Bastian
Chapter 146 - Opened the Door

✧Opened the Door✧

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

By the time Odette had come out of the bath, the maids were done cleaning the room. The bed sheets were replaced and the patient that was supposed to be in them was no where to be seen. Already Bastian was being stubborn and not taking the doctors advice to rest as much as possible.

   Then she saw them. A bouquet of Irises lay on the table, next to a velvety box. 

“These are birthday presents for you, Madam.” the had brought in a huge pile of gifts and flowers.

Odette looked at the greetings card on the bouquet. They were from some military family who had close ties with Bastian.

   Since she had gotten married to Bastian, every time her birthday came around, the gifts poured in from all sorts of people she had never met. She never thought others would show such enthusiasm for her birthday this year, when her reputation fell to the ground due to various scandals. 

   She was relived that Bastian had not died from the infected wound. They’d hurt each other enough and she didn’t want to spiral any more. She was done with mounting up debt.

 Odette busied herself organising all the greetings cards and getting the flowers into vases. Although they were all addressed to her, they were solely to curry favour with Bastian. She would have to leave him a list of people for him to look at.

   Odette found a gift that didn’t have a name on it. It would be a simple matter to call the maid and ask them who sent the gift, but she decided against it.

   She put the flowers into a spare vase and went to the bathroom to fill up the water. She stared absently at the swans on the tap and didn’t realise the water overflowed. Odette panicked and shut off the facet and dropped the flowers in her panic. The flower scattered over the now drenched bathroom floor.

   Subconsciously, she counted the flowers as she picked them up. There were twenty four of them, the same as her age. She looked at them lovingly as she brought them back into the bedroom and placed them on the table next to the red velvet box. When she carefully opened the lid, she found wonderfully wrapped chocolates in little, tiny compartments.

   There was one chocolate that was coin shaped and it reminded her of the chocolate she had bought in celebration of getting a new job. Her heart broke when she remembered she had dropped it in her attempts to run away from Bastian.

  Odette held the chocolate in her hand, her eyes filled with confusion and helplessness. Just as she was examining the twenty-four irises, she heard Margrethe barked and pawed at the glass doors leading out onto the balcony. 

Odette looked up, confused and saw that Bastian was stood out on the balcony, staring out of the sea with cigarette dangling between his fingers.  

   Doctor Kramer told her that it was lucky Bastian was in such peak physical condition. They would still need to monitor his progress, but so long as he did not get another fever, he should be fine. She was pretty sure that smoking in the cold air was not going to help.

   Odette stood at the door for awhile, watching him as he smoked. As he finished and turned to the door, Odette jumped back and pretended she was pottering about the room. She felt a cold blast of air as Bastian opened the door to let Margrethe out, he did not close it again and went back to the railing.

 Odette gathered her courage and stepped out onto the balcony. The world, caressed by overnight snow, dazzling in the beaming innocence of pure white.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

“I think its time you went back inside”  Odette looked at the winter garden where white snowflakes were blooming and turned her head. “You’re not fully recovered and this cold air cant be doing you any good.” 

Bastian looked at her sidelong, her reproachful glare made his heart sink. It was absurd, but the feeling of being pitied was not all that bad.

  The wind, a tender courier cradling snow crystals, waltzed gracefully between them. Bastian noticed Odette shiver in the bitter cold, so he shrugged off the coat he had draped over his shoulders and tried to place it around Odette instead. She tried to make as if she did not need it, but Bastian was not taking no for an answer.

Bastian calmly buttoned his coat and finally raised the collar and wrapped it around her  neck   He could see that Odette was embarrassed, maybe she didn’t like the idea of taking clothes from a wounded soldier. Bastian didn’t put much thought in it, he looked out to the sea and listened to the crashing waves of icy water.

   “Thank you for dealing with the scandal and the accident,” Odette changed her mind about turning away and said the words she had prepared after thinking about it all night. 

   Bastian looked at her, trembling in an oversized coat, too embarrassed to look at him properly. His eyes were deep and calm, like a tranquil sea beneath the canvass of a crystalline day.

   “I know you’ve been through a lot because of me and got injured. I’m sorry for all the trouble I have caused. Now that I have recovered my health, I’m going to leave as soon as the holidays are over.”

   That’s it.

As she faced Bastian with an open mind, it seemed to her that she had finally understood: her hatred and resentment towards this man had lost their grip. 

   “I’m not just going to run away like I did last time. I want to stay in touch with you, so that you can maintain your right to be the father of our child, if Lady Laviere agrees, of course…”

   “No, I have nothing to do with Sandrine any more,” Bastian said. “I never wanted to be engaged with her, Odette, if you want to be the child’s mother, then marry me.”

Bastian calmly shared the decision he had arrived at. He knew it was irrevocable, but he was not willing to let her go, he couldn’t.

   “No, Bastian, don’t do that,” Odette pleaded with him. “If its because you feel guilty over the scandal, you don’t have to. All I want is freedom and peace, not this sympathetic responsibility.”

 Guilt. 

Sympathy. 

Responsibility. 

The memory of their first meeting flashed through Bastian’s mind and deepened his despair.

   “Do I really look like the kind of person that would make such sacrifices and devotions under such petty guises?”

   The question was posed like Bastian was mocking himself.

   The Emperor had ordered the marriage out of Imperial interest. He now ordered a divorce to save Imperial honour. As if he only just realised the kind of man Bastian is.

   Countess Trier asked to be Odette’s guardian and the Emperor agreed. If they were to divorce, Odette would come under the protection of Countess Trier. She promised to support Odette with all her might. This would mean Odette would no longer be isolated and alone.

   Bastian knew that he had been wholly stripped of the position as Odette’s saviour. If he accepted the Emperor’s decree, Odette could begin a new life, a life she had so desperately wanted.

   “I want you, Odette,” Bastian finally said.

   He looked into her turquoise eye’s, which glittered like the scales of the sea. She was so beautiful. Beautiful enough to make him want to grab her and never let her go, even if it meant shackling this woman to the ruins of the life he had made for her.

   Bastian didn’t want to avoid that distorted desire any longer. She was his and no one was going to take her away from him, not even the Emperor.

   He wanted to have her, even if he had to deceive her and break her. Even if it meant keeping her blinded and deafened. He would have her and she would bare his child.

   “Madam, its Dora.” One of the servants came into the bedroom calling after Odette.

   “Yes, come in,” Odette said and left the balcony like she was trying to run away from him. Bastian put down the cigarette he had been holding and followed her.

   “Since you are both sick, I thought it would be an idea to have a birthday dinner up here,” Dora said.

   Odette shook her head. “No, Dora, that won’t be necessary.”

   “But this is the first birthday you two have spent together. Wouldn’t it be better to spend it together?” Dora looked at Odette pleadingly. then to Bastian, standing beside her. “How about celebrating your birthday even if it’s simple? As Dr. Kramer’s advice, I will prepare without putting too much strain on either of you.” 

  Dora was as stubborn as ever.

Silence answered her question, Bastian settled into a chair before the hearth, his gaze drawn to the sea beyond the window, now awash with the crimson blush of the closing year.

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