It is now the late of the evening. Bram, Sophie, and Hiram have returned to their chamber without Noah, who has been talked into having a few glasses of wine with Cole. They go on to walk to the far side of the station, to a five-star tavern named 'Lloyd's', which happens to be managed by a man named Lloyd. And alike all of the other men living on board Mercury Station, Lloyd wears ostentatious attire.
Cole greets Lloyd with a blinding grin and the shake of his hand.
"Let me introduce you to my son, Noah. Quite a handsome young fellow he is, wouldn't you concur?"
"Without any doubt, Sir Rafferty" says Lloyd.
Cole and Noah sit at the bar. It is formed purely of obsidian volcanic glass, and the stools that accompany it are a blend of silver and calfskin. And to the left of them frothy wine cascades down a stone fountain into a pool of lively sensation. The wine harbours a zesty lemon scent.
Rafferty takes a tumbler in his grasp and submerges it beneath the cascading wine. An eagle-eyed Noah seems nothing short of astonished while he observes the bubbles foam and fizz, altogether twinkling like pixie dust.
Lloyd stares at the young male inquisitively, understanding that Rafferty's long-lost son is not at all familiar with the opulence of this world.
"You have never seen anything like Mercury Station before, have you?"
"You can say that again," answers Noah. "It's all so... much. It's all so much. Too much to take in."
"Where is it that you come from, Boy?"
"Devon."
"...Devon?" asks Lloyd, having never heard of the place before.
"England," asserts Cole. "Bethany's sister lives in Devon. You do recall Emily Breslin, don't you, Lloyd?"
"...Emily Breslin? The sombre gothic madam with the British accent? Now how might one forget such a morbid character?"
"Now, let us be empathetic. Who can possibly hold Emily accountable for her macabre personality while she attends to a younger sister as disturbed as Bethany? It most certainly isn't easy shouldering the burden of deranged women. Take it from the mouth of someone who knows as such."
Cole discusses Bethany Rafferty as though she is certifiably insane. A complete and utter psychopath. The more that he talks about the woman, the more psychotic Noah pictures his biological mother to be. His mind envisions an absent-minded lady with ragged-looking eyes and tousled hair, pacing, having frantic conversations with only herself and chewing her blood stained fingernails to the core.
"Is Bethany a psychopath?" asks Noah.
Cole's face crumples together awkwardly while his eyes bloom wide. He hesitates before answering, "Well, I hope you won't think too severely about her, but I need to be honest with you. Bethany is not psychologically balanced. She has not been for a very, very long time."
"If she is like that then why did you choose her? You knew that she was unbalanced and you married her anyway?"
Cole gestures.
"I did. I married Bethany on the ground that I love her. Though sometimes I do believe that I should have kept far away from her calamitous orbit. Perhaps I ought to caution you to be wary of love, but it will never be that simple. One cannot avoid falling in love or choose who it happens with.," says Cole. "Love blinds the world and all of God's children. It is an imperfection in mankind."
"And it is such a pity about Bethany," utters Lloyd. "She may be perfidious--"
"--Perfidious is a hollow description. Bethany is a mendacious deviant."
YOU ARE READING
Amid the Nebulae
Mystery / ThrillerNoah Tyne had always struggled with his difficult past. The poor mite was abandoned on the steps of a cathedral merely moments after he was born to a teenage mother, who for whatever reason, decided to give him up. Noah's life had been a rollercoast...
