Crescent (Old Version)

+ Part 17 +

I had to be hungover. There was no other explanation for my headache or the nausea. In my gut, I'd known I'd regret drowning Ceth out with champagne.

And, as I looked at the line of chia seed scones and fruit parfaits filling my plate, I wanted nothing more than a greasy plate of hash browns or some other magical concoction to ease the aching.

Last night was... Well... it has been a long time since I'd gotten drunk enough to not remember the night before.

The last time it had happened, I'd stumbled home after curfew.

I'd spent the night getting drunk with friends who didn't really care about me. As soon as I'd had too much to carry my own anymore, they'd left me sitting on the bathroom floor at some back-alley bar none of us were supposed to have been in. My mother had been sitting on the couch in the living room when I lumbered in, rather loudly at that. One look from her and I'd known I couldn't hold it together.

She'd half-carried me to the bathroom, had changed me out of the skin-tight dress I never would have had the courage to wear out on my own, and she put me in a cozy pair of pj's.

My mother held my hair across my back as I sat with my head over the toilet early the next morning.

"Please don't tell Dad." I whispered. I could only imagine how he'd react knowing I'd broken every rule he'd ever set for me.

She stroked a hand across my forehead, gentle soothing strokes. I was sweaty and miserable enough that tears leaked from my eyes as I leaned over and hacked my guts up again.

"That all depends on you," she said. "I waited for you... I was worried sick."

I sealed my eyes shut, but her gentle hands continued rubbing down my back. "I know... It won't happen again. I swear."

"Then, I believe you."

Ceth waltzed in just as my head fell into my hands. He said nothing as he slipped into his own seat and hung his head over his food. There were prominent bags under his eyes and his hair looked greasy and unkempt as if he'd rolled in and out bed just like I had. He hadn't even bothered to change from the clothes he'd worn the night before. I can only imagine how the rest of the night had been after the scene in the study...

I had at least thrown something else on.

We sat in silence, unmoving, not eating. I wanted to ask about what happened last night. About how he'd dismissed the guests without arousing suspicion or WHO had even killed the guards. The thought occurred to me that it might have been Rhiannon. But, she'd been right in front of me when it had happened.

And, what motive did she have?

Her warning echoed in my head: "There are worse things to fear than this realm's keeper."

From his silence, I knew it was probably best not to test the waters. But, I couldn't spend everyday until the goddamn gala doing nothing, I decided. I stood to retire to my room.

"You have lessons starting at nine," he grumbled from his seat, loud enough to make me pause.

So that's what they had been discussing in the meeting room. "Lessons?" I asked dumbly, twisting toward him as he moved to look at me.

"Yes?" he scoffed and turned back to his plate as he rubbed his hands across his temples. "Do you know something that makes me want to laugh?" I doubt he wanted my response to the question. "I'd actually forgotten that you're just some foolish girl from the human realms. You know nothing of our history. You know nothing about the land you even came from. My son knows more about yourself than you do." For a moment, he looked at me, his green eyes glazed over like frost kissing the tips of evergreens. "I won't have a no-nothing child standing beside me at the biggest event of the century," he chided.