Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 75

[ Garrett ]

“No!” The pale girl cried out as though I were a monster. It was so un-Tayia.

“Deep breath, Lady Esther, deep breath. I mean you no harm.” I tried to soothe, she had gone to her knees. There were tears in her eyes, beautiful lapis eyes.

“Esther…” Jo rushed past me and gathered her in his arms. “You’re ok.” They rubbed big circles on her back, easing the fear that had struck her. “Garrett, you should go.” Jo snapped as though I had done something more than just happen to be here. The instruction was as prudent as it was painful. I stepped back, towards the far gate.

“Wait, t-this is your boyfriend?” Lady Esther peeped over Jo’s shoulder. Two wet eyes giving me the once over.

“...yes.” Jo was tentative.

“M-my head…” She moaned, pressed her head against Jo for a moment before lifting her eyes to me once again.“I know you… you were, you were there. You were going to hit me, the,” alarm struck me and Esther choked on air but managed to get the breath down, “the King called you Captain.” The continuation of the sentence eased my concern. She was remembering when she awoke as Esther in the dungeon. Not before and not the night I had to put the bracelets on her. “You…” She squinted, trying to force a memory to surface.

“You can't make him.” She said finally, she was still confused but no longer afraid and a little surprised. Perhaps she hadn't meant to say that aloud.

What in the Earth and Sky?

Was she hunting for an apology, forced or otherwise? I’d been having a good morning and now everything had toppled again. Lady Esther was in pieces. Jo was mad at me. I didn’t understand why they were Joseph. Bless’ed Earth and Sky I hoped they weren’t going to get in trouble for that. The most worrying thing was that when Esther had said that she had 'You can't make him’ Jo’s hand had twitched towards their dagger. Jo did that all the time, I swear they did but after Zach’s words and Jo’s recent behaviour… it put me on edge.

“Lady Esther, I was your jailer - nothing more. I assure you my behaviour was purely in a professional capacity, unfortunate as that was.” My tone was curt, stern, no room for argument. There was a little thoughtful tip of Esther’s head before she straightened herself out.

“Of course, Captain, you were only doing your duty.” She smiled just a little and began dusting herself off. Perhaps this Lady Esther was a little more resilient than she looked. “Thank you, Joseph. Sorry I got so strange there, I don’t know what came over me.” She gave him a quick hug and flashed a shy look in my direction.

Joseph it seemed was not satisfied.

"What do you mean 'You can't make him'?" He was defensive, angry and not prepared to let it go. It was stupid. Possessive. Very Jo.

"I don't know." Esther shrugged innocently. "It just came out, and anyway I'm not exactly 'better'. My physical health might be returning but my memory is still a mess. Can't read anymore, I still get confused." She dealt with his aggressive behaviour in a graceful manner.

"My Lady, would you care for a tour of the stables?" It seemed like a good idea for me to step in before Jo decided to push matters further.

"That would be wonderful, Captain." Esther gripped her composure with both hands and soldiered on. Jo not so much. "Although it appears you were gearing up to ride, I wouldn't want to interrupt your plans."

"It is no trouble at all, My Lady." I smiled politely, my eyes not quite on Esther. Instead I was watching my butterfly. Joseph appeared aggravated by my offer and frustrated by Esther's acceptance. He also had a little lip curl of disgust each time I'd addressed Esther as 'Lady'.

"Where is Neth?" Jo snipped.

"He won't be back until lunch, I gave him the morning off."

"Then perhaps we should come back later." Jo told Esther.

"Joseph, we are already here and besides I'm meeting the Prince after lunch." Esther went all dreamy eyed.

"Ah, I trust you shan't be taking any reading material with you, Lady Esther." I tested the waters with a small joke.

Esther went bright red. An interesting change of pace. Taiya normally had one emotional state and that was cocky b***h.

"Ye Gods." She whispered behind her hand. "Does everyone know already?"

"Don't fret My Lady, a little time and you will come to realise that it makes a cute first meeting story." I chuckled. She dipped her head and her eyes, a smile that beamed with the glow of early love lit her face. She had it bad; good for her.

“I suppose it will.” Esther shifted slightly, twirling her skirt.

“Shall we?” I motioned for her to come with me. Jo put an arm straight out in front of her, baring her from continuing. What now?

“Shoes.” Jo barked.

“Oh, yes!” She giggled. Esther leant against Jo and lifted her skirt a little, slipping on shoes that I hadn’t noticed that she was holding. Jo looked at me. Hard, challenging eyes and slipped their arm around Esther's waist for extra support. I gave them a gentle smile. What else was I meant to do? Was Jo expecting me to break? Scream? Yell? Be jealous?

I knew what Esther was to them, how much she meant. In some weird way I think Jo was trying to test my forgiveness or perhaps they were trying to gauge my hurt. Of course I was still hurt. The feeling burned right in the core of me. Jo had given me nothing to ease this pain they had caused me but I was dealing with it. Living with it. Recognising the irrational part of me and shutting it down. Little irrational thoughts were bubbling up. I just crushed them. Ground them into nothing.

Esther was an absolute pleasure to take around the stables. Each horse got special treatment from her. She whispered sweetly to them, fed them apples, rubbed their long faces; the horses loved her. Even Amerise’s boisterous steed; he was gentle, snorting his thanks as his lips stretched out to pluck the apple from her palm.

Jo carried the sack of apples without complaint but their hands regularly wandered to touch Esther. The shoulder. The arm. The waist. I ignored it all.

“This is your horse then, I presume, Captain?” Esther ran her hand along the chestnut mare’s neck. “She’s beautiful, what's her name?” From the corner of my eye I saw Jo’s exasperated look, which included an eyeroll.

“Thank you, Lady Esther. She 4 years old, a thoroughbred Dnasyarn mare and as of yet she doesn’t have a name.”

“Oh, is that because you only just got her?”

“Garrett thinks the horse should pick its own name.” Jo pipped up.

“How interesting!” She clapped her hands in delight. “Is that your magic?” Esther had an eager look, her eyes darted about checking my hair for a Shade no doubt.

“No magic involved, just spending time with the horse and getting to know them. When she is ready, then something will come to mind.”

“Hum,” Esther rested her head against the mare’s shoulder, “Floraison.” Esther announced. What an odd name. Where did she get Floraison from? It sounded like the old language. The mare seemed to huff approval before taking the apple she proffered.

Jo looked at me. I could see their mind churning through the window of their eyes. Their beautiful powder blue eyes. I hoped my butterfly was coming back to me soon. In this instance Jo was tense. They knew how I felt about naming my horses but… Taiya was a ‘Lady’ of the castle currently so while I could politely decline it wouldn’t exactly be good manners, however there was also all that mess in the dungeon for which I felt pretty guilty about, and don’t even mention the business of putting on the bracelets she was casually wearing up her arm. There were a couple of nightmares about that - dotted between the ones about Jo.

“Let’s see how she likes it, shall we?” I smiled at Lady Esther. She was bright eyed and excited to be outdoors, not as timid as I’d expected but reasonably bold. Nowhere near as bold as Taiya and Lady Esther certainly didn’t make me want to shove anything in her mouth just to shut her up. “Floraison.” I called the horse, expecting nothing, but she turned her long face to me at the sound of the name. The sun was shining on her chestnut coat and she blinked her eyes as if to say ‘yes? You called’.

“She loves it!” Esther clapped in delight while Jo looked sceptical. As Esther pranced around the horse, petting her and praising her, I put my arm out - beckoning Jo over for a hug. The fear of rejection was growing heavy in my chest as I watched them hesitate.

“Are you ok?” As though I feared Jo might crumble on the spot I gently kissed the side of their head. My butterfly looked straight ahead, watching Esther. They nodded slightly. “Will you be coming to our quarters tonight?” I ventured into dangerous waters.

Jo worried at their lip and took a deep breath.

“The King asked to see me yesterday.”

“Oh, what happened?” I resisted the urge to hold them tighter.

“He said I can be myself, he wants me to be her friend.” Jo indicated a giggling Esther who was spoiling my mare with another apple.

“Do you want to?”

“Yes.” Joseph was resolute. “What did you tell him?” He asked in a low voice. A dangerous voice.

“That we knew her, from before. That you two were like family, that you grew up together.” My heart was pounding.

“What else?!” He hissed.

“Joseph… I…”

“Did you tell the King about HIM?” Jo shook, enraged.

“It came up, yes.”

“Did you tell the King what… w-hat I did to us?” The air was moving subtly with magic as Joseph held back.

“Perhaps we should talk about this later.” I tried.

“I want to talk about it now.” He spat. “You’re going round telling everyone our private business.”

“Jo, I’m not telling ‘everyone’.”

“But you decided to talk to the King, the King! Ye Gods, Garrett, what were you thinking?!”

“Joseph - I was thinking I’d royally f****d up. I’d revealed that I knew Taiya. That as Captain I’d been letting a criminal run loose in the city and I’d just screamed at the King. Called him ignorant, swore at him, practically assaulted him.” I tried to hold back the emotion in my voice. “It wasn’t talking, more trying to keep my head at the very least, my position at the most. I needed to explain the reason for my outburst.” It was true, sure it was deeper than that but definitely true. There was no way I was mentioning that Zach and Asperonin also knew…

Joseph relaxed under my arm.

“Ok.” Jo gulped and then very slightly leant against me. “Esther wants to go to dinner tonight, I’ll come by after.” Then he pulled away, calling for Esther and good naturedly teasing her about her date with Prince Ethyn.

My heart ached and tonight seemed an eternity away.