It wasn't long before the flow of spirits and food loosened up the atmosphere and everyone began private conversations. I still felt ill at all that had happened so I didn't eat much and I was so drained that I didn't know how much longer I could hang on, but I wasn't about to ask to go to my room, considering that was how it had started. So, I just sat quietly beside Chevelle and sipped my wine.
Ruby had moved to converse with Grey and Steed and the others had started to mill around the room when Chevelle finally stood. Relief washed through me when I thought I'd finally be able to sleep but, when I followed him from the table, he stopped just a few yards away. I ran into him.
"Oh," I said, and realized my tongue was thick.
He steadied me. "Don't you learn?"
I thought he may have been teasing but I flushed at the memory of my last episode with too much wine. "Sorry."
He put his hand under my chin and tilted my face up to meet his gaze. "So you said." I smiled at him and he winced. "I've missed you, Freya." His voice was low and husky and I found myself leaning into him, brazen with drink.
I stepped forward, wanting to push him toward the door, but I was off balance and when he tried to secure me, we simply ended up turning enough that I could see the others in the room. I'd forgotten we weren't alone so I reached up on my toes to whisper to him instead.
That was all it took. With a compulsion so strong it might have been addiction, he found my lips and drew me against him without regard for anything else. It was so fierce that my legs gave way and, though he didn't free his grip in the slightest, he pulled back from the kiss to check my wellbeing. It sobered me. "Why would I have ever denied you?" I gushed. And then I realized I'd spoken aloud. And that I hadn't sobered at all.
His face went colorless, expressionless, as he dropped me from the embrace. When my feet hit the floor, I kept a hand on his chest to stabilize myself. "Who told you that?" His words were acidic.
My eyes inadvertently flicked across the room to Steed before I'd even realized I'd done it. The only thing that tipped me off was Chevelle's hand flying out behind him. I followed it with my eyes and stared in disbelief as Steed was lifted from the ground and hurled into the far wall, his body not simply making the dull thud that I'd expected, but a stifled crunch as well.
I stood, looking past him at Steed's body on the floor, when, without even glancing behind him, Chevelle pushed straight past me and out of the room. I could see that Steed was stunned, but judging by everyone else's reaction, not going to die, and I spun before good sense could prevent it.
He was halfway down the corridor but I caught him easily, seizing his arm when he didn't automatically acknowledge me. He didn't turn to me, only looking down at me as he waited for me to speak. His face was the stern mask, calm as always, but I could see his chest rise and fall as if it were an effort to breathe.
"Why?" I pleaded. He didn't answer, clearly confident in his actions. "How do you even know someone told me, that it wasn't just something I remembered?" I snapped.
He leaned toward me then, his face excruciatingly close to mine as he answered, "Because that is a memory you would never have."
My grip went limp at the intensity of his response and the moment I'd released him he resumed walking. I stared after him as he reached the end of the corridor and disappeared from view.
When I finally turned to go back to the dining area, Ruby was watching me from the doorway. I sighed.
"It wasn't intentional, Freya," Ruby explained as we walked back into the room.
Though Chevelle had never actually looked away from me, I was pretty sure he'd hit his mark. "It looked like it to me," I said.
She laughed. "Not that. That was intentional. And a very nice strike, if I do say so-" she broke off when she saw me staring at her wide eyed. She shook her head. "Anyway, what I meant was Steed didn't intentionally mislead you. He simply did not know."
I moaned.
Even though I was certain I'd heard bones breaking, everyone, including Steed, assured me he would be fine. And he didn't seem terribly irritated by my triggering the incident. However, finding out that everyone had heard the comment that caused it was about all the humiliation I could stand. "Ruby, will you conduct me to my room, please?"
She laughed. "But you are so much fun when you're cracked, Freya."
I let her have that one, but only because she agreed to let me go.
As we made our way to my room, Ruby asked, "So, where, exactly, were you going today?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I just started walking and the next thing I knew..."
"But why did you go outside?" she persisted.
"I'm not sure," I hedged.
"You mean you were standing in a doorway and didn't think, hmm, maybe I shouldn't be doing this, maybe I shouldn't walk out this sealed door-"
I cut her off. "Sealed?"
"Yeah, and that's the other thing, how did you break-" She stopped short. "You didn't know the doors were sealed?"
Uh oh.
She came to a standstill and narrowed her gaze on me. "How did you get out, Frey?"
"I really don't know. There was just this passage and-"