The Mask of New Paris ✓

V. The Great Green

In silence we continue our trip. It is awkward and I don't know how to handle myself. I manage to take of my heels and strut to the front of the motorboat, letting the wind whirl around me. 

It's a whole new experience to breath in air that doesn't feel as if it has been warmed up a dozen times before. It feels so freeing to be surrounded by the water and not care about the dangers of the swamp next to us. However, I have never been less free in my entire life, locked to a man and being brought to his home.

I turn around to watch Reed. It is the first time we're entirely alone. Fear strikes around my heart. Who is this man?

It's common for people to marry strangers but in most cases you know something about them, even if it was nothing more but a false rumor. The man standing behind the steering wheel is a complete mystery. Ever since we left Eauville, he shuts himself off and fails to resemble the man that had charmed himself in the trust of my parents.

Carefully, I walk up to him.

"How long will it take?" I break the silence, uncomfortable and uneasy.

"About fourty-five minutes, you better make yourself comfortable." He says, but his tone doesn't show any emotion. The way he stands behind the steering wheel, dressed in his uniform, he seems to come right out of a novella, were it not for the scar that reminds me of the reality of the situation.

"You never told me you were in the army?" I ask, focusing on the grey egert displayed on his upper arm. The sign of Pays-en-haute. He doesn't take his eyes of the water in front of us when he answers.

"I haven't really served like your brother does."

"But you've gained some reputation, haven't you. Your uniform..."

"is only a piece of clothing." He finishes without even blinking an eye. I bite my lip. We're not even married for an hour or already this tension is hanging between us.

"Still, you're proud of it or you wouldn't have married in it." I snap back, turning my head and starting to undo the veil. I wish I had left it behind for the family to keep it, since I'll probably stack it away and never look back at its beauty.

"It's an obligation." Reed says and he finally moves a little, giving a sign that he's not turning into stone.

"Not really the military, so what did you do?" I ask, ennerved by the fact that I have to pull out a conversation from his mouth. In Eauville he acted so open and social and now we're alone and he barely manages to look at me.

He sighs a little defeated. "I was part of the Night Guard in New Paris."

The Night Guard are the ones meant to keep the cities safe. Although Eauville didn't have much crime to fear, the bigger cities most certainly did. The Night Guards had proven to be dangerous.

"Interesting." I burn to ask more but feel awkward pulling too much. I wonder why he never mentioned it to my parents. They would've certainly praised him even more for it.

"So, what happened? Why did you quit?" It is the most logical question and it's tempting to ask even more but when a shadow is cast over Reed, I simply keep it at that single question.

"Well, can't you tell from my face?" he smirks and this time he tries to lift the corner of his mouth where the scar prevents to show an emotion that doesn't look like it hurts to feel.

"Well, that doesn't tell me enough, for all I know you could've been stuck to a nail or sorts." I reply, this time trying to make him laugh, trying to avoid that unease when his dark grew cold and distant.