SEVENTEEN

When Celeste made her way back to the others, they were already up. Karen smiled at her when Celeste sat down next to her. Thomas shot her a quick grin.

"We thought you'd ran away Blue," He said.

Celeste tried to smile but it was more of a grimace. Someone else who seemed to have woken on the wrong side of the bed ( well ground) was Will. His dark hair had twigs in it, his eyes were sunken and his expression was sullen. Normally he would be making a joke at her expense but he was too busy staring at a tree. Celeste frowned at him for a moment and considered saying something. She thought better of it when she remembered just how vicious Will could get sometimes over nothing at all. So she kept her mouth shut as they had a sorry breakfast of overripe apples which Will had stolen back from Nashville, or in his words "burrowed."

"How much longer until we reach Tournfort?" Karen asked.

"A week, give or take" Will shrugged.

A week. Seven days of walking. Celeste pursed her lips at the thought.

She was really looking forward to it.

"We should probably get a move on then" Thomas suggested throwing away his apple core. "Come on, up you all get!"

The other three groaned in union.

"I know you're my brother and all but I swear you're an annoying git" Karen grumbled.

"I heard that"

"With the ears of a freaking elephant"

Celeste reluctantly got up, dusting her dress off. Across her Will did the same, he was scowling at the ground like it had killed his dog.

"What's up with you?" Celeste blurted out. Will sent her a sharp glare.

"Nothings up with me," He said coldly. "I am fucking fantastic"

"There, there Will," Thomas said lightly, patting him in the shoulder. "Don't bite her head off for stating the obvious"

Will raised a brow at him.

"You look like shit," Thomas said seriously. Will stared at him for a second and Celeste thought he was going to punch him, but he broke out into a hesitant grin and playfully shoved Thomas.

"I look better than you, you little shit," He said rather nonchalantly.

Her day consisted of walking, depressing thoughts, more walking, more depressing thoughts. Celeste had never walked this much in her entire life.

She probably had it worse than the others since she was used to a life of comfort. With Ira strapped to her belt as the sun reached its peak, Celeste was done. She almost considered begging the others to stop, but then she realized that would make her sound exactly like a spoiled brat. No one else was complaining and it was because of her that they even were going to Tournefort. Well, Will said it was for the reward ...

Celeste slowed a little until the others were a little ahead of her. She stared at the back of their heads as they walked, and wondered if they were helping her only for the reward. They most likely are, she told herself but that didn't mean it didn't bother her. Celeste had found herself attached to the three of them, yes even Will. She had grown to care for them as friends. She liked to think a small part of them cared about her too. Not about Celeste Valois, Queen of Astoria.

But about Celeste, the girl they had found and taken in. Celeste was used to people wanting to get close to her only because of her last name. Having the daughter of the King as a friend was very beneficial actually. She couldn't help but think that Thomas and the others were only being nice to her because well, she's the future queen. Why else would they even put up with her?

"Is falling behind a certain talent of yours?" Will called out.

"Is being an ass one of yours?" Celeste retorted.

Scratch that, Will was rarely nice to her.

But what about when they reached her uncle, would they just take the reward and be off? Would she ever see them again? She had asked Karen if she would stay but the girl hadn't answered. She had only smiled! Was that a yes or a no?

Stop being an idiot Celeste, she thought. Of course, she won't stay! Who'd want to be stuck with you?

Celeste decided to stop thinking altogether and joined the others. As the sun was starting to set, they saw a little town. But unluckily it seemed to be packed with soldiers. Although they were probably being paranoid, none of them fancied facing them. Celeste, Karen, and Thomas decided to stay behind while Will would go to see if there was any news about her uncle or Valentine.

"I'm going because I'm the most charming " Will grinned.

"No you're going because you're expendable " Karen had smirked.

It had been a good hour or two since Will had left, and he still wasn't back yet. Celeste told herself repeatedly that Will was a big boy and he could take care of himself. Though he was known to be quite reckless most of the time. Celeste thought about how weird he had been acting all day. Even his jokes and retorts sounded halfhearted.

Celeste could tell even Thomas was starting to get worried. They'd had so dinner and it was dark now. But it was a full moon tonight and it bathed everything in its glow. Karen had dozed off leaning against a tree, Celeste couldn't blame her. She and Thomas made little conversation, both were getting increasingly worried about Will when they saw a figure walking towards them. Celeste's hand involuntarily went to Ira but Thomas shook his head at her, his mouth open in half amazement and half frustration. Celeste squinted to see Will with the biggest grin on his face that she had ever seen. In his hand were several bottles.

"Oh dear," Thomas chuckled.

A FEW HOURS LATER

Empty bottles littered the grass around them. Celeste had gotten quite used to the spinning ground though she had freaked out at first. Karen was slumped down at a little distance from them though how she could sleep through all their racket amazed Celeste.

She and Will were leaning against two trees next to each other. Will's face was flushed and his head bobbed a lot when he spoke. Though other than that, no one could tell that he was drunk. There was even no slur in his voice. Celeste wondered how bad she must've looked, it was the first time she was drunk. Though she couldn't even say that she was drunk, she was just slightly tipsy. But she was perfectly aware of what she was saying and she was perfectly aware that Will was not because of his hour-long rant on butterflies.

What started as a simple drink, turned into a nightmare. Though she had stopped after her second bottle (Will had called her several names the most sensible of which was black-haired chicken), and Thomas had passed out on the ground after his fourth, she watched in amazement as Will downed one after another.

She was having fun, Celeste had to admit. She could tell that Will was too, the guarded expression he wore every day had disappeared. His grey eyes sparkled more than they had ever done. And sober Will would tell her to shut up, but drunken Will listened interestingly to all her rants.

"It isn't fair!" Celeste burst out, fuming. She turned to Will.

"Is it?" She asked heatedly.

"Nope" Will said popping the P.

"I mean the fact that throughout history, Astoria has had three queens altogether!" She ranted holding up four fingers.

"But do we get to read about that? No! All we ever heard about was how Tobias won some freaking ponies or Atlas had a nasty case of the coup when he was thirty! Men!" Celeste snarled, disgusted. "They're everywhere! No offense though Will" She added.

"None taken," Will said nodding his head.

"I get you," He said pointing to her. Celeste stared at him before clapping her hands into an applause

"Means a lot to me that you do Bill. Means a lot" She said as Will bowed his head theatrically.

"Now where was I? Yes... Men! Kings! They're supposed to be glorious and all that shit. What about the ladies? Oh, don't bother about them! All they're supposed to do is have tea parties and let me tell you, Will, I WILL NOT HAVE IT! When I asked my history tutor about the queens and their achievements and so on, know what he said Jill? Queen Vina MARRIED FUCKING PRINCE OF I DONT REALLY KNOW WHERE!" Celeste said loudly. "She married a pig who almost lost her the country! HER COUNTRY! Do you think someone who married their way into Astoria has more right to rule than someone who grew up there, someone who cared about it, someone who had the blood of the person who first conquered it... It was her birthright. It is my birthright, but I guess none of those factors really matter because I AM A WOMAN! Cause I know how it's gonna be like when I reach my uncle, there's going to be no battle strategies or councils for me, no... They're just gonna want me to marry some fancy old prick so he can rule my country for me! And I know that because I've done a lot of reading!"

She let the silence sink in as she turned to look at Will. To her surprise, he was not looking at her as if she had said the craziest shit ever, he was looking at her like she had said the most sensible thing ever. But he didn't speak. So Celeste went on on a completely different topic.

"My mother was disappointed in me the last time I saw her," She said sadly.

"I wish I'd tried harder to make her proud of me now. At least she would've died being proud of me" She trailed off. Will was now aggressively chugging down another bottle.

"My mother was disappointed in me," She said more quietly. She felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes as she stared at the ground.

"At least she loved you," Will said suddenly sounding very hoarse and exhausted all of a sudden.

"All mothers love their children Will. It's a job requirement " She said rolling her eyes.

"Mine didn't," Will said quietly.

Celeste's drunken mind didn't know better, she snorted it.

Everything friendly about Will's demeanor was gone. He glared at her coldly.

"My mother didn't love me!" He bellowed. Celeste flinched at his tone, staring at him as he panted heavily.

"Why would you say that?" She inquired.

Will shook his head.

"You think I'm being dramatic when I say it but it is the truth. My mother was a cold-hearted hag. I hope she burns in hell with my father" Celeste recoiled at the pure venom and hate in his tone.

"Why would you say that ?" Celeste breathed out fighting the urge to move away from Will. He was starting to scare her. Will laughed at her words though there was no humor in it.

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that they never gave a shit about me. " He said suddenly quieter. The anger in his eyes was replaced with vulnerability.

With horror, she realized that the walls Will had up since they had met, were crumbling apart.

"Maybe it was to do with the fact that my father came home every night, drunk out of his mind and he used to find me, and he used to beat the crap out of me. Every night Celly"

He stared at her with such emotion and pain that Celeste found herself wanting sober Will back. Even angry Will was better.

"And my mother, she never stopped him. She hated me. But what my father did with his blows, she made up for it with her words. You're right Celly, mothers should love their children. But mine just reminded me every day that I deserved everything I got. That I didn't deserve their love"

"Will" Celeste breathed out, feeling her voice get choked up. "That's horrible"

Will looked up at her, and he fell apart. His lips started trembling and Celeste stared with horror as tears began to race down his cheeks.

You know when something is trapped inside you, like a violent storm raging to free itself and suddenly one day it wins. And it bursts out from you like an explosion. That what Celeste thought of as Will cried. Like he had been holding himself together for so long but now it was bursting out from him in waves.

Since she had met Will, she had thought of him as a sarcastic, rude, insufferable boy. He was beautiful, like the most expensive vase her mother owned. Celeste blamed the drinks for the weird analogy. But now she saw the Will who couldn't sleep at night, now he was the Will who never talked about his family, now she saw the Will who let his anger get the best of him. Now she saw the cracks in the vase.

Celeste slowly crawled until she was next to him. He looked up with watery eyes and stared at her. Suddenly as if realizing what was happening he tried to wipe his face with his sleeve. But before he could, Celeste put her arms around him.

He was stiff and shocked for a long time, but then he wrapped his arms around her too, holding her so tightly as if he was afraid she was going to disappear any moment. He cried into her shoulder and Celeste cried into his.

"I'm cursed" He whispered drowsily after some time, finally letting go of her to lean against the tree. His eyelids were half-closed from sleep.

"Aren't we all?" Celeste whispered as she felt sleep welcome her.