Chapter 16

Maeve came home the next morning, completely scruffy. That night with Terence had been a mistake, she realized that very early on, but the moment she got back into the room and saw Gabriel's face, she knew she wouldn't confess.

- Where were you Maève?

He had put all his power of dominance into his voice, but the young sentry had no intention of yielding to him under any pretext. Then she raised her chin defiantly, and said:

- It's absolutely none of your business, Gabriel.

He growled back:

- On the contrary, of course it concerns me! You are my bodyguard for the love of Solas! So you're going to tell me what you've been up to all night!

She pouted and replied, passing him to go to his room:

- I was with Terence. not that it concerns you , then , contrary to what you insinuate , I did not leave you alone . Dimitri was at the door. And finally, I didn't think you would notice my absence, given your activities.

With that, she slammed the door, and sank against it. On the other side of the closed door, Gabriel let out a cry of fury before asking her:

- So that's what it's all about? Of Lyria and me? You slept with him just for revenge?! You have to know what you want! I thought you wanted me to be with her! I begged you! I only told you one word about you, and I would have kicked them all out. What more do you need? Maeve! MAEVE!

She didn't answer as tears began to stream down her cheeks. She felt torn, and didn't know how to fix it. It was like trying to keep all the pieces of his crumbling heart together. Through the door, Gabriel's voice had become pleading:

- Maeve? Maeve please, please talk to me. Tell me what I need to do to make it all right. Tell me what you need. Please .

She wanted nothing more than to jump into his arms, tell him everything she felt, but she couldn't. She curled up on the floor, shaking with sobs.

- Maeve? Maeve, are you crying? Let me help you! Maeve? Maeve!

Each word was another blow to his heart. She clapped one hand to his chest, as if she could keep his heart from breaking, and pressed the other to his ear, as if it could keep her from hearing any of her words. Finally, he walked away. , and she could cry with all her heart, not caring to look weak, not caring to be pitiful, rolled up thus in ball on the ground. It took her a good hour before she could get up and track down Gabriel, Dimitri, always faithful to the post, and . . . Lyria. Immediately, jealousy washed over her, burning like lava. But she remained stoic, refusing to let him see her in a weak state again. She knew that Gabriel had smelled her from across the hall, but he continued to ignore her and talk to Lyria. She approached slowly, padlocking her jealousy deep inside, Lyria turned to her, a falsely friendly expression on her pretty face, contrasting with her furrowed eyebrows.

- Oh, Eva! You feel better ? Gabriel told me you were ill.

A weight crushed on his chest: what could Gabriel have said, exactly? She forced herself to smile, and to say, while ostensibly ignoring Gabriel:

- Yes, thank you, Lady Lyria. I feel much better .

Lyria's smile cracked for a moment as if she were about to drop her mask of kindness, But she immediately composed herself, and whispered to him:

- Perfect, you see me delighted.

Following this, the three of them plunged into an ocean of a stressful, still embarassement , bathed in silence. Dimitri broke the silence:

- Since you came back, Maeve, maybe I'll go. . .

But Gabriel and Maeve cut him off in one go:

- You stay here, Dimitri.

-You stay here, Dimitri.

Looking like a beaten young puppy, Dimitri sat back in his place, annoyed, and accompanied them for a walk in the park, which took place in a silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps on the gravel. There was such rage in each of the breaths of the prince and his bodyguard that Lyria and Dimitri began to try to produce as few sounds as possible, having the impression that the slightest noise too much could make them explode, like time bombs. They finished their walk, and when Gabriel kissed Lyria goodbye, he made sure to do it in front of Maeve, who wanted, more than ever, to pounce on the idiot and gouge out his eyes. It was horribly hard to resist, but she succeeded, at the cost of immense effort. The meal took place in a similar atmosphere, and when they finally returned, Maeve locked herself in her room without saying a word.