Jonathan stood beside her, a pillar of strength amidst the upheaval. His presence offered a silent reassurance, a tangible anchor in the storm. The unspoken acknowledgment of their shared feelings hung in the air, a revelation spurred by the intensity of the recent events. The veil of denial, once carefully draped over unspoken emotions, had been lifted.
In the aftermath of the confrontation, as the authorities worked to restore order, Genevieve and Jonathan existed in a moment suspended in time. The air crackled with unspoken words, emotions too potent to be confined to the constraints of language. She did not know what was about to come next, but she could not contain her excitement. Everything felt like it was all going to be positive from here on out.
CHAPTER 24
The musty air within the castle hung heavy with the aftermath of the confrontation with Alastair. Jonathan felt the weight of the recent events pressing down on him, each passing moment carrying the echoes of a tumultuous encounter. The castle, once a bastion of stability, now bore witness to the ripples of conflict and he was not sure how the place would recover. All the trials and tribulations he imagined occurring within the walls of this castle, he did not envision a row just like that one.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, the cadence of his breaths a demonstration to the lingering effects of adrenaline. The intensity of the confrontation still pulsed through his veins, leaving him on the precipice between the immediacy of action and the lingering of what had happened afterwards. The air itself seemed charged with the residue of tension, a palpable reminder of the recent struggle.
“You killed him!” Alastair cried out as he was tugged from the room by the police. “You are no duke, Jonathan. You are a failed ship captain who killed my friend, Trevor.”
Jonathan’s blood ran ice cold. He whipped his eyes away from Genevieve to stare at Alastair, to see what he was talking about. How did Alastair know anything about his failed ship voyage, when most people knew nothing? He was not even thinking about Genevieve in this moment, and how she must be feeling about this news. All he could focus on washim.
“You were at the helm of the ship, Jonathan, and you allowed us all to struggle in the storm. You allowed members of your crew to die.”
Now Jonathan knew where he recognized this man from, and it was a chilling revelation.
The specter of Alastair’s accusations loomed large in the recesses of Jonathan’s mind. They had been on the same voyage, traversing the unpredictable seas that etched stories on the faces of sailors. The blame, heavy and unwarranted, had settled squarely on Jonathan’s shoulders. Alastair was right. He truly was at fault. His mouth hung open, because there was no response he could give to Alastair. There was nothing he could say as the man was dragged away from the room, to hopefully be locked up.
Alastair might be gone, but the accusations remained.
“What was that about?” Harry asked, his voice heavy with worry. “I did not know you were a ship captain.”
Jonathan glanced over to Genevieve, who was staring at him wide eyed with the same questions playing on her lips. He knew it was time to be open and honest with the two people who he had spent the winter with, even if he was not ready for it.
“I was once a Navy captain,” he said with his eyes on the floor. There was no way he could look at anyone as he finally said this. He was going to have to revert back to the area of his past he no longer wanted to recall. “And there was a day when the weather was not great, but I did not believe that there would be a storm. I assumed that my very talented crew would be able to handle it. A decision which I have regretted ever since, because the storm was far worse than I ever could have imagined.” His head fell in to his hands, as his heart broke a little more. “People did die. It was a terrible day for us all.”
Much to his surprise, Jonathan felt the softness of someone touching his arm, comforting him as he spoke of the worst day of his life. He lifted his eyes up just a little to see Genevieve holding on to him. His heart almost skipped a beat because he did not know what this meant.
“Accidents can torture us in ways we never expect,” she told him seriously. “I have also been holding onto guilt, for what happened to my brother…”
“Why?” Harry interjected. “What happened to me was a mere accident, not your fault.”
Tears filled Genevieve’s eyes. “I called out to you, Harry…”
“Yes, trying to warn me,” Harry agreed. “And I was too young and too slow to react on time. Anything that happened to me is not your fault.” Then Harry turned his attention to Jonathan. “And what happened to you is the same. An accident. You can not be blamed for the storm.”
Jonathan smiled thinly. “But it is my fault we headed out in to the ocean in that weather.”
Harry furrowed his brows in confusion. “But you did not do it on purpose, am I right? You did not head out to the water in the hope that people would die.”
“Of course not!” Jonathan pressed his hand to his chest in shock. “I would never want anyone to die.”
“Exactly, so you can not hold all the blame on yourself. The same goes for you Genevieve. I do not wish for you to blame yourself either. Just because I sometimes have trouble with my leg, does not mean it has impacted me so terribly that I blame you.”
Jonathan and Genevieve looked at one another, and for the first time in his whole life, he felt trulyseen. He was not the only one who had held onto guilt for as long as he could remember. Genevieve also held onto something from her past that she blamed herself for. He reached out and held her hands, grateful for this level of connection he had never experienced with another person before. The feelings that had been slowly blooming up within him, grew even more and almost exploded.
Everything else melted away into nothingness. A smile spread across Jonathan’s lips. This was the happiest he had felt in a very long time. The weight of what had happened on that ship still pressed down on him, but it was nowhere near as heavy as it had been before. Just talking about his past to someone who understood him was wonderful.
Perhaps he did not need to be unhappy forever.
“Wait, what is this?” Just as Jonathan was about to get lost in the moment in Genevieve’s eyes, and maybe even confess how he was feeling, Harry interjected once more. “Look, Genevieve. The hole in which you fell, there seems to be something inside.”
Curiosity got the best of Genevieve and she pulled away. Jonathan eagerly followed as the memory of the treasure hunt flooded him once more. He had been distracted by Alastair and the memories of his ship voyage, but Harry had just reminded him that they came here for a reason, and he could not wait to see if that was all about to be worth it.
“It is a chest,” Genevieve gushed out, the excitement lacing her tone as she flashed her happy eyes at Harry and Jonathan. “Do you think this isthetreasure?”
Jonathan was not sure what to say. In the hole, the ornate treasure chest, a relic of a bygone era, stood before Jonathan like a sentinel of secrets waiting to be unveiled. The promise of history, intricately woven into the chest’s ornate design, echoed through the chamber. He wanted to tell Genevieve that of course this was the chest that they had been searching for, but until he knew for certain, he could not say a word.
