Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty -one
CRYSTAL
After Asher and Aquila left to attend to whatever matter they had, I was left alone for the most part and the rest of that day passed by in a strange, quiet blur.
From the window of my room, I watched the garden below, and it called to me.
Being idle for this long made me see boredom in a new light. Back in Covenant City, my days were structured down to the last minute—court hearings, client meetings, research, documentation,... more meetings. There was always something to do. Always somewhere to be. Always a fire to put out, a case to build, or a deadline to meet.
Here, there was... nothing for me to do. Just a strange silence and space and time that seemed to stretch out endlessly in front of me with no purpose to fill it.
But maybe that was exactly what I needed, right now. Given everything that had happened to me already, it was time I embraced this quiet I'd been given and actually used it to think about my life. To contemplate my next moves instead of just reacting to whatever chaos falls into my lap on every turn.
Which, unfortunately, feels like a backlog of chaos for me. But, this feeling right now felt like a calm before the storm.
Earlier in the day before Asher left, he'd given me the go-ahead to explore the Mansion. "Except the west wing,". Like I was interested in that man's secrets.
I had a feeling he needed to point that out because Miridath might have informed him about the wrong turn I'd made the other night when Aquila had failed to come get me for dinner. I wasn't shifting blame or anything, but it was his fault and not mine for not knowing where to go. A part of me, however, still felt betrayed that Miridath had told Asher about that, but then again, she wasn't obligated to be loyal to me and she has been nice so far to me because technically I was still Asher's guest.
And somehow, the thought of that made me feel lonelier than I already was.
But with nothing better to do, I took him up on his offer, but kept to the hallways I could remember and made a mental map of which room was where.
I found the library, and it was definitely tempting—rows and rows of books that looked older than anything I'd ever seen, leather-bound and carefully maintained. But I couldn't bring myself to settle there. It felt too enclosed, and too much like a cell, even if the cell had been bigger than my own shoebox apartment and had floor-to-ceiling windows and comfortable reading chairs that had my name carved into the plush leather.
But I wanted to be outside where the sun was warm, and the gardens were beautiful. Unfortunately, I never found that cat after searching everywhere I could think to search. Strange, but then again, cats were strange creatures. Maybe Miridath had let it out when she'd brought breakfast.
I might not have found my little furry friend, the serenity of the flower beds, the fountain in the center with water trickling softly from the mouth of a carved dragon found me instead with the afternoon sunlight filtering through the leaves above me and a gentle breeze carrying the scent of roses as I sat on a bench under the largest shade in the garden.
And under the calming spell of surreality, I found I didn't have the energy to maintain my anger anymore.
Well, not right now, anyway.
I leaned back against the bench, closing my eyes and tilting my face up toward the filtered sunlight.
"What am I supposed to do now?'
I asked no one in particular, but it would have been nice if I got some kind of epiphany.
Asher said I couldn't leave. Said there was a bounty for my head. I could think of a hundred people who would have wanted me out of the system, honestly, but to go as far as kidnapping and wrongful imprisonment? That person was sick. Or maybe people.
Even if I didn't want to believe it the fact remained that I was here now as a result of those actions. And until I figured out a way to escape or a way to prove my innocence or a way to contact someone who could help me, I was stuck here.
The thought made my chest tighten.
I was Crystal Noir. I didn't get stuck. I made plans. I found solutions. I fought back.
That's right, I always fight back! Except right now, I had no leverage. No resources. No allies I could count on.
Nothing except time and a garden and a masked man who looked at me like I was something fragile he was afraid of breaking.