HEART OF THE CHOSEN (CASTE BOOK 1)

Chapter 22

I had a terrible time falling asleep. I kept thinking about the humiliation he had put me through. On the other hand, I was grateful to him for having been able to stop our frolic in time. Even though Carmichael had significant control over my hormones, I had to admit that going any further would have been a big mistake. Surely that might have eased my anger and resentment toward Thomas. For once, I would have avenged myself. But what was left of my dignity in all this?!

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost ten o’clock in the morning. Having again failed to close the curtains, the sun was flooding the room and my stomach was crying out for a proper meal. I went upstairs to take a shower and then put on jeans and a sweatshirt before rushing outside. It was out of the question for me to order my food over the phone like in a hotel. So I went to the garden courtyard and noticed the Native American who was having lunch on the terrace. At the time, I didn’t know if I should join him or not, but after all, I wasn’t going to play the plague like in high school. There was no longer any question of me taking on this role, after these last months, I had changed, and I was well aware of it. I had decided to no longer accept the slightest devaluation towards me. As such, my powers had changed me forever.

“Hello, I greeted him.”

“Hello, Everliegh, you must be hungry.”

“You can call me Eve if you want. Yes, I readily admit that my stomach is starting to cry out.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of you,” he said, closing his eyes to concentrate.

A few seconds later, a young red-haired girl, whose freckles lit up her flirtatious smile a little more, came up to us with a tray in her hand.

“Hello, Everliegh,” she said while setting up a royal breakfast under my nose, “I’m Estelle. If you need anything else, ask Salomon, I will hear his call.”

“Are you a telepath?” I immediately asked Salomon.

“Yes, and Estelle is the one I can tolerate the best among the others, her mind is surprisingly pure for a human.”

“Could you maybe sit with us?” I suggested to the young woman.

“It would be with pleasure but I still have a lot of work.”

“Oh! please,” I insisted, glad to meet a normal person in such an incongruous place.

“I’ll go to the village to do some shopping and then I’ll come back, okay?”

“In truth, she uses this pretext to go see her boyfriend.” Salomon declared, laughing, “Like that, nobody suspects anything.”

“Oh! Alright,” I said, a smile on my face.

“Then, see you later!” she called before withdrawing.

How I envied this Estelle at the time. Unwittingly, the memory of the first months with Thomas had come back to me like a slap in the face, but I immediately decided to brush those thoughts away while Salomon looked at me with an enigmatic gaze.

“Are you trying to read my mind?”

“Indeed, but you are sealed to me.”

“Well, so much the better!” I said before eating a bit of croissant dipped in hot coffee.

“It’s not hard to guess that you’re thinking of a man.” he retorted, amused, “But if what I was told is correct and considering your reaction last night, I would say it’s Thomas.”

“Don’t talk to me about him, please. All I can think about is finding a way to get my life back.”

“But it’s impossible. You’re a caste, none of us has a normal life. That’s how it is.”

“So what? You’re advising me to endure my pain and accept the situation, is that it?”

“That’s it.”

I looked at him doubtfully. We stayed there for a while, in silence, enjoying the gargantuan breakfast that Estelle had prepared for us. Once he was done, Salomon leaned back in his chair and welcomed the sun’s rays to his coppery skin.

“How long have you been here?”

“Six years. Before, I lived in America. But I didn’t get along with the Lord of the territory.”

“The territory? There are others besides Carmichael?”

“Of course,” he answered as if it were obvious, there are three of them, Carmichael’s extends over Europe and Africa, it’s called the middle territory, Prisca has Asia, which is the Eastern territory, and Connor has America, the Western territory. The three are led by the Master Hand. You didn’t know?”

“No. To tell the truth, I know very little about the caste.”

“So I have to inform you,” adds Salomon, whom I found more and more sympathetic.

“How are the lords chosen? And why lords? It’s a bit ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“It is only if you live among humans. Among the caste, the hierarchy is and will remain because it goes back to the dawn of time, but changing our habits has never been in our predispositions. That said, some wouldn’t be against a change of authority.”

“This is your case?”

“Not really. I don’t approve of Connor’s methods but I have nothing against Carmichael and Prisca. Besides, I’m perfectly happy to be here, so I don’t ask myself these kinds of questions.”

“Do you like living here?”

“Oh, yes! Mortain is a blessed place for our kind, we’re lucky. It’s an enchanting place, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it’s rather the events around it that ruin my life.”

“Mmm.”

“Eric’s uncle said the Order was about eight hundred years old, but listening to you talk, it sounds like it’s been around much longer.”

“And it has, but no one knows exactly when the caste came into being. We only know that our existence goes back to the origin of the world. The less knowledgeable commonly call us The Order of the Chosen, but in truth, we have never borne that name. We just think of ourselves as a species, that’s all. And in each species, there are strong and weak, good and bad. It’s the same for us. This is why the lords are responsible for seeing to the perpetuation of our race and above all to enforce a certain order.”

“You didn’t tell me how they were elected to this position.”

“Elected?!” Salomon burst out laughing, “But they weren’t elected! They are siblings and legitimate in authority by the Master Hand.”

“Oh!” I said, surprised to know Carmichael is surrounded by a family, “Carmichael never told me his last name.”

“Connor, Carmichael and Prisca Burton Race.”

I saw Eric coming towards us. Dressed in faded jeans and a loose white linen shirt, he sat down across from us, nodding in greeting. Salomon greeted him with a big smile.

“I guess it was a long night, seeing your face,” Salomon said as if he had known him forever.

“At least it had the merit of distracting my brother’s mind for a few hours.”

His steely gaze returned to me. I remained silent, thus avoiding causing a scandal, disappointed, it must be admitted, that Eric mentions his brother in my presence.

“I know you’re mad at him, Eve, but you’re going to have to let him explain himself.”

“No!”

“Poor him,” Salomon said, a grin on his lips, “he fell into Naomi’s net. But if I may say, pretty Eve, he’s not the only one.”

“So, because he’s not the only jerk to have fallen for her, I should behave as nothing happened!”

“Not at all, but you must know something all the same. Naomi descends from a line which, in eighty per cent of cases, gives birth to caste with a rare genetic predisposition: a certain attraction. When a caste male arrives here against his will, as was the case with Thomas, the interrogation is supervised by her. Naomi has a certain hold on the male s*x, she manipulates them easily. A bit like you… and I insist on a bit because now that I know you, I know that Naomi’s power is nothing.”

“Indeed,” confirmed Eric, suddenly serious.

I looked down at the floor. I hadn’t really considered that Salomon was struggling, at this very moment, against my power of attraction. But, the minute he mentioned it, I felt all the vibrations around the table, Eric was undoubtedly the most affected.

“Why was he taken?” I continued my questioning as if nothing had happened.

“Because he wasn’t listed among the caste, and the Master Hand wants to know them all, that’s all. Carmichael took the risk of getting ahead of him on this matter.”

“Eric isn’t listed either!”

“It only takes one of the siblings to verify what he’s looking for, but that, I can’t tell you about.”

“Why?”

“Because the Master Hand would guess it, and believe me, no one wants to alienate him.”

“But that’s what you’re doing by keeping me here, isn’t it? Anyway, that’s what I thought I understood during your meeting last night.”

“Indeed, but it’s Carmichael who takes full responsibility. I suspect he has more than just questions about you.”

“Should we be worried about him?” Eric called out.

“I don’t think so. He does everything to put Eve in the best of moods. He’s very far from being an altar boy, but he didn’t leave it in the hands of the Master Hand. And then usually, he barely speaks to those who are inferior to him. Either he sees Everliegh as his equal, or he’s in love with her, it’s all one or the other!”

“Well, I assure you not!” I replied, a little too quickly since Eric immediately turned to me with his eyes round like marbles, “Well… I mean he has something in mind and it’s not about feelings, whatever they are.”

“Mmm, maybe,” said Salomon.

We sat there for a while. This sunbathing had had the merit of recharging my batteries and I felt invigorated by this morning conversation, which wasn’t lacking in originality. I hadn’t forgotten yesterday’s meeting or Salomon suggesting that I deal with my pain, but looking back, I felt confident around him. He reminded me a little of Sam. He wanted to retire and arranged to meet us for the evening meal in the common room of the south wing. I ventured one last question which aroused my curiosity.

“Salomon, why can’t you read my mind?”

“I have no idea,” he replied, “it happens sometimes.”

“Is that so! With who?”

“The Burton Race, Ethan and you, that’s it,” replied Salomon as he walked away.

Eric stared at me with his sharp gaze and I easily guessed what he expected of me.

“Don’t insist, Eric.”

“You’ll have to talk to him sooner or later, I’m not asking you to forgive him, but…”

“Still no!”

“He never wanted this and you know that as well as I do.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that he’ll become a dad, does it?”

“Maybe, but you’ll have to talk to him someday.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, getting up to leave.

“Eve, please stay.”

“So don’t talk to me about him anymore.”

“Okay,” he bowed, “in that case, how about a little walk in the forest?”

“That’s an excellent idea!”

We walked to the lake pavilions. Paul, a human in his sixties working for Carmichael, suggested we take horses to tour the property. On the back of the beast, I felt the beneficent scents of spring caress my nostrils. On my mount, I no longer considered the events as I did the day before. I had decided to be the master of my destiny and to permanently remove men from the equation. At eighteen it was crazy to think like that, but now I felt like I had so much more. That way, Thomas and Carmichael couldn’t play me or anyone else for that matter.

This day was ending and I had enjoyed every minute of our horseback ride. The landscapes were sumptuous, the fresh air invigorating and the place so calm… Estelle had come to join us at the end of the afternoon. My first impression of the young woman was confirmed. After an hour, she finally had to leave and promised to join me for my next ride. With lighter hearts, Eric and I finally returned to the horses and walked to the castle intending of sipping a soda in my suite. An envelope on the doormat caught our attention. Inside was a DVD that I immediately put in the DVD player in the room. The flat-screen hanging on the wall gave us a black and white, surveillance camera-like close-up of Thomas, seated, his hands tied behind a chair.

We remained silent as the scene unfolded without sound. Thomas, struggling to hold his head up, was obviously drugged. The image jumped and we now saw Thomas, his hands free but haggard. A second later, my eyes widened in amazement. Still sitting in his chair, Thomas was making love to a completely naked Naomi. She rocked on top of him in mechanical back-and-forth movements, her hands buried in Thomas’s hair, kissing him greedily as the rhythm of her hips grew fierce. This b***h knew how to do it, it was indisputable, but I refused to see a second more. Eric got there first, stopping the player, looking frightened.

I felt nothing but cold, ferocious anger. The images were more than eloquent, but I had no more tears, just a nameless fury. If Naomi had any power over men, then Thomas had fallen for it. But my anger was directed more towards her than him. Because who could have wanted to stick this video under my nose if it wasn’t a woman filled with hatred.

I rushed to the door of my room, but Eric tried to stop me. I dissuaded him by ejecting him onto the bed with the sole force of my mind. Like an automaton, I went into the garden courtyard and started looking for my enemy. The courtyard was deserted, I entered the south wing and found myself in a hallway. Along the wing, I arrived in what must have been the common room. Well, that’s what I concluded when I saw Ishmael, Marcus and Joseph Van Duren comfortably seated in front of a titanic meal. Conway at their side and, further on, in an armchair, the one I was looking for with the will of a lioness.

I knocked over her chair with a snap of my fingers. She didn’t have time to touch the ground when I levitated her in the middle of the room. She screamed when I lifted her body a metre and she flailed her legs like prey trapped in a net. The Van Durens looked at me for a moment with bewildered eyes, but the attractiveness of the spectacle and that which they felt through my presence immediately made them change their expressions. Conway was screaming for me to contain my rage, but I barely noticed her presence. I advanced a few centimetres from my toy and stared at her, my gaze icy, a thin grin at the edge of my lips. Was it so wrong that I feel pleasure in such circumstances? I wondered if it was possible to crush her, strangle her by squeezing my fingers from a distance, or beat her to death. But suddenly, an image of a baby crossed my mind and I pulled myself together, considering for a moment her pregnancy and the child she was expecting.

“Let her go!” shouted a voice behind me.

A voice that I could have recognized among all. A voice that had whispered to me the prettiest words a young woman could hear. Thinking back to his lies, my anger doubled. And I took an unfeigned satisfaction by throwing Naomi towards the ceiling. At the last second, I stopped her frantic race, leaving only her cheek caressing the cold stone of the vault.

Thomas and Eric cut through the air to get to me. Without even turning around, I activated my invisible shield, blocking their way to me.

“Eve, this isn’t you!” Thomas yelled, panting.

“Eve…,” adds Eric. “Come, let’s go.”

“You saw it, Eric, you saw it, that video, who else but her would want me to watch it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” shouted Thomas, “but this woman is pregnant with my child, so let her go!”

This last sentence struck me like a white-hot blade driven a little deeper into my wound. I released her and observed her body rushing into the void. Everyone present held their breath. But the spectacle of Naomi smashing on the floor was interrupted by Thomas who caught her in the air and put her down delicately. His was face closed, he didn’t show any emotion as to her fate. I realised that he was only interested in the health of the child she was carrying, and for a second the prospect filled me with joy. Thomas and I stared at each other for a moment. He had confused eyes and I could see that he no longer understood my attitude. I could hardly explain it to myself. Now the chasm between him and me was too deep for us to ever turn back. As soon as I understood this, I withdrew without a word. Eric joined me on the walk to my room.

“Rest now,” he said, leaving me at the door.

Alone in my room, a dreamless sleep engulfed me within minutes. I no longer experienced, I no longer felt. I was more like a shell whose soul was gradually disappearing. And the problem is that I was still very far from realising how much.