Thou Art Sure No Craven

Chapter Two

It took Celeste the night, and the next night, day, and day after that to get her thoughts clear. She could still feel Davos's body on hers, and she wondered if anyone could see the scourge of her betrayal on her face, on her wrists where he had grabbed her. She had considered that, by day two, everything coercing her thoughts into horrible actions was fueled by lust but on the day that she was meant to meet him, she started to consider that she really wanted to see him. And he her. He had agreed, and she had made no promise of what would happen, but she was excited. Celeste was determined that she would stand her ground and say a million and one things that the boy would have no rebuttal to, or maybe they would talk about history or... perhaps he wouldn't even show. She shook her head. That wasn't an option.

She was overwhelmed with the thought that he was across the river, waiting for her and thinking of her. Her annoying and conceited enemy, likely stroking himself to her insults. It was enough to giggle about, but she maintained her composure. Celeste knew it was wrong for multiple reasons: she wasn't meant to venture from the castle by herself nor was she meant to fraternize at all unless her maidenhood be called into question. Especially not with a Blackwood. But he had been oddly gentle with her... as if she was someone that he could take care of.

Celeste had always thought that the two houses could find their way out of war, and she surmised that maybe, in his youthful pliability, she could get Davos to hear her side.

Though she had set the time aside to think, her thoughts had not settled on one single opinion. She had promised to meet him however, and her word was her bond.

After supper on the second night, Celeste trekked into the forest, trying to find the same spot that she had met Davos before. It was around a fifteen minute walk, and she was sure that she had overshot it before she caught a glimpse of the boy's red cloak. Scoping the scene before she let a branch crunch beneath her weight, she approached him silently, her hand behind her back.

"I brought you a gift. A peace offering."

Davos had spent the past two nights eagerly anticipating her arrival. He had tried to occupy himself with training, drinking and whoring to pass the time, but every hour of the night, his mind would flit back to the image of her, pressed up against the tree, her body writhing against his.

When she finally crept out of the woods, he felt his heart begin to thump faster in his chest. But, he hid his excitement behind a cocky grin as he watched her approach.

"A gift, eh?" He mused, raising an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

She removed her hand from behind her back to reveal a linen, a pastry inside with a berry and cheese custard. A desert that she had taken before the remains returned to the kitchen for the servants.

"Dessert," Celeste said. "My gift for granting me safe travels when last we saw each other. I know asking you to refrain from debauchery comes at a cost, sweet Lord."

She handed the linen and pastry over to Davos and took a few steps back. "You can keep the linen. It's one of the few without my house's sigil knitted into its fabric."

Davos chuckled softly as he accepted the gift from her, holding it delicately in his hands.

"Safe travels?" He echoed with a smirk. "I suppose that's one way of putting it. I was rather tempted to have my way with you, right there against the tree."

He looked down at the package, his grin widening when he saw that it was a pastry. He wasn't one for sweets usually, but something about the fact that it was a gift from her made it more enticing.

"I guess you do truly like me."

"It could be poisoned," she said quickly with a shrug, her cloak flowing in the wind.