Abby was weary of the road. Sleeping at night beca more difficult as sumr drew close. The heat was unbearable even in the dark. She would give anything for an electric fan or so air conditioning!
One day she was so tired from warding off the bugs that kept creeping into her tentsumr was a ti of mosquitoes toothat she fell asleep in the wagon despite all of the bumps in the road.
She wasn't sure how long she slept but she was woken up when they hit a particularly big rock and smacked the top of her head on the underside of Blaise's chin. Had she fallen asleep on him?!
"I'm so sorry," Abby apologized laly. "I didn't an to fall asleep on you."
He rubbed his chin and quite seriously said. "It was an honor to be used as your pillow Miss Abby. No need to apologize. Is your head alright?"
She gave him a sheepish smile. "It's no worse off than your chin."
She sighed and settled back against the side of the wagon before glancing around to see where they were. A magnificent estate shimred in the distance under the sunlight. She asked one of the traders where they were, figuring they would know better than Blaise since he had never been here before.
A trader nad Wilem responded with a nod in the direction of the estate. "That over there's the earldom of du Pont. The Kanta leader's wife is a daughter of that house."
Abby's interest grew. So that was where Katie ended up? Putting the tiline together, she had probably stayed there for months before heading to the capital. Her fake family might be there right now.
Her curiosity burned within her but unlike with the queen, who had been ridiculously understanding, she wouldn't be able to get away with barging into an earldom and demanding answers.
They all believed that Katie was actually Catherine. It wouldn't go well for her.
She couldn't help but wonder what Katie's relationships with those people were like. Mariela ntioned that she didn't care for the earl and countess at all but that she had enjoyed spending ti with their children.
They were briefly ntioned in the novel. A few tis after Katie moved into the castle they ca by to visit and had tea or played cards. The little girl who was Catherine's sister seed particularly fond of snuggling with Katie.
Abby was slightly jealous. Had she been replaced? No, not based on everything Mariela said. Katie still missed her fiercely right up until she moved out of the palace and their contact beca more sporadic.
Still, she wondered what Katie had been thinking when she got close to the du Pont siblings. She must have been terribly lonely.
About two weeks into their journey they had to stop to repair a broken wagon wheel and Abby had the chance to walk around the town. There were a few major differences between towns in Shibatsu and ones in Annalaias, like the architectural style, but overall they gave off the sa vibe.
Blaise had grown more wary of the traders as ti went on because they tended to get rowdy whenever they stopped in town and had the chance to access alcohol. One of them had tried to get Abby to dance with him unwillingly and Blaise nearly drew his sword.
It had taken a fair amount of coaxing to calm him down. He stuck to her side like glue after that.
"I do not like this," he confessed when they had to stop. "We may want to part ways with them early."
Mariela told them that it usually took three weeks by wagon and another by foot once they made it to the base of the mountain. There was still another week to go before they should set off on their own.
"We have no other way to get there," Abby reminded him. "They haven't done anything truly inappropriate yet."
Blaise scowled. "Yes but I do not want to give them the chance."
He had warned her multiple tis that it wasn't safe for a woman to be traveling alone with a bunch of n but didn't seem to include himself in that number. Probably because he considered himself a Warrior before he did a man. Warriors were bound by codes of honor to protect their charges.
Sotis she wished he wasn't so uptight. The only tis he even touched her were when he thought she was in danger. Abby was reaching a point where she was touch starved from lack of human affection.
It had been coming on for a while. She hadn't exactly been drowning in hugs after Katie died either because she isolated herself from all of her friends. But it had gotten worse since coming here since she had no one to ask for them anymore at all.
It wasn't like she wanted him to touch her in a romantic way but a friendly hug or even a high five would go a long way to lift her spirits. She didn't think of Blaise that way.
He was as solid and dependable as a rock and about as friendly. But he was all she had. She had grown comfortable talking to him even though he was often blunt and never stopped with the formal speech.
Blaise was tight-lipped too so she often wondered what he truly thought of her. His true thoughts and feelings were locked up in a steel vault and she didn't know how to open it.
Did he think she was crazy or was he coming to accept her story as the truth? She honestly couldn't tell based on their interactions. As promised, he hadn't changed the way he acted around her.
It was actually a bit disappointing. Abby wanted to peek inside his head more and more as the journey progressed because he was like a brick wall.
What sorts of things did he think about when he went quiet? Why had he co all this way with her if he thought she was crazy? She wished she knew. She wanted to ask him but wasn't quite sure how or if he would answer honestly if she did.
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