HEART OF THE CHOSEN (CASTE BOOK 1)

Chapter 23

Several weeks passed without the slightest incident occurring. I was careful to avoid Thomas and Naomi as much as possible. For her, it wasn’t a problem because, since the incident, she was doing everything to stay out of my way. At least one thing I had gained in this masquerade. It must be said that living in a castle helped a lot when it came to ignoring someone. However, I did occasionally catch Thomas looking at me through a window or seeking my attention when we were dining in the common room. But I confined myself to avoid him at all costs. My reaction after the Naomi episode had shocked many, but I had earned the respect of the Van Durens who now treated me like a real goddess. I hadn’t asked for so much, but the three cousins had revealed to me that one of their visions had confirmed all their fears about me. Naomi no longer had to worry about me, according to them. Ishmael, Marcus and Joseph were precognitives. They had the gift of seeing the future as one. They hadn’t wanted to dwell on the subject but were actively seeking my company which cheated their boredom. For their own good, I had advised them to be careful about their attitude in my presence, the heat of their reactions multiplied by three sometimes caused me violent nervous spasms, difficult to contain. So, I also avoided the weird Van Duren cousins as a precaution.

I spent most of my time with Salomon and Eric. And I had the joy of getting to know Estelle even better. With her, I felt like I was almost normal and almost human. She had never spoken inappropriately to the caste and had a strange sort of fascination with Carmichael. She was the daughter of Paul, the horse trainer, who himself was the unpowered brother of Eddy Monteiro, the man who sat with his wife in the Pomona room. I was beginning to seriously lose myself here with all these siblings, but the warmth of Estelle Monteiro’s house was a bit of a refuge for me. Her mother, Selene, regularly baked me homemade cookies. Estelle, on the other hand, used my ignorance of the region to get me to go out to the trendiest places in Brechin. I had explained to her that in my eyes nothing beats London, but in reality, she met her boyfriend Leonard there on the sly, an adorable young man who worked for the Brechin town hall. These two exuded so much happiness that I had the misfortune to invite Eric to one of our nocturnal outings so that I no longer had to bear their bliss. In the end, the physical tension between him and me became unbearable as Leonard and Estelle showed signs of desire for each other. It then took me several days to recover from the fantasies that this evening had generated.

This time spent also allowed me to understand where the financial resources of the caste came from. Thanks to the Van Durens’ gift, Carmichael and his family speculated on the stock market. Far from being honest, this method had the gift of foreseeing the dreaded financial crisis and investing in more than lucrative options.

It also happened that some caste came and left the castle without anyone bothering me. Salomon explained to me that it was their unspeakable fear of the Master Hand that drove them to avoid me. I was amazed to learn from Salomon that the caste were estimated at more than ten thousand. Spread over all three territories, they were self-sufficient, all led by their lord, and the Master Hand ensured the continuity of the population. This reality sent shivers down my spine. I had no desire to be subject to the will of a single man, but Salomon recognized that, without him, there would certainly be no more caste in this world, and it was for this reason that he wanted to list them all. Securing the descendants of the species was one of his priorities. When I wanted to know what the Master Hand’s other priorities were, the Native American refused to answer. The fear of this man was always present.

Another beautiful sunny morning, and that day, like many others, Salomon and I found ourselves on the terrace of the courtyard garden to have our breakfast. The beautiful weather allowed us to put on our bathing suits and I was overjoyed that we inaugurated the first swim of the year. The Van Durens, Estelle and even Sophie Conway had joined us, cheerfully enjoying the freshness of this morning swim. I couldn’t decently chat with Ishmael, Marcus and Joseph as Estelle did, for fear that their primary instincts would be triggered, but I definitely sensed the pleasure of this life. After two years on the high school plague bench and a family that was limited to a quiet military man, I never thought I would find such contentment there. A voice that I immediately recognized inevitably pulled me out of this temporary joy.

“Good morning,” Carmichael greeted me as I emerged from the pool.

We stared at each other for a moment. He hadn’t lost his legendary charisma and was looking at me again with a glint of lust in his emerald eyes. Beside him stood Ethan, his gaze absent but a knowing smile on his lips. I smiled back, glad to see him again.

“I see you’re enjoying our absence,” Carmichael said without taking his eyes off me.

I no longer knew how to interpret his behaviour, but I still had in mind the last humiliation he had inflicted on me. I decided to have a little fun:

“And it’s nothing compared to last night, huh, the Van Durens?”

A chill fell on the castle. Ishmael, Marcus and Joseph choked and looked at Carmichael who, despite his lack of reaction, seemed taut as a bow. He glared at the Van Durens but Ethan broke the silence with a throaty laugh. I followed suit, proud to have provoked the exact reaction I was hoping for. I had to admit that Carmichael’s rejection that night in the old chapel only fueled a childish desire for revenge. So I had to take advantage of the few chances offered to me!

“I see you’ve familiarized yourself with the place, Everliegh,” Carmichael said, imperturbable again, “I’m glad.”

“She is like a fish in water!” Salomon sat quietly slumped on his deckchair.

“Indeed,” I confirmed, before diving back into the cool water of the pool.

“So you won’t mind my joining you,” Carmichael continued.

“Absolutely not. Go get your trunks! Only, I don’t guarantee my presence when you return.”

“So I’d rather make sure you stay,” he assured without flinching.

He took off his shoes and his T-shirt which he threw on a garden chair. He did the same for his jeans and… oh! He had nothing underneath! My heart jumped. I overcame a gasp of surprise as my bewildered eyes turned in the opposite direction. I could hardly recover from this surreal vision and I was more than amazed at the lack of reaction from the others. They all acted as if Carmichael’s attitude was perfectly normal and went about their business. I should have noticed the lack of modesty of the place when Conway had dropped the top of her bathing suit, but I understood, as a woman, how hideous tan lines could be. As I thought of a way to hide my rosy cheeks, Carmichael dove into the pool and, in record time, joined me at the edge. The water and the sun made his bronze skin radiate while the translucent green of his eyes looked at me passionately. I tried by the force of my mind to push him back, even to send him flying across the twenty metres of the pool, but my power was strangely unwilling to work. I could already feel the lava flowing through my veins. I rushed out, put on a bathrobe, and heard Ethan laugh again as I hurried back to the north wing door.

Finally alone in my room, I tried to tame my heat under an icy shower. Once out, I heard someone knock on the door. I didn’t hide my surprise when I discovered Sophie Conway, her cheeks rosy from the sun under her magnificent dark brown hair.

“Could I come in?”

“Please.”

She looked around the room before sitting down in an armchair. She watched me for a moment before coming to the purpose of her visit.

“I’m here because I think I owe you an explanation about those two years in high school.”

“I already know you were under Carmichael’s orders,” I assured her, not wanting to dwell too long.

“Indeed, but did you know that we had agreed not to do anything to prevent your isolation from others? You can well imagine that with our resources, we could have nipped your boyfriend’s excessive ramblings in the bud. It’s like getting you away from Olivia, the idea of separate classes was mine.”

“But why?” I asked, shocked by her frank and murderous revelations.

“We wanted you to have as few attachments as possible. A way to make sure you wouldn’t have much to lose if you were to join us here. Obviously, we hadn’t anticipated the arrival of the Panchaks.”

Everything was swirling around in my head. Surprised, I felt a moment of incredible anger. She noticed it because she immediately fell silent. My anger was quickly appeased, however, because when I thought about it, I almost felt like I was talking about another era. A very old page that I had decided to turn a few days after my arrival at Mortain. Besides, their intervention or their deliberate choice to make me the plague victim of high school wouldn’t have changed the course of events.

“I have to tell you that I thought it was you who killed young Cedric Fabre,” she said after a while, “so I may have had preconceived ideas about you. Since Sophia’s death, I’ve been investigating to find the real killer.”

“How did she die?”

“Same as Cedric.”

“And Olivia, have you heard from her?”

“I know the principal contacted her mother who told him to mind his own business. She also said that her daughter was fine and that she was old enough to quit school. I don’t see why she would lie.”

“I find it strange that she didn’t try to contact me or Johnny.”

“The principal thinks that she may have left home because of her mother’s alcoholism.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t fit. Her mother can’t do without Olivia, why would she say that everything is fine then? It’s very worrying.”

“I’ll try to find out more when I return from the school holidays.”

“You still teach there! But why?”

“In order not to arouse the suspicions of the Master Hand,” she revealed with a strange look, “Carmichael is very keen on it.”

I thought it must be very frustrating for her to teach mere humans when she could bask in the sun by the pool at Mortain Castle.

“I need to tell you about Naomi,” she continued.

“That’s out of the question!”

“Yet I must. My powers have had no effect on you since that day in class when I tried in vain to control you, but I’ll not leave until I tell you what I came for.”

I suspected that this woman hadn’t come to discuss her role as a chaperone in this story.

“It wasn’t Naomi who left the video in front of your room,” she continued.

“And how do you know that?”

“I’ve known her long enough for that. But also, I entered her mind to get to the bottom of it.”

“Well then!” I replied, growing weary of this conversation.

“I know she feels sickly jealous of you, but she’s not the type to use this kind of ploy. Also, her jealousy was never provoked by Thomas, but by Carmichael.”

“What!”

“I don’t think you understand the situation, Everliegh. Before you came into his life, Carmichael was with her…”

It didn’t surprise me...

“…once he met you, he had no interest in Naomi. He was using her, that’s all. You must also suspect that it wasn’t without ulterior motive that he captured Thomas, even if the main order came from the Master Hand. Naomi saw it as a way to get revenge on you and did everything to achieve her ends.”

“She didn’t have to worry though because, if you want to know, Carmichael has rather done everything to avoid me since my arrival here.”

“That’s not what I saw earlier,” she laughed, “but you’re right, I’ve found him strange for a few months.”

“Mmm… Well, Naomi is pregnant by Thomas, she has nothing more to say, anyway.”

I hoped to have been clear on my desire to conclude this interview quickly.

“You’re definitely right. But she’s not a bad girl, deep down, I just wanted you to know that.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” I lied as she got up to leave.

“See you at dinner?”

“Of course.”

I was not unhappy with this impromptu visit. On the contrary, Conway had revealed several interesting elements to me. I wasn’t going to forgive Thomas for his treachery or soften up on Naomi, that was certain, but her account of Sophia’s death didn’t fail to intrigue me. Two dead people around me, and under the same conditions, it was totally disconcerting. In addition, it caused me to be wanted by the police. I suddenly had the feeling that an important piece of this nebulous puzzle was missing, and all these coincidences were starting to seriously worry me about Olivia. Her cell phone, on which I had left numerous messages, was now unavailable. I tried to take a deep breath before calming my nerves in a nice hot bath. I had already considered going to London to find Olivia, but Johnny had made me give it up, promising me that he and Elvis had tried everything to find her without any result. Johnny thought, in his own words, that she’d found a rich guy who’d hosed down her mother with cash and she was taking it easy on a desert island. Only, Johnny’s optimism wasn’t contagious, because I didn’t believe it for a second and my anxiety grew.

After putting on a little flared dress, and pulling my hair up in a neat ponytail, I set off for the common room in the south wing. The large rectangular table had been set by Selene with her daughter Estelle’s help. Carmichael sat at the end of the table, while the Van Durens, Conway, Salomon and Eric sat side by side. Opposite were Eddy and Wanda Monteiro, whom I had seen for the first time since the evening of my arrival. Naomi, also present, had her gaze riveted on her plate. All that was missing was Thomas and Ethan. Carmichael invited me to sit at the end of the table facing him. A little embarrassed to be enthroned in front of the others, I nevertheless complied and thus avoided getting too close to Naomi.

The meal took place without incident. Carmichael had regained his shifty gaze and confined himself to talking about the stock market with Eddy Monteiro and Marcus Van Duren. Estelle did the service (which always bothered me so much) and the rest of us enjoyed tasting Selene’s good little dishes. While I was revelling in my delicious dessert, there was still no sign of the rest of this terrible evening.