Flame of Frost (The Caelestian Chronicles: Book #1)

Chapter 13 - Grace Turns A Perfectly Comfortable Chair Very Uncomfortable

Alacritas turns back to normal and asks us to take whatever guns are stored in the house out in the small backyard garden we have. Already wanting to divert my attention, I offer to do it.

Careful, not to trust her with the dangerous ones, I bring out the harmless ones. Well, as harmless a gun can be. Lupus helps me carry some of them.

Austin is already in the garden and setting up some useless things for target practice. Since my house is isolated from the crowd filled squares of the city, the area around the backyard is plain land filled with grass. The neighboring houses have been abandoned for as long I've stayed here.
So, any gunshot isn't going to raise any alarms. Or kill anyone.

Austin glances at me and looks away as if avoiding me. I start to walk to him but realize that Lupus is still here, setting the guns at side.
I look at Lupus with an urgency.

When realization fills him, he says, "I'm going to the basement to check if any more are left."

I nod. When he leaves, I walk to Austin. He turns to me as if he was expecting this.

"This must be weird for you," he says, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"I've gotten used to weird, thanks to the past 8 hours." I cross my arms. "I doubt anything else will surprise me now."

He suppresses a smile. "I understand, but I meant being the Princess part."

"I feel... guilty. Mom and Dad got captured because they were trying to protect me. Although, I'm glad nobody is calling me Princess or Your Highness." I shudder.

"Should I?"

"Don't you dare."

He smiles, fixing an empty bottle between the spikes of the fence. "We all will figure out how to get back your parents."

After an uncomfortable silence, I ask, "Do you trust Alacritas?"

His face darkens noticeably. "You don't?"

"No — Yes — I don't know!" I throw my hands up in frustration. "She seems nice and all, and my parents seem to trust her but if she really was so concerned for us, where was she when they were captured? What's the purpose of being a Queen if you can't protect your people?"

"It isn't easy, you know, being a Queen or King. You have to put everyone else before you. People tend to make mistakes, even if they're ruler of this planet."

"Didn't she say there are twelve people in the Caelestian council? You're trying to say it was hard to look after twelve people?"

"She also said there are five hundred thousand Caelestians." He shrugs. "Maybe she was busy or her attention was being diverted. I don't know, she's naturally my nemesis. I'm not supposed to trust her."

"Aren't you betraying your brethren by staying here? Knowing that the person they're looking for is right in front of you and not alerting them?"

He leans front. "Maybe I already did," he says grinning.

Maybe it's the way my eyes widen or the way my jaw keeps hanging open, Austin immediately bursts into laughs. "I was kidding!"

I sigh with relief. "Tell me, why are you betraying them?"

"I'm siding with the right thing, if betrayal comes in the way, it's not my problem." He shrugs again.

I bite my lip to hide a smile. He is going against his brethren for me... or us, whatever.
I lower my voice. "I think, Kristina — I mean Theora — and Alacritas are hiding something."