Chapter Four: Doubt
I
“I’m home!”
“Um, I’m back too.”
There was a pause. Then—“Eh?!”
When Ashton returned to the house with Olivia, he found Mary Sue, the servant who had been assigned to him, standing at the entrance. She threw her broom aside and came running over to them, beaming like she was about to burst into tears.
“Master Ashton, I’m so glad to see you safe and sound...”
Ashton dipped his head, embarrassed. “Sorry for worrying you,” he mumbled, but Mary quickly waved her hands at him.
“Please, there’s no need to bow to me! Everyone’s been holding out hope for your return.”
Mary led them to a parlor. When Ashton opened the door, all eyes in the room turned to him. It was Claudia, leaping up from the sofa, who spoke before anyone else could.
“Ashton!” She threw herself bodily into his arms. It was so sudden that Ashton froze up in shock. Next thing he knew, Claudia was running her hands all over him.
“Colonel Claudia?!”
“Seems like you have your share of scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious,” she said, relieved. Staring at her, Ashton was filled with pure gratitude. A thought also came to him. I was truly blessed in who became my superior officer.
“I’m sorry to have kept you worrying for so long,” Ashton said, bowing again as Mary dabbed at her tear-filled eyes beside him. Claudia brought her fist down on the back of his head. There was warmth in the pain of the blow, and he felt profoundly moved as he looked up. Claudia was looking at him with her typical frown.
“It’s because you’re careless that you end up in predicaments like this. I told you to always pay attention to your surroundings, didn’t I?”
“I see your point, but against the Norfess, the beast of legends—”
“Don’t make excuses.” Down came Claudia’s fist again. What she was telling him was utterly irrational, but there was no mistaking that she had worried about him, and Ashton couldn’t come up with any rebuttal for that.
As he rubbed his head, Ellis and Evanson came over to him, her with a smirk and him, a look of relief.
“Look at you, Major Ashton. Only just back, and already you’re treating us to this touching scene,” Ellis said, her gaze flicking to Claudia. Claudia stepped away from Ashton, embarrassed. Evanson cut in to alleviate the faint awkwardness that followed.
“Thank goodness you’re safe, Major Ashton.”
“Olivia told me you searched really hard for me.”
“Oh, well...” Evanson mumbled, then added, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think we were going to find you. The situation being what it was and all.”
“I thought so myself.” Thinking about it, he had been tossed aside by a Norfess, only to then fall down a cliff. And that wasn’t the end of it—he’d then been attacked by its mate. Two attacks by class two dangerous beasts in rapid succession was practically a supernatural occurrence. Ashton could scarcely believe he was having a normal conversation about it now.
Claudia coughed several times. “By the way, Ashton. Who might this woman be, then?” She was looking surreptitiously at Stacia, who stood idly off to one side.
“Sorry, I should have introduced her sooner. This is Stacia Vanessa. She saved my life.”
It was Stacia’s turn for all eyes to turn to her. “Hey,” she said, dipping her head and looking uncomfortable.
“She saved you?”
“That’s right.” As the room listened on, Ashton related the tale of how Stacia had saved him from being swept away by the river, and what had happened up until the attack by the Norfess.
“General Olivia slew the Norfess that got you, so it didn’t turn into anything too serious...” Evanson said, then added sympathetically, “but you still had a hard time of it, didn’t you?”
Beside him, Ellis had a look of insurmountably nefarious glee on her face.
Sighing to himself, Ashton asked, “What is it?”
“You and Stacia were together the whole time, then?”
“That’s a loaded question, but I’ve got nothing to hide. When we both ended up in our underwear it was only so our clothes could dry, so we couldn’t help that.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Ashton realized they were a mistake, but it was too late—Ellis was in her element now.
“Two young people, a man and a woman, in their underthings?” she exclaimed in delight, flashing him another evil smile. “And you then spent a whole night together?!”
“I told you, our clothes were drying, so we didn’t have a choice!”
“Oh, for...” Evanson rolled his eyes. “Why do you have to make fun of him like that?”
She turned to him, her gaze suddenly cold. “Excuse me? Are you stupid or something? Because it’s funny, obviously.” Then to Ashton, she said, “You really are a smooth operator. What color was Stacia’s underwear, by the way?”
“Blac— Hey, no!” Ashton threw a hurried glance at the table in the back, where Olivia sat happily sipping the tea Tabitha brought her. He was just breathing a sigh of relief that she didn’t seem to have misconstrued his words when Claudia turned to him with a coldhearted smile. Olivia immediately stood up and quietly excused herself from the room.
“You were both in your underwear, were you?” asked Claudia.
“Like I was just saying, we didn’t have a—”
“But you spent time together like that.”
“Yes, well, that’s true...” Ashton didn’t have any sense that he’d done something wrong, and yet for some reason he felt himself sweating profusely.
Stacia, apparently unable to watch any more of this, cut in. “Our young master here didn’t have the guts to try anything on me.”
Claudia turned from Ashton to look at her, an appraising gleam in her eye. “Stacia, was it?” she said.
“That’s right.”
“Let me say first that you have my heartfelt gratitude for saving Ashton. That being said, you’ve spent what, two days with him? Don’t go thinking that means you understand him. He might not look it, but he’s a man of strong character. I’d thank you to refrain from giving him nicknames like ‘young master.’”
Claudia, for whom finding fault with Ashton was just another part of her daily routine, chose this one moment to advocate for him. While Ashton stood by, utterly mystified, Stacia folded her arms.
“True, it was only two days. But that was enough to show me he’s just as you say. The idiot was going to face off against a Norfess with a knife.”
“Then—”
“But that doesn’t change the young master part,” Stacia said, then snorted with laughter. Ashton was helpless to anything but look on nervously, as the two women stared each other down, their gazes sharp as knives.
“I don’t like your ton—”
“I’m here for the payment I was promised,” Stacia interrupted Claudia. “I ain’t got no designs on your boyfriend, so cool it.”
“My—?!” Claudia spluttered. “My boyfriend?!” Showing supreme indifference to Claudia’s distress, Stacia turned to Ashton and thrust her hand out.
“On which note, mind handing over what we discussed already? I’ve got things to do.”
“I’ll get the money right now,” Ashton said, then added in a whisper, “Could you please not make weird comments to Colonel Claudia? I’m the one who’ll have to hear about it later.”
Stacia looked dubiously between him and Claudia, then gave an exasperated sigh.
“You...” she began, then stopped. “No, forget it. Once I’ve got what’s mine, I’m out of here.”
“I’ll go and get it now, then.”
Ashton left the parlor and went back to his own room. There, he carefully removed each gold piece from his purse and laid them out on the desk.
One, two, three... There we go. He hurried back down the stairs to the parlor, where he found Stacia deep in conversation with Ellis. Noticing his return, Stacia smirked at him.
Ashton sighed to himself. Ellis must’ve been talking nonsense again, he thought. But if he started worrying about every little thing Ellis did, he’d go mad. He placed the coins in Stacia’s outstretched hand. At first, she smiled. A moment later, however, her expression clouded.
“There are six coins here. Pretty sure I said five, didn’t I?”
“The extra one is just a little token from me. Please, take it.”
“Hmm...” Stacia considered, then said, “Don’t mind if I do, then.” She quickly stashed the coins in her pocket. Then, as she was about to depart, she gave Ashton a light clap on the shoulder. “Well, Major Ashton Senefelder. Looks like you’ve got a lot on your plate, but hang in there, all right?”
With that, Stacia walked lightly from the room.
I think that might be the first time she called me by my name, Ashton thought. Beside him, Claudia continued to glare at the closed door.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login