Bastian
Chapter 157 - The Windless Sea

✧The Windless Sea✧

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   “IT’S BECAUSE OF YOU!” she exploded like a gun and drowned out the crashing waves. The once pale cheeks were now practically glowing red, flush with hot anger. The streaks of tears on her puffy cheeks flashed in the moonlight.

   Bastian had been waiting for this moment, the moment when she would finally break. Whatever she was before this moment would be lost forever. He swallowed the passion welling up inside, forming a lump in his throat and let go of her.

   “YOU KILLED MY BABY, YOU KILLED MY MARGRETHE!” Odette continued raving.

   The resentment that she had been holding back over the years was now boiling over in a spectacular display of raw emotion. She knew it was an unfair judgement, but it wasn’t entirely wrong. A voice in the back of her mind was telling her to calm down, pleaded with her to stop and see reason, but Bastian’s silence infuriated her even more.

   “You’re so damn arrogant you think you can ignore the Emperors direct orders!” Odette ranted, her hands formed tiny little fists that she waved at him. “If you had just let me leave with Countess Trier, the baby, the dog, they would both be alive and well. Why didn’t you let me go? Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you deceive me? TELL ME!”

   Odette screamed, she shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice carried across the sea and drowned out even the noise of the ocean. Bastian still just stood on the beach and watched her.

   “You should have left me alone in Felia. No matter how poor I was, it would be better than now.” Flashes of memories came to her, of her brief and simple life. They, too, were drowned out by her white hot anger.

   Odette turned to face the sea, to where her baby, her dog was washed away with the tide. When she turned back, all that was left was him. Her salvation and her despair. Her another source of sadness and pain. A person so pitted with hatred and drove her crazy because she can’t let go of him.

   “You should have deceived me until the end!” Odette realised right at the end, as she let the anger well up deep in her heart. The base truth hidden behind the belief that Margrethe would return. She felt like such a fool.

   She wanted to protect what she had, even if it meant staying with him. She hated herself for feeling that and she hated Bastian even more for letting her know.

   “Why did you save me if you were just going to do this to me?” Her weak, aimless punches thudded against Bastian’s chest. “SAY SOMETHING, ANSWER ME!”

   Odette gasped for air, her heart pounding so hard in her ears as she struggled to regain her composure. Bastian hugged her deeply into his arms, gently stroked her back. The empty look in her eyes slowly began to fill with emotions once more. Tears welled up, but she held them back as if she was done with drowning in her own tears. Bastian, too, seemed equally overwhelmed.

She raised a trembling hand to his cheek. His face was like the calm sea where no wind touched it, but his eyes were a storm. The silence hung heavy around them, their lips sealed shut, but their tear filled eyes spoke volumes.

   It was all that she needed to tell her that she had wounded this man as much as he had wounded her.

   In the stillness of the moment, she pictured the days ahead of them. Days where they would constantly fight to wound the other. Where the shattered remains of their emotions would form jagged edges with which to cut. Like warriors trapped within the debris of their own destruction.

   Her lips parted, but she didn’t dare utter a word. She couldn’t apologise and neither could she accuse him. The reality chocked her and she struggled for breath.

   Bastian touched her cheek with gentle fingers and their eyes met as she looked up. She felt shame and tried to turn away, unable to endure the weight of his accusing gaze, but he held her firm in his warm hand.

Their eyes locked. As she started to look away, his hand gripped hers tighter, a warmth spreading.

   “I feel pain whenever I look at you,” she confessed, her words coming as quiet as the dawn.

   “I know,” he said. 

   “You feel that too.”

“I know.” He painfully held onto her even while giving her a painful answer.

Unable to look at him, Odette shut her eyes. It was her only escape in this torment.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

All the servants were gathered around in the lounge, sitting around the central table, looking at the chef, who was being very loud. “He knows better, the heartless bastard,” she bellowed, not caring who heard, “Madam loved Margrethe, he is well aware of that, but he still won’t make a grave for that poor thing?”

   The chef clicked her tongue in disgust. She was normally one of the most loyal supporters of Bastian, but this had crossed a line. The other servants seized on the opportunity to voice their own opinions and the lounge devolved into a din of chorused voices.

   Dora remained silent, sipping on her tea. She understood their perspectives well enough, but this time she found it impossible to defend Bastian.

   The dog the gardener had found was indeed Margrethe. What shocked Dora more was Bastian’s reaction. He left the dog for the gardener to deal with and proceeded to lie to Odette about what they had found. The gardener, with no instructions to bury the dog, instead cremated it with the rest of the trash. Needless to say, the staff were outraged.

   “Why hasn’t the missing posters been taken down yet? There was another claiming to have Margrethe today,” the laundry maid said.

   “It’s not that easy, there were thousands of posters put up, its going to take time to bring them all down again,” said the chef.

   They continued to vent their frustrations until the clock chimed and Dora was reminded of the passing of the time. Every shuffled back to their duties, while Dora headed for Odette’s room to discuss dinner plans. She knew Odette would probably not have a proper meal, but she needed to eat something.

   Dora took a breath before she knocked. “Yes? Come in,” Odette’s soft voice called. Dora entered the room and found Odette as composed as ever.

   Odette was sitting in the chair by the window, wistfully staring down to the bottom of the garden. Where she had been sat yesterday, and the day before that, and before that too. Dora knew she was looking down to the memorial grave at the bottom of the garden.

   Dora felt a little relief that Odette would not be chasing around the forest or the beach any more. It was small comfort though. At least now, Odette could try to move on.

   “Major Klauswitz will be late home again this evening,” Dora said.

   Odette turned to look at Dora, her face as sad and pale as ever. “Alright, I will have dinner in here then,” she said with a ghost of a smile. “Is there any other business?”

   Before Dora answered, she noticed a sternness to Odette that wasn’t there before. Her cold composure was a lot more rigid. There was a change in Odette that made Dora think that she has somehow found her strength in all of this.

   This is my last chance.

   Dora decided to take that chance. She stepped toward Odette. The silence remained as Odette waited for Dora’s response, her eyes questioning Dora as she approached. This was going to be Dora’s last chance. She slipped out a letter from her pocket and offered it to Odette.

   It was a letter from Countess Trier. The date set by the Countess was just ten days away, but she held onto it in the hopes that Bastian would make the right decision on his own, but he didn’t. Bastian would never let go. No matter how much he caused this poor girl to suffer, he would not let her go. So the only hope now was this letter.

   “Please, take it,” Dora said. Odette accepted the letter without much thought.

   As Odette opened the letter, Dora could feel the tension get drawn like a bowstring. As Odette read the letter, Dora’s heart thundered. As Odette looked up at Dora, she felt her nerves wind so tight, her mind went fuzzy.

   Odette never said a word. She just looked at Dora almost as composed as when she first entered the room. There was a little confusion on her face.

   “You’ve worked hard enough, ma’am, now its time you got to decide.” Dora’s voice filled her head and she felt sure she was going to collapse. “I will follow your will.”

Odette remained silent as Dora prepared to exit the room, her silence lasting until Dora finally left.

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