The Roses and Hibiscus Chronicles - Coriolanus Snow

Chapter 21

Indila opened her eyes and noticed it was still dark. Crassus and Elana were sleeping deeply; Elana was smiling, displaying some of her brand-new teeth. They were embraced, and Crassus loved his little sister so much that he would not let her go even when they were sleeping. Indila noticed Coriolanus was not in the bed. After being married for four years, her passion for himwas not the same, but discovering that your husband is cheating is never easy. Even though she knew he had been doing it almost since the beginning.

She got up to check the clock on the wall, and it was around five in the morning. Indila put on her robe and headed to the greenhouse. She wasn't sure exactly what she was doing, but her situation with Coriolanus had reached a point where she didn't care much about anything. They had their moments, and she enjoyed spending time with him. In fact, they still had great sex, and he was a wonderful father—nobody could deny that. Most would say he was a good husband too, and although Indila couldn't pinpoint why, she disagreed.

She opened the door to the greenhouse, and he was pruning some bushes. "Morning, my love. What do I owe this visit? What's so important that you haven't had time to dress up?" he said in a cynical tone. "Where did you spend last night?" Coriolanus looked up and laughed ironically; she knew he would react like this. "Well, somewhere between you and Crassus and under Elana. She's getting heavy, by the way, my back hurts." Indila knew it wasn't true. "Go to hell, Coriolanus." He remained with a calm expression. "You're too jealous, babe. You know you're the only girl I want to hang out with— you and Elana."

Indila stared at him with a hint of rage in her eyes. "Why do you keep bringing them into our bedroom? Crassus was doing great sleeping by himself all night long. You're too soft on them." Coriolanus knew the answer, but she pressed on. "Well, 'sweetheart,' as you know, I'm afraid of sleeping alone." He rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, Indila, I was coming home. You know the games are coming, and I can't avoid this sort of thing." "I don't believe you." "You never do. I don't even know why I try to explain myself to you." That was true; nothing in this conversation seemed worth it.

Indila was leaving the greenhouse, but then she had the perfect idea to make him at least think about it. "I'm getting the children today. We're going to visit Tigris." Coriolanus put the scissors down and looked straight at her. "For what? To complain about me and get her involved in our private life again?" Sort of. "She loves our children the most and loves you too. You should go see her. It's very ungrateful of you." He didn't pay attention to what she said and kept cutting the rose branches. Indila was almost out of the greenhouse when she remembered one more thing. "And if I see her sluty secretary giggling while saying your name one more time, I swear I'll kill her."

Indila returned to bed to get some more sleep until her children woke up. Elana cried, and Crassus soon followed in waking. She dressed Elana and helped Crassus get ready. "Mommy, where are we going?" he asked in a sleepy tone. "We're going to see Aunt Tigris." Crassus loved Tigris, but he didn't seem very excited. "Mom, have you and Daddy argued?" Dawm it, Crassus had just turned five, and he was becoming a very observant boy. "No, honey, of course not. Why would you say that?" "Because Dad didn't come home to sleep with us." That kind of thing broke her heart the most. Elana was too young to understand, but Crassus was starting to notice when things were not well between them. "Of course he did, honey. You haven't seen him because you were asleep, and he got up very early..." "to take care of our roses." "Exactly, to take care of our roses. Your father would never leave us all by ourselves."

Elana heard them talking and started babbling her first and only word until now, "D-d-d-ad." "We'll see Dad later, sweetheart. Right now, we're visiting Aunt Tigris." Indila called Tigris first, just to make sure she would be there. Tigris mentioned that she was finishing a suit for Julliard and he had never had time to try it on. Julliard was busy as always, but agreed to come this time.

They arrived at Tigris's atelier; she lived upstairs and was very glad to see the children. It was a normal visit, with some talk about how Coriolanus was becoming difficult to deal with. Of course, Indila was careful not to let her kids hear this type of conversation. Both children were crazy about their father, and she didn't want to destroy their admiration for him. Crassus had started kindergarten a few months ago, proudly telling other children that his father was the president of the entire nation and the best gardener in the world.

Julliard tried on his suit and returned to the palace immediately. Indila and the children spent some more time with Tigris. When they were saying goodbye, Tigris remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Julliard left this piece of paper for you. I didn't open it; he was acting very mysterious today." Indila thanked her. Once they were in the car, Indila unfolded the note. "There's a way to be good again. Open the third book on your side of the nightstand, on page 74. Destroy this note and don't tell him."

Indila ripped the paper and threw the pieces out the window. What was Julliard up to? Something Coriolanus couldn't know—that's why he came to Tigris's with them. He knew better than anyone that Coriolanus was aware of everything happening at the circle. She wondered if it had something to do with last night. She decided not to look in the book until that night before sleeping; it could seem suspicious. Coriolanus knew everything she used to do at every time of the day and night.

"Mommy, are we meeting Dad for lunch?" She snapped back to reality. "Yes, honey, I suppose so." Indeed, he was already there when they reached the dining room. "Look who's there, my prince and princess." Crassus ran to hug him, and Elana opened a big smile. She tried to run, but she had just started walking two weeks ago. "D-d-d-ad." "Yes, sweetheart, it's Daddy." He held Elana and kissed Indila's lips quickly, then continued speaking. "So, may I know where my family was while I was working?" Crassus replied with an excited tone, "I went to Aunt Tigris's place. She gave me this ribbon, look, she said I could put it in Elana's hair when she gets some." Elana had the eyes and hair of Coriolanus. Her hair was growing slowly, and she didn't have enough for a ribbon yet.

"Guess we will have to eat then for her hair to grow stronger," Coriolanus said as he helped Crassus sit down. Then, he gave Elana back to her. Indila observed all this in silence. "Are you okay, my love?" Of course she wasn't, and he knew that. "Yes, sure. We just missed you this morning. Let's eat, shall we?".