The rain that fell on the ground made a thunderous noise that made it impossible to hear most of the surrounding noise. The streets had been deserted quickly, but there were still a few pa.s.sers-by, it was one of the days when Dinois was enjoying the biggest influx of tourists after all; some of them were sheltered under the tarpaulins of certain stalls or itinerant merchants.The atmosphere had changed so quickly that Algos hadn"t noticed that his cousin was staring at him with a boring look.
"Hey, Algos..." she hissed. "Are you thinking about the night your past with that girl or what?" seeing that he wasn"t reacting, she stepped forward and gave him a headb.u.t.t. "Good, you can hear me now."
"The f.u.c.k are you doing?! That hurt!" Algos replied by rubbing his forehead.
"Why don"t you stop being in your thoughts all the time...?" she paused and sighed. "I guess that a part of your charm."
"My charm ?" he smiles insistently.
"Forget this."
Watching his cousin"s fleeting gaze, he simply decided to change the subject and start moving towards downtown again. However, they had no umbrella, Amber had picked up hers when she walked towards the Obinski gate and had left Al in the lurch, who had seen her run faster than he would have imagined of a bourgeois woman in high heels... probably an old journalist habit, he thought.
After walking a bit, he offered Felicia to come and protect herself from the rain under his coat, which was poor protection, but at least they could hear each other thank it. Felicia didn"t hesitate and joined him... although Algos was used to being close to his cousin, but... he wasn"t used to being SO close, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rubbed against his arm and her hips seemed almost like they fused with him.
He was sure that they could be mistaken for a couple, luckily the rain and the coat still hid their faces, if it wasn"t the case and a journalist was pa.s.sing by, he would have surely rubbed his hands.
Al acted as if nothing had happened, despite the generous shapes of his cousin, who was warming him from the cold of the rain, and called out to Felicia.
"Is it okay with you if we join people downtown? They told me to come to the pancake house." he inquired while avoiding walking into a puddle.
"I was hoping we could get something to eat just the two of us before I come home and be interrogated by my mother like I"m some kind of a thug... W-what...?" she paused, looking at Algos. "Aaah... okay, let"s go."
"You"re awfully easy to convince today, not even a challenge. Does it have anything to do with what happened with this n.o.ble?"
"He... he got kicked out of the country because of me." she mumbled by looking at the ground.
"...If you thought I didn"t understand that he told a lie back then... I know you well enough to know that you said "no" the second you walked into the room where you had to get laid. Speak up, this seems to be worrying you more than usual."
"Rayan... the n.o.ble, well... he told me he was sorry." she paused before shivering from a raindrop that had gotten under her clothes. "Since we didn"t do anything during the night, his gift seemed flawed and he hurt me with it..." she explained with a sad look.
"Hurt... you ?"
"Ah? No, no, nothing serious, it"s just a small cut, but because of me, he got kicked out of the country, he got ridiculed and beaten up in public by his parents, received a defective gift and he"s likely to become sterile because of that... Maybe I should have accepted."
"It was his choice, if he decided to carry the burden, it was because he had already thought about not following the tradition." Algos replied coldly, he"d rather be honest than just cheer her up.
They both continued to discuss the situation. The young man just wanted to be seen, to feel alive, even if it meant being the biggest a.s.shole, he was above all trying to get out of his loneliness, his parents had never really cared for him and even if his mother had cried once her son disappeared behind the horizon, according to Felicia, it was only out of pride, only a few maids who had raised him as a child seemed really affected by his departure.
This n.o.bleman just didn"t want to be the shadow of his parents anymore, he was always told to be like his father, to become what he didn"t want to be, but sometimes trying to get by on your own by trying to get attention in every way only brings the end to you, that"s unfortunately what had happened to him. This is what could happen to many men, however, too few had enough courage to do what Rayan had done.
Algos kept walking without saying a word, sometimes it was just a matter of listening to relieve his cousin from her burden, he knew it, she had been there for him when he needed it, then it was his turn.
He had misjudged the young n.o.bleman, he had to admit it, things are usually not what they seem to be. The guilt slightly struck the young man"s heart; Rayan, like him, was a descendant of Bahala, when he had pa.s.sed by him, Algos had felt his distress and anger, knowing now the cause was disturbing and even a little painful.
Felicia and Algos walked in silence for about ten minutes before Al decided to talk when the rain seemed to have stopped.
"And you? You"re not in trouble, are you? If I understood correctly, he was the one who refused to you have s.e.x… well, in any case, that was what he decides after. But what is it going to be your treatment?" he asked with a worried tone.
"The Solstices told me I should come back to the ceremony next year…"
"Next year… That"s 488 days from now. That gives you time."
"What do you mean by that?" Felicia asked with a suspicious tone.
"N-Nothing." stammered Algos as he realized she could easily read his thoughts.
They came to the pancake house half-soaked but in one piece.
Elizabeth, Lise, and Samuel were still present at the place but seemed annoyed to wait. It was quite funny to see the contrast between the moment Algos had seen them sigh, and the moment he had seen them smile broadly at the approach of the people they were waiting for. Since the three friends were n.o.bles, they had to be careful with their etiquette, especially in public; even stranger was that Elizabeth had bodyguards, they waited close to the pancake house, but they weren"t discreet. And even if Elizabeth complained, the orders came from her mother, so there was nothing she could do about it.
The world of the n.o.bles was too different from what Algos knew, yet he knew that after all that was happening to him, he would have to go to this world where money and politics were kings. Samuel made him read the newspaper, and that"s when he understood why people were staring at him so much, as Elizabeth had predicted, the reporters reported everything that had happened during the ceremony, giving him and the young religious woman half a page. In it, they described how Algos had acted and reacted, how he had behaved, how he spoke, while at the same time a.n.a.lyzing and describing Elizabeth"s reactions. The fact that they had gone up to the cathedral for the night had not gone unnoticed either, and when Felicia heard this she couldn"t help laughing while teasing her cousin, however, the one who blushed the most was Elizabeth... she pulled Algos" sleeve without looking at him, hoping that he would understand what she wanted, but silence his cousin was a lost cause. She was radically different when she was accompanied, a veil of shyness seemed to cover her, which made her seem as fragile as a flower, but that wasn"t the impression Al had had when he had talked to her alone...