once more as Blanc and his three companions left the tavern.
Outside, the sun was slowly moving downward, but the streets were as lively as before.
Well… for most of them at least.
The walk towards the inn was mostly silent for these four, with only Tahreni and Lendros speaking in their foreign tongue while Blanc and Velakia walked in silence.
From what Blanc could tell, Lendros had a slightly aggressive tone, while Tahreni tried to calm the situation down.
But Blanc did not have the energy to care too much. And Velakia seemed too detached to calm her Protectors down.
Once back inside their suite at the inn, the silence took over all of them.
The supplies Blanc and Lendros brought earlier were left on the table in the common area, with nobody planning to touch them for the time being. But Blanc did not linger there for too long.
After a short visit to his room, he took some of the new clothes he bought for himself and went straight to the empty bathtub.
Luckily, the water artifact worked wonders, filling the bathtub in mere minutes and slightly improving his mood as he soaked and cleaned himself properly.
His mind was empty, at peace with having the letter sent, with nothing or nobody else to disturb his mind.
Or at least that’s what he told himself.
Still, after about twenty minutes in the water, he got up, got dressed, and left the bathroom. It seemed all the others were inside their room. A good thing. One he made sure to follow.
So after placing his old clothes neatly inside his backpack, he went straight into the large bed, hoping to get some sleep.
About two hours later, still decently early into the evening, Blanc was still awake and unable to rest.
In these two hours, all the others went to bathe, then went back to their room, with Tahreni and Velakia going in at the same time, where they spoke for a good forty minutes.
What they talked about did not matter as he stopped focusing on his hearing the moment one of the three touched the water, giving them the privacy to bathe in peace.
During these times, and even now, while he tossed and turned in his bed, he focused inward, on his Marks, wounds, scars, and thoughts.
When the thoughts moved to things he did not with to think about, he focused on something else. But regardless of what he thought of, somehow, it always turned back on how much Velakia annoyed him today.
Well, at least things would get easier now,
he kept on saying to himself.
Even when he heard the steps approaching and the light knock at his door as he didn’t reply to it. Another light knock came soon after.
Then a whisper that reached his focused and enhanced ears.
“Can we talk?”
Blanc sighed, annoyed despite his quickened pulse as he got up far too quickly from his bed, heading towards the door.
He slowly pressed the handle, opening the door and signaling for Velakia to come in.
Once he closed the door behind him, he began, “What is there to talk about? Haven’t we agreed on something?”
“You have agreed on it,” Velakia muttered, turning to face him, “I have not.”
Her hair was wet, flowing downward below her shoulders out of sight. Her cheeks were crimson from the water she soaked in earlier. And her still-wet clothes and half-dried skin made for quite a difficult sight for Blanc.
But he spoke regardless, “You ignored me for no reason, then I told you that I would respect your wish, you act like I was the one who was to blame for it.”
“You jumped too quickly to a conclusion,” she argued.
“Am I?” Blanc muttered, taking a step forward, “Then pray tell, what is the conclusion?”
Velakia clenched her jaw as she looked into his eyes, then clicked her tongue as she looked away.
“I understand why,” Blanc sighed, moving away from her and towards the door. “We have made things difficult, and in the position that you are, you found it easier to do what you did than speak about it. I can't judge that. Despite what happened, I did not want things to be like this, but I will not force you to talk with me or not. I am not the man who hurt you, nor do I plan to be. So please, get out.”
With that, he slowly opened the door.
Velakia watched this, her heart pounding in her chest.
This was the moment where the problem she created would be erased by walking straight through that door and being done with all of it. But his words…
Today, when they argued, he seemed like he didn’t care. Yet now, he allowed her to choose. Yet now, he did not force anything but the problem at hand. Yet now he showed that he cared.
Why would you do that? Why would you allow me to choose?
She wanted to scream at him. But she didn’t. She began walking.
He watched.
She stopped at the door and looked at him, her pink colored eye being reflected from his gray ones.
She grabbed the handle from him and slowly closed the door.
“You shouldn’t have given me the choice,” Velakia muttered, maintaining eye contact, “I tried so hard not to care, you know?”
“I know,” Blanc replied, “You chose, and I respected your choice.”
“Then why did you stop now?” she asked, grabbing the bottom of his tunic.
“I didn’t want to make that decision for you,” Blanc explained, “You are your own person. Now, please, get out, show me that you really mean it, and let’s be done with this.”
He tried to open the door again, but stopped midway.
“Do you really want me to get out?” Velakia wondered, dragging him by his tunic away from the door and into the bed.
Blanc countered, as he sat gently on the bed below, “Do you really not care?”
Velakia removed his tunic and pushed him onto his back.
And slowly she began kissing his neck, her hand moving downward as she slowly removed his pants.
“Here is your answer,” she whispered into his ear, her breath heavy before she slowly kissed his lips, his neck, his chest, then the wounds on his abdomen, then… she went even lower.
“Well then,” Blanc whispered, a low gasp leaving his lips, “I guess we are both liars.”
.
!
Volume Two ; Chapter 63 (279) - Letters and Liars
Comments