Seta's Fall

Chapter 10

1815

Rialto stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down to the water below. He tossed a pebble and watched it bounce from the crags beneath him until it eventually disappeared. Something about the cliff called to him. The place even appeared in his dreams, sometimes the woman did too.

"I know you are there," he said, turning toward the tree line to see her. She was beautiful with long, flowing black hair and tanned skin as if she'd bathed in the sun and it had left her covered with its essence, and power. So much power. Behind her dark eyes he knew she held more wisdom than every teacher he'd ever had combined and those ruby red lips could curse a man with barely a whisper.

He did not fear her. She, and this cliff, held a secret, a secret that would not harm him. Maybe a secret that would explain to him who he really was, and where he really belonged.

"They speak of you in the village. I hear the whispers."

She stepped forward, her long dress covering her feet so he could not positively tell, but she appeared to glide toward him.

"What do they say?" she asked, standing before him. She was petite so she looked up at him. At thirteen years of age, he already stood at six feet.

"Some say you are a witch and you are watching us, waiting to curse us. Some say you are an angel watching over us, protecting us."

She smiled, ever so little. Her eyes held too much sorrow for her to appear truly happy. "What do you think?"

He reached out to touch her hair but she backed away as if afraid of his touch, or what he might find.

"I know you have always been here. I know you have a story to tell. You can tell me."

She shook her head, frowning. The sadness in her eyes pulled at his heart. As far back as he could remember, he'd known her. He'd catch her watching him from behind trees, especially when he came to the cliff. There were a few times when he was a young boy that he swore she watched over him as he drifted off to sleep. He would wake from bad dreams, see her, and go right back to sleep, knowing she guarded over him. There were times he wished she were his mother instead of the hateful woman who bore him. It was a terrible thing, he knew, to dishonor his mother, even if only by thought, but the countess was a cold-hearted woman. It amazed him how someone so dead inside could give life.

"Are you an angel? You watch over me."

She laughed a little, the sound sad. "I am no angel. I am far from such a holy being."

"You watch over me."

She nodded.

"Why?"

Her gaze roamed over his face, her eyes filling with such a strong degree of pure love, Rialto's chest tingled as if touched by magic.

"You are a very special young man. I will always be with you."

Rialto glanced at the castle in the distance, the prison that held him apart from those his father felt were beneath him, the building he was forced to share with a mother who'd never shown him any form of affection, and back to the small woman before him who made him feel loved just by being near.

"Can you take me away from this place?"

She gasped and tears fell from her eyes. Pain hit Rialto like a sledgehammer to his chest.

"What have I said? I am sorry! Please do not cry."

"One day," she whispered, and disappeared.

Rialto reached out, grasping at air in hope of reclaiming her.