A Wager Of The Heart

19. Of flying books and tempers

:::Charity:::

I watched Kent traipse the rest of the way down the hill and wondered what could have upset hi so much and hope it was his exchange with Bastion, let him turn his anger on my father and see where that got him. I smiled and leaned my head back, happy just to be outside uninhibited in the day light hours. I missed my home now more than ever and the leisurely pace we were left to function at. 

The endless summer days Geri and I would spend doing absolutely nothing but sitting with each other, or wandering the grounds. I realized with a pang that those days were behind me, wish as I might, those times were done. Even if Geri made the right decision and left this house forever, a part of her would stay. The part of her untainted heard that made her innocent to the horrors of the world she would lose forever. I felt my hatred of Kent grow and I determined to make this the last night he found me in the garden, and it would be a scolding like he would never forget. 

I sighed and shifted my position. I looked down at Geri reading her book and wondered what Kent could have said to make her so despondent. Geri was holding the book above her head frowning intensely at it. She had her tongue wedged between her teeth and this familiar image made me laugh. I must have shocked her out of her story because she joined my laughter a moment later. 

"What are you reading about now?" I asked.

"Philosophy." She squinted up at me and laughed at my shocked face, I'd expected her to say anything but that.

"Why?" I asked still astonished. 

She smiled sheepishly and picked the book back up. "I have a wish to enlighten myself to the world." She said with such conviction I almost believed her.

Except that I knew her too well for her to lie to me. I reached over and lowered the book. She she still refused to meet my eye, I had no doubt she was lying. "Geri?"I asked softly.

She sighed and sat up. She spun and faced me, plucking the grass for a few minutes in silence. "Lord Kent said that I should use my love for reading to enlighten myself." She whispered into the strained silence between us. 

I growled my frustration and snatched the book from her hands, I read a few lines from the book and snarled. "It's pompous nothings. How could this be better for you than your books?"

Geri laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "He made a suggestion that I chose to follow."

"Poppycock!" I exclaimed.

"Don't be harsh Chari, he sounded much like you do when you tell me of the silly nature of my books." Geri said sullenly.

I thought for a moment and conceded. "I don't always understand why you love them as you do but I love that you do." Geri looked up and smiled at me. "You still hold enough hope to find the courage to dream. Whereas I can't wait for my old age so I can complain about the way that things used to be."

Geri laughed and picked the book back up. "Still I find these concepts boring and the writing style very dry." She sighed and put the book back in her lap.

I watched her for a minute, contemplating. I was furious at Kent for suggesting any such nonsense to my sister but I would have to be careful to express that only to him. Instead I leaned forward and snatched the book from her hands and tossed it at the offending man. It landed a short distance from his feet and he looked up at me in shock. I smiled my challenge at him and turned as Geri exclaimed, "Charity!" Her tone lacked the appropriate rancor and after a few seconds of staring at one another, we burst into a fit of hysteric giggling.

After we calmed down, Geri laid back down with her head in my lap. I ran my fingers through her curls. "How is it progressing with Kent?"

Geri smiled at me and asked, "Will you ever refer to him as Lord Kent, as is proper?"

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled, "Probably not, least while he behaves like a simpleton."

Geri laughed and then relaxed again. "Lord Kent isn't impolite to me but he isn't talkative either. He gives me the impression that he'd rather be anywhere else than with me." She frowned. "Could he be shy?"

"Shy?" I scoffed and made her laugh.

"I'm shy around him as well." She said thoughtfully. "It might be better to get to know someone before you are told you must marry. It makes things so very awkward."

I considered her words for a moment and then shook my head in denial. "Or he could just require a boxing on the ears." Geri laughed and considered her a moment. "Tell me one of those ridiculous tall tales you are so fond of?"

Geri laughed and launched immediately into a farce about a princess with incredibly long hair that she allowed others to use as a rope. I smiled and listened intently.