Arranged Problems Ch. 14

I woke up first, for once. Turning my head to gaze at Zayev, I remembered our conversation from the night before. I leaned over to whisper in his ear, "I love you." There was no reaction. What was I expecting? He was still asleep. I pressed a kiss to his cheek before crawling off the bed, shivering at the cold stone below my bare toes.

I dressed silently before coming back to the bed, kneeling next to it to watch Zayev's sleeping face. I hated to wake him up, but I wanted to tell him where I was going in case he wondered where I was. "Zayev?" I reached out to touch his stretched-out arm. "Zayev?"

His eyes opened slowly, focusing on me blurrily. "'Strella?"

"I'm going down for breakfast now."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, you sleep." I smiled at him.

He gave a sleepy grin in return and reached out to stroke my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "I'll be down in half an hour."

"I'll meet you there." I stood back up and walked out of our room, moving quickly to the kitchen.  The smells of freshly baked bread made my mouth water.

"I see a mouse has entered my domain," Bea commented as she looked over at me, kneading dough on a wooden board. "Hungry, my dear? I'll have someone pull out the jam and give you a big slice."

"Sounds like a dream come true. What kind of jams are there?" I asked, sitting down at the small table there.

"We have raspberry, blackberry, and I think a little bit of plum left."

"I'll have the blackberry."

"Great choice." Bea called a girl over and gave her instructions for my breakfast. She left with a curtsey to me and dashed off.

"Zayev came home last night," I sighed, leaning to put my cheek on my folded arms on the table, gazing at the cook.

"Yes, that's what I heard. He doesn't usually come back this early." She pulled the last dough off her hands and started to separate it into rolls. "He must have really wanted to come back."

I smiled to myself, sitting back up as the girl returned with a thick slice of toasty bread slathered in dark, seedy jam. "Thank you," I beamed at her before taking a large bite. Heavenly.

***

I finished buttoning up my shirt and was pulling on a thick vest when there was a knock on the door. Wondering who it was, I called out, "Come in!" It didn't seem as if anybody had opened the door. I moved towards the entrance of the changing room with another call on my lips when a body flew into my chest. I stumbled backwards into a wall as the breath was knocked out of me.

"Zayev, I've come back!"

I peered down to find Justine looking up at me with a sultry gaze. Dead emotions stirred in their ashes as those blue orbs burned into my eyes. I grunted and pushed her away before I felt something I would regret later.

"What are you doing here?" I growled at her, avoiding her gaze.

"I came to check up on your…physical condition." She stepped forwards again to slide her fingers down my front. "I was worrying about you after I heard you were getting married. I didn't think you were one who would ever settle down with one girl."

"Justine, I'm not going to even start this conversation with you." I brushed her hands off of me, walking out of the changing room.

"Why did you ever marry such a small, idiotic, naïve, ugly girl such as that…Estrella? I mean, you know what happened with her father right? It was one of the biggest scandals at the time. He left her and her mother all alone without anything to keep them going. What kind of father does that?" she inquired, following me.

"No one knows what really happened to him, Justine." My temper rose at every word she spoke.

"But any of the rumors could be true."

"Did you come to talk about my wife's father?" I turned to her angrily. "Or did you come to say unsightly words about my wife?"

"She's really too young for you," Justine retorted, not answering either of my questions. "And she really is quite the character. I mean, looking at that innocent face of hers makes you want to tell her anything that comes to mind."

"Oh? Does it really?" I couldn't object, really. She was far too cute to lie to, though there was no avoiding it. I couldn't tell her the truth. Not yet.

"Yes, it really does. I mean, I didn't tell her a single lie."

"If you're trying to bait me into getting mad about telling her about what happened with us all those months ago, don't bother. I already know you told her."

"So the cat's out of the bag, Zayev. She would have found out eventually." She pursed her lips and shrugged.

"I would have preferred it to have been found out later." I huffed, sitting in the chair by the desk.

"It would hurt her far more if she loved you."

"Of course she loves me. She's told me so."

"Oh, Zayev. She was forced into an arranged marriage." I started to object, but she interrupted me, "You can't fool me, Zayev. I know it was arranged and because it was so, she only feels like she has to love you because she was forced into marrying you. She only tells you she loves you to please you. I'm sure she's scared stiff that you'll beat her or do something even worse to her."

"I would never-"

"But that's what she thinks, Zayev. It doesn't matter that you're like a little puppy." Justine swayed towards me and stroked a finger down my neck. "She doesn't know anything about you. I mean, you haven't even made love to her."

"How would you know that?" I was too surprised to reject her touch.

"That girl you married is far too easy to read." She sat on my lap, leaving me unable to stand up under her weight. "She's quite simple, don't you think? I don't think anyone even dreamed that she'd marry a prince."

"What are you talking about? She's a lovely girl with a witty mind and a cute smile."

"But she's not perfect, is she?"

"Nobody's perfect, Justine. Neither are you."

"I'm sure there's something she does that bothers you…?" she whispered in my ear, weaving her hands into my hair.

"What do you care? She's my wife and I'm staying by her side forever." I could feel the strings tightening once more, leaving me wriggling in the net of her words.

"But will she want to be by yours? You have to see my side of things, Zayev, you just have to!" Then her lips were on mine, so familiar. My body reacted the same way it always had with her, though I tried to fight it. I was married, I had a wonderful wife, I had nothing to do with this woman anymore.

Somehow I forgot.

***

I finished my breakfast and waited for Zayev to come down. It had been longer than he had said he would be, but I figured he had fallen back asleep. I roamed the halls, trying to find something to do while I waited for him to come down.

"Morning, Estrella," Ryo said as we walked past each other.

"Morning, Ryo," I replied with a smile, moving on.

"Estrella," Ryo called after me. I paused and turned around. "I saw Justine heading towards your room…I was hoping you were there." He looked worried.

"Thank you for telling me," I whispered, changing directions to pace to my room, my heart thumping with every step I took. What where they talking about? What were they doing? Why was she there? Zayev, Zayev, don't fall for her tricks.

I stood in front of the door, hearing nothing beyond the wood. What was happening? Should I open the door or should I run away? Should I find out or should I leave guessing? I didn't know what to do. I took a deep breath and swallowed dryly before pushing the door open. What I saw left me frozen where I stood.

He was kissing her. He was kissing her!

Justine was on his lap, her hands in his hair. Zayev was clutching at her back, pulling her closer.

I was going to be sick. I couldn't prevent the scene from burning into my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and ran away, blindly sprinting away from the open doorway.

"Estrella!" I heard him call out behind me. "Estrella, wait!"

I stopped and turned to see him, his hair wild around his head as he darted out of the room. "No, Zayev!" I shouted at him. "I hate you!" I started my dash again, tears streaming down my face. "I hate you!"

***

I watched Estrella until she turned a corner, out of sight.

How could this have happened? How could I have fallen into her hands so easily?

Justine giggled on the floor where I had shoved her off me.

"Something funny?"

"I loved the expression on her face when she found you," she laughed breathlessly. "It was priceless!"

"You knew this would have happened?" I whispered.

"Well, it wasn't completely planned out, but making sure a red-headed servant of yours saw me come here certainly helped." She watched me with bright eyes. "If she loved you before this, she positively despises you now."

"Snake!" I hissed, running after Estrella.