Acadia Restoration

Chapter 24

 As soon as it happened he pulled out of the vision. He could feel Norah putting a hand on his upper arm.

"Are you alright?" she asked. He could hear the concern in her voice.

"Yes," he said. He felt her hand leave him, when she realized he was alright. Shit. Shit. Shit. What had he done? Technically it wasn't real, but he didn't know if it had been purely him or some sort of predestined action by the vision. Either way he felt guilty. He put on a fake smile as he and Norah walked around with their arms linked. They were instantly accosted by people.

"Has Cira forgiven Grimore for the assassination?!" one person asked. Cristina had warned him about the Governor's reporters that would be in the party: watching. They would be positive advertising for the Governor.

"Are the two kingdoms finally uniting?!" another chimed in. Norah answered all the questions with ease. Leo was too caught up in the vision. He felt a weight in his chest and he didn't know what to do. He hated himself because he- no he wasn't going to admit that. He couldn't accept that horrid truth, because if he did it changed everything.

"Are you sure you are all right?" Norah whispered to him. He snapped back to reality.

"Uh-" he tried to formulate a sentence. He felt her hand on his forehead. She flipped from the back of her hand to her palm.

"You're hot," she said, concerned. She pulled out the handkerchief from his suit and dabbed it on his forehead. He reached up and held her wrist, pulling her hand down.

"I'm okay, it's just stress," he began to say, then he heard a crowd of approaching voices. More reporters.

"How long have you two been together?" a voice asked.

"How did you meet?" another interjected.

"We're not together, we are just friends," Norah began.

"Are you sure about that?" A reporter asked in an accusatory tone.

"Yes," Norah answered, her voice cold. "He's engaged-"

"I have a fiance!" Leo asserted.

"Then where is she?" One asked. Another wave of guilt crashed into Leo. Norah noticed Leo's expression and shooed the reporter's away.

"I'm sorry," she said to him.

"It's not your fault," Leo sighed.

"Do you want to go check on the lily pads?" Norah asked. He nodded. They went to the room with the pool of water. He remembered from his vision. It was an ornate room with marbled floors and in the middle was a square cut out. It was filled with water, the water itself was opaque and brackish. It went down and down forever. There was no ceiling above the water, moonlight poured onto the water. However both moons hadn't risen yet.

They ended up outside on a deck. This was the part where the vision got blurry. They sat down in adjacent chairs, facing the mountainous view. He heard Norah let out a long sigh. He let out a deep breath too.

"What are we doing?" she put her head in her hands.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"All of this?" she splayed her arms out. He didn't see her gesture, but he comprehended what she meant. "What do our kingdoms think? What are they going to think when they get news of us being here!?" she questioned. He put his hand on her leg.

"Breathe," he said. He heard her take a few slow inhales and exhales. "I'm sure if they realized what we are doing they'd forgive us," he tried to comfort her. He knew her parents were probably panicking. His mother was most likely concerned, his father had probably been angry, his siblings confused.