Kaila sat in her room, alone and hurt. This was her and Adrian’s first real fight, and it stung. But she still was suspicious of other women.
Somebody knocked on Kaila’s door.
“Come in.” Kaila said.
“Hello, lovely.”
Kaila said nothing.
“I said hello,” Adrian said tensely.
Kaila sighed. “I’m sorry for what happened, I was just worried Lucida was your wife or something.”
“I am repulsed just thinking about it,” Adrian said. “She is like my sister, anything romantic would be awkward and completely inappropriate. You’re the only one, Kaila.”
He kissed her quickly. “I need to go, I will be back tonight.” Adrian said. “Oh wait, I almost forgot.” He grabbed something out of his pouch. “I bought you a little something.
Kaila looked at the beautiful comb, painted in gold. “Thank you so much!” She said. “It’s beautiful!”
Adrian smiled. “I thought you’d like it. Goodbye, lovely.”
Kaila waved goodbye, but knew she wasn’t going to stay in her room all day. She was going to explore Adrian’s house.
First she went to the kitchen.
“Hello?” Kaila said.
“Can I help you?” Someone said.
“I’m Adrian’s friend, so to speak. I was wanting to explore his house.”
“Oh, so you live here now.” The woman said bitterly.
“What do you mean?”
“My name is Aviana. I’m Adrian’s cook and I do… other things…”
“Are you a slave?”
“Yes but it’s completely un-” Aviana stopped. “Anyways, what’s your name?”
Kaila frowned. Why is everyone hiding something from me?
“My name is Kaila.”
“So you’re the new slave girl? I didn’t know Adrian would get a new one so soon.” Aviana muttered.
“What do you mean the new slave girl? I’m Adrian’s… well, you know. His girlfriend.” Kaila said.
“Never-mind, I must go.” Aviana quickly got up and left.
Kaila frowned, but moved on to the basement. Adrian had mentioned that it had his servants in there. She tried to go down there, but some guards wouldn’t let her go past. Then she tried to open some doors in the upstairs. They wouldn’t budge, even though she had heard someone in there.
He’s hiding so much from me… everyone is hiding something from me!
~ ~ ~
A few days later Octavia, Josiah, and Sethe were aboard a ship. Sethe waved goodbye to her parents, Acacius and Cleora.
“Now you be careful there in Rome, ye hear!” Acacius said.
“Don’t forget to write to us, darling.” Serious but loving Cleora said. “And goodbye to you two, Octavia and Josiah. You were like a second part of our family, and you will be missed.”
The friends Octavia, Josiah, and Sethe had made in Shem Hadar all waved goodbye to them as they began the long trip to Rome.
Octavia began feeling poorly, so her and Josiah went below deck. Sethe stayed above deck, holding the compass her father had given her. She wore it around her neck always. She also had a few maps of all the oceans they were going to pass. As she studied her maps, someone came from behind her.
“Are you a sailor?” He said.
“Pardon?” Sethe said, trying to act dignified like her mother.
“My name’s Bardo, and you have enough maps to direct us all to Rome.”
Sethe blushed, as this was a very great compliment to her. “My name’s Sethe. I love the ocean, and traveling. I want to see the world!”
Bardo smiled. “I did too, and the fact that I come from a long line of sea captains helped. But why Rome?”
Sethe shrugged her shoulders. “I really didn’t have much of a choice. That’s the only place that I could go.”
“I’ve always wanted to travel too, but being a sea captain only leaves me the choice to go where the cargo wants to go.”
Sethe laughed. “I would nearly go crazy if some cargo dictated which countries I visited. I really want to be free, just to fly around the world. But I don’t have wings, and that really takes much more work than it sounds. You have to get a good boat, and you have to have money.” Sethe snapped out of her daze, embarrassed. “But anyways, enough about me, you said something about your family coming from a line of sea captains. Tell me more of that.”
Bardo and Sethe talked for a time, but Bardo had a ship to captain, and Sethe soon went below deck to see how Octavia and Josiah were faring.
~ ~ ~
“Adrian, sir, I would like to ask you something.”
“What happened to the good old days were there were less questions and more us-time?” Adrian leaned in to kiss Kaila but she dodged and continued. “Everyone is keeping something from me. Today, I met a woman named Aviana, who referred to me as a ‘slave girl.’ Is that what I am?”
Adrian groaned. “Aviana is ungrateful of what I’ve done for her, and she is simply babbling.”
“I want to know what Aviana is, and I mean really. I have reason to believe that I’m not the only woman in this household who you’ve said ‘I love you’ to.”
Adrian frowned. “I told you how I feel about the constant questions-”
“Well maybe I don’t care!” Kaila said, indignantly. “Please, stop hiding things from me! If you care about me, you’ll tell me!”
Adrian laughed. “Kaila, I really wanted this to work out. But I suppose you have other plans.”
Kaila frowned.
“Kaila, I could care less about you.” He said with stone cold eyes drilled into hers.
“But everything that’s happened to us, I’ve lived in your house for weeks now!”
“Merely a ploy,” He said. “I needed another slave. Aviana and others have been tricked the same way.”
“And Lucida?” She said with tears and anger in her voice.
“DON’T SPEAK OF LUCIDA THAT WAY!” He roared. Kaila’s eyes widened in fear. Adrian regained his calm demeanor. “Excuse me.” He cleared his throat. “I was hoping we could remain in a romantic state, however, you give me no choice but to put you down with the other ones.” He turned around. “GUARDS!”
Four guards walked into the room. “Take this slave girl to her quarters.” Adrian said. Kaila tried to fight from the guards, but to no avail. They dragged her down to the one place she wanted to explore the most, but now she wanted to be as far away from there as possible.
Lol so, I posted the “Pause on Mistakes and Returns” last week, or the beginning of April (as I have no idea when this will be approved)… let’s unpause! It’s been too long! Anyways, wow, this was a big plot twist. Or maybe you guys saw it coming. Anyways, let me know what you think about it! I enjoyed writing it, even though I was mad at Adrian whilst writing this. Anyone else just hate the villain they’ve created when they’re writing a story? And then you’re just like, how can I make sure this guy really gets what was coming to him, like dumping him into the middle of the ocean… with sharks. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! The next chapter is coming really soon since I’m almost done with it 🙂