Picking Petals:

Chapter 32: Dead to Me

   When Gregory didnt make it to breakfast in the morning I decided to make my way too his room. There was no time to waste, and even though I hated to admit it I didnt want to continue with Josephine without him. I pounded on his door for a good minute, and there was still no answer.

   "I'm coming in!" I hollered as I opened the door a crack to make sure he was still alive. "You've got to be kidding me," I growled. I stomped over to Gregory ripping the sheets off of him as a couple whine bottles spilled to the floor. "You are drunk," I accused.

   Gregory rolled over in his bed still fully dressed, "I am no such thing," he protested with a grumble as he looked around his room strangely. "How did I get here?"

    "I was going to ask the same thing, you are supposed to be at Berellas."

   Gregory fell back into bed shutting his eyes, "Ah yes, we drank all night. Berella wanted to come back to the palace so I brought her."

   A flicker of jealousy slightly ran threw me, "And where is she?"

   "I dont know," he frowned.

   I scuffed, "You had one job, I thought you were past this, getting belligerent drunk any time the smallest inconvenience happens."

   Without opening his eyes he said, "As far as I am concerned I am a free man, if I want to drink day and night then so be it."

   Why was he being so infuriating? "Listen, I don't really care what you do on your free time, drink your liver away for all I care. When I put someone's life in your hands, I expect for you to at least follow through. Now excuse me while I go search for Berella, and you better pray to your maker that she is well," I snapped leaving his room before I lost my bearings. I ran into Orion blindly in my fit of anger, "Gregory is a little indisposed, it'll just be you and me today."

   "I can smell the alcohol from out here, but the man has had quiet a year," Orion added as he wrinkled his nose, dismissing Gregory's current state. "When our oath to each other is over where do we go from there?"

   This is exactly what I was wondering, and I found it almost out of character for Orion to be the first to ask. "What do you want to do?" I asked standing taller, the only thing that Orion seemed to inherit was my dark black hair, his too even tinted blue in the sun. But then those eyes, so dark right now, but honey brown in the sun, they were so soft at times, then cold and distant. "I won't lie after recent knowledge about you I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to have you around, get to know you," I said nervously.

   "I guess I'd like to continue living in the palace," Orion shrugged, a ghost of a smile on his face. It wasnt much, but it was enough and a lot for someone like Orion. "By the way Berella is having a mental breakdown in the library, you might want to handle that."

   I frowned hoping Berella wasnt doing anything stupid, "Right, well lets go and then we can settle this Josephine and Raven issue once and for all."

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   When I found Berella, she too was drunk, tumbling around the library dancing to the harp in a tangled manor. "What is up with everyone losing their shit right before killing Raven?" I growled trying to calm myself before I too had a mental breakdown of rage. "Berella you need to rest, how long have you been up?"

   "All night," she giggled as she childishly drummed her hands on the black piano next to us. "You know, I think I'll be okay," she said, as if she was trying to convince herself.