Part XXVII

Joel knew that he had no excuses that would fly with Gerd. He stopped and turned around looking the man straight in the eyes. He was waiting for what the handsome Gerd had to say. Gerd approached him with a grim expression.

"Was it fun messing with me?"

"When did I deceive you Gerd? From the beginning we had an agreement that you will seduce Francine only to break up with her, that's it. I offered you money and it's not like you cared about Francine. It was you yourself that has fallen for my … female version." Joel tried to remain calm.

"You are wrong, you seduced me and made me lose any logical thinking. Francine is a pretty, nice girl." There was something in the Gerd eyes that made Joel go silent for a moment. There was something off with his acting. Joel turned around and saw Francine with a tomato red face standing right behind him. Joel actually expected a slap straight in the face. But nothing like that happened. She was just standing there, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Joel felt like shit.

"Deal with it." Gerd hissed standing only a few inches away.

"I will. I hope you are happy, Gerd. Our deal is off." Joel turned away when a firm hand gripped his hand.

"Do you like seducing men? Spreading your legs like a whore?" His grip got even tighter.

"Why? Want to book a place in the line?" Joel smiled sweetly hoping to piss that asshole even more.

Gert let his hand go, he got quiet and somehow looked kind of hurt. Joel didn't have time to deal with that man's emotions so he turned toward Francine. She was still crying.

"I know I lied to you but as you could see Gerd has never had any interest in you. He came to notice your presence only after we made that agreement. He's an ass. I know I'm an even bigger asshole but believe me you will be better off at home with those people who really love you." Joel reached for Francine but she flinched back and ran away. Yep, his perfect plan was rolling down the deep shit hole. He decided to give her some time and went straight to find Brian.

Brian was just as usual and that was good because Joel was done with any more drama for today. He even found two horses for the brother of his fiancee. Joel took out five silver coins and gave them to Brian.

"Honey, that's too much." Brian wanted to give him some money back.

"This is from my brother and that's his way to say thank you, so just accept it." Joel placed his hand on Brian's to seal the deal. It worked. Returning to the inner ward Joel was thinking how to smuggle through the gatehouse. He noticed the two familiar guards and an idea crossed his mind in a flash. The plan wasn't perfect but Joel was ready to leave; he only had to convince Francine. And there was the duke, Michel. Joel was still unsure how he felt about him. He actually went as far as to have sex with a man. Something he thought would never happen. His own feelings were a real mess. What he did with the duke was consensual and he enjoyed it. However this happened only once and let's say it was a possibility to expend his sexual experience. That's right, Joel wasn't gay. He had no problem with gay people but he, himself wasn't one. Joel decided to keep the whole memory that way in his mind and rushed to the kitchen. He was late but nobody scolded him. The head maid gave him a really nasty look but that was it. He was branded as duke's lover and nobody wanted to be with him on bad terms, well more or less.

"The duke was looking for you." He heard Rose saying it casually. That was probably a while ago and they all hoped he would be scolded. Joel turned around and left saying nothing to them. Stupid bunch of haters, Joel's steps were quick echoing in the empty staircase. He went straight to the study. The duke wasn't there. On the desk there were some empty cups and Joel out of a habit collected them, almost spilling some on one of the documents. He looked closer, it was a letter from a lord of the eastern province. Joel read it quickly and his face went pale. An agreement was made between the lord and the duke according to the new power division in the country. Fuck, it was confirmation of treason against the king. Joel knew he shouldn't have seen that. He stepped back only to hear the door being opened.