Written in the Stars

Chapter Thirteen

Celeste had known it would be a bad idea to come here. She had known that Astrid and likely Jean were going to be in and out of the cave that had once held the black market. But even so Izabela had insisted that they scope it out. See if there was anyway they could claim it for themselves. It seemed to Celeste that Izabela was looking to replace her old life with one that was entirely identical. Only the players had shifted. No longer did she have Jean and Astrid. No. Now she would have Izabela and her cronies. That she had yet to meet. But was promised that they were bad in the best way and that they would get along brilliantly. Izabela seemed to think that Celeste would get along with them so well because they all wanted the same thing. World domination. But really, all Celeste wanted at this point was a lie in and maybe the chance to have French wine in France a couple of times a year. But she didn't dare tell Izabela this. She didn't want to break her heart. She was already doing so much for her that it would be rude to break her fantasy. To not be the person Izabela so clearly hoped she was.

Jean and Astrid arrived perhaps 10 minutes after they did and Celeste already knew nothing good was going to come from them all meeting. Especially in such an enclosed and private space. The builders who had been hired to repair the place weren't even here. If Celeste were Astrid she would get on them about that. Maybe.

Celeste saw the way Izabela's posture changed when her sister and husband - although at this point it was a title and nothing more - came down the stairs. Whilst they weren't the last people either of them wanted to see at this moment, they were pretty high up on the list. Maybe at 3 and 4? Celeste didn't know who was at the top of Izabela's list, but for Celeste it was Alaric and perhaps her mother. Just because a) that would be weird to see her mother after all these years, who knows what sort of state she would be in? Dust maybe? And b) she had definitely not lived up to her mothers expectations. She was not doing her moral best and whilst Celeste had come to terms with that, she didn't think her mother would. Even though she was dead.

Celeste kept her eyes down. She didn't want to be here. This was definitely at the top of the list for the places she least wanted to be. She could not imagine being anywhere worse. Perhaps actually where her mother had died and then watching her come back to life to have a go at her about the situations and life she had found herself in. Who knew if she would even understand what her mother was saying. The language they had spoken was very very extraordinarily dead now and neither she nor Astrid had spoken it in who knows how long. She had no idea about Izabela, but as it was not her mother tongue found it incredibly unlikely she still spoke it or remembered how.

In the time she had been mulling over these thoughts she only allowed herself to have when looking to be purposefully distracted it seemed Izabela had been forced into conversation with Astrid and Jean. Celeste had no idea who had started the conversation, but didn't doubt it hadn't been started pleasantly if it was Izabela. She loved the woman dearly, but she had no idea how to be polite to people she disliked, or even fake polite like the rest of them were.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her. A quick look up told her they were Jeans and they looked as miserable as she felt. But she had chosen this side of the drawn line and so she would just be grateful Izabela was showing her the amount of love and care she was no longer sure she deserved. After all, as Izabela liked to remind her, she had done many a despicable thing and Jean had likely been harbouring resentment towards her for a while now, but had been unable to say anything due to the power disparity. But now things were equal. She and Izabela were equal. Or Izabela seemed to think so. And say so. But her actions didn't say that. But maybe because Celeste was so used to making all of the decisions? No. She had always made sure that she and Jean were in agreement and if he had even a small amount of hesitation she would always make sure that he was happy and allow him to make changes. But if that wasn't equal then what was? Maybe she should just go back to Jean- Her thought cut short. How she could even think of betraying Izabela was beyond her. She had done so much for her for Celeste to repay her like this? No. Not acceptable.