Distinctly Different

Chapter 9 ~ Lies

Chapter 9



Rowan groaned and tilted his head back in annoyance as the interrogations started for the second day. His father had interrogated servants until past midnight. He’d made Rowan stay for the whole thing; his father had claimed that he needed him. Rowan gave up on his protests but as the night wore on he just kept getting more irritable. Finally his father conceded and stopped the interrogations. Rowan was gone before his father had even finished telling him he could go.

He’d made his way to his room as quickly as he could. He hadn’t had a chance to be alone since the forest. He had thought that when they returned that he’d be able to go to his room and rest but the King ordered that everyone must be questioned. His sister helped his mother; his brother had helped his uncle, leaving Rowan to help his father.

Near his room Arabella spotted him and started to make her way over but he ignored her. He gave her a curt nod and stepped around her with only one goal in mind, get to his room. He hadn’t even registered her expression after his rude action. He had closed the door behind him and flung open the window. The cool fresh air had revived him and he at last had turned his attention to his bandaged arm.

He had cut the bandages away with one quick swipe of his knife and then drew in a breath. It wasn’t bleeding heavily anymore but Rowan hadn’t known what to think of that at the time. He had stared at the wound for a while before bandaging it again. He was no healer; he didn’t have the slightest clue what to do to help speed along the recovery process. When he had slipped into bed he stayed up for more time still. His over imaginative mind had given him disturbing visions of how his death would play out. Visuals of his family mourning still haunted his thoughts.

“Rowan,” his father said impatiently. Rowan snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his father. “Have you been listening at all to what this man has been saying?” Rowan shook his head and his father sighed.

“Sorry, I’m just tired, didn’t get much sleep yesterday,” Rowan mumbled purposely to make it sound like he was really tired. With any luck his father might give him the day off if he thought Rowan needed it.

The servant his father was questioning gave him a wary look. It was as if he thought Rowan was crazy. The servant tapped his fingers on his legs and slumped in his seat. He didn’t appear to want to be here either. Rowan surveyed the man. His dirty and short trousers along with his shirt with rips and tears along the hem gave Rowan the impression this man was not well off. The man had said he was a blacksmith but he must not be good at his job. The man scratched his unkempt beard as he yawned. His father rolled his eyes and then turned to Rowan.

“Oh you’re tired are you?” He asked. Rowan didn’t reply. He didn’t know where his father was going with this. “I take it you don’t want to be here?” Again Rowan said nothing. “Well then alright, who am I to keep you here against your will. Instead of sitting here, how about you check into the stories of the servants?” Rowan started to protest but halted when he father gave him a warning look. His father picked up a small stack of papers and handed them to Rowan. “Here, these are all the sheets with information on the servants we’ve interviewed so far. Go to the addresses of their family and see if they told the truth during the interrogation. You’re just fact checking. Don’t interrogate the family members. If there is a need to I’ll make the decision.”

Rowan nodded. With one last look at the servant and his father he was gone. He sighed as he looked at the sheets of paper. This would take all day. At least he didn’t have to stay in one room for most of the day. At this moment in the interrogations nothing interesting happens. The good stuff came later on when they caught the werewolves in a lie. The shocked looks on their faces when they realized they had been found out was considered the best part by most of his family.