~Her hand felt like lead as she lifted it to his cheek and brushed a tear from his soft skin.
"What are you waiting for? I'm already dying."~
Celeste Moyer has a trick up her sleeve. She can hear people's heartbeats, see their lifelines, and manipu...
A/N: Hey guys so this chapter is lowkey boring in my opinion, but it's pretty helpful to the story. I have another, way more excited chapter coming sometime this week so stay tuned. Thanks for all your love and support, Alice🐍 ————————————————————————
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Weeks had passed before Celeste was finally able to move around the house, but Johanna never gave Celeste an inch. Even when Celeste was confined to her bed, Johanna needled her with information about various poisons and antidotes, to which Celeste soaked up with a fervour only a vengeful woman could possess.
Johanna had also hired the finest tutor she could find, to Celeste's dismay. The tutor was an old bat of a man who made less sense than the books did. His name was Peris. He had bony, claw-like fingers protruding from hands that were covered with skin so thin, it was almost transparent. Celeste hated how she could feel his watery eyes watching her, and judging her.
"Why can't you just teach me?" Celeste had begged.
"Because you need someone who is able to communicate with you on a level that I can't."
"Communicate," Celeste scoffed, "He uses such big words that I can rarely understand. Why do we need so many languages anyway?" Johanna had rolled her eyes.
"Just listen to him. You'll grow to like it."
Her statement grew partially true. Celeste still hated the Latin, hated the geography, and hated the teacher, but she had grown to appreciate the arithmetics with their pure, unwavering rules; as well as the books Johanna had supplied her with. She loved reading about worlds so different from her own, and loved even more putting her own thoughts onto paper.
One morning was different. Celeste woke up in the room of periwinkle and lavender, but instead of Peris entering to give her the days lessons, Johanna entered. Celeste's furrowed brows gave Johanna leave to speak.
"Today we start your training, the one thing I can really teach you."
Celeste smiled and hopped out of the bed. She followed Johanna's gaze to her basic nightgown and blushed at the indecency. Johanna scoffed, which Celeste had come to notice, was her way of being friendly.
"No need to be embarrassed. Here," Johanna strode over to the large dresser.
Celeste rarely used it. She had mostly worn nightclothes whilst on bedrest, and in the rare moments when she was around the house, she had opted for the simple dresses in her armoire. Johanna pulled out a simple pile of black clothes. She brought them over and stuffed them into Celeste's arms.
