ACCARDI: BLOOD KNIGHT (Now On Webnovel and Goodnovel Coming Soon To Mega Novel)

Chapter 7: The Death Of Innocence

Chapter 7: The Death Of Innocence

The Study, The  Accardi Estate, Highland, Verdicci, Sicily, Italy, (1653)....

      Life after the mistress Antonia Accardi's untimely demise had not been particularly kind to either of the Accardi men and her loss had been significantly felt amid the estate and town respectively. Athan had become more quiet and withdrawn since his mother's murder at the hands of his brother and he avoided both his father and Vincenzo as a result of it. Sergio worried for his youngest son and the fact that they had begun to clash over the smallest of things had been disconcerting. When the two of them had been children they had been ever so close and now when they needed each other most they seemed to have been drifting apart. Athan kept his distance as per his plan since their mother's funeral and mostly tended to his studies and reading whenever he'd been home and not running about in the company of the young English boy Edmond Reeves. Sergio had been pleased that his youngest son had at least one friend in the world, even if that friend had been a former peasant boy immigrant that had little to no noble breeding. 

Still being a man of some renown, Sergio had wanted better for his youngest son with Vincenzo's future now secure in his education for governorship. Athan had been sort of twisting in the wind when it came to his academics and the distractions had been all abound in Italy. While Sergio had been well aware that his youngest son had some form of artistic talents, not to mention his dashing good looks and magnetic and suave sense of charm, he had wanted more for him and believed that his late wife expected the same. 

Believing himself to have come up with the perfect solution to further enrich the mind of his youngest born son, Sergio signed Athan up for schooling abroad in the hopes that he'd get a more well rounded education and soak up as much knowledge and experience from the world as humanly possible. 

Athan sat quietly at his writing desk and stared at the portrait of himself as a small boy, his lovely mother, his vile elder brother Vincenzo when he'd been a boy and their baby sister Lizbette. Of the two in the photo, Antonia and little baby Lizbette had not been among the living as she had been dead for quite some time due to crib death. The pain of her loss at such a tender age had pushed their mother to do what she thought was right to keep them alive in a world they knew nothing about. She sought comfort in the church and it had turned out to have been the worst place for her in the end. 

Silent tear streamed down the pale cheeks of Athan Accardi as he wept over the loss of both his baby sister and his lovely mother, taken so young in her own age due to the vile nature of her own first born son. In the past view from the portrait that his father had held so dear in these darker present times, Vincenzo had been a mere boy, an innocent happy boy at the age of six long before his infamous encounter with the wolf in sheep's clothing. 

He'd been pleasant and looking forward to teaching both of his new siblings a thing or two about the world as they grew together under the watchful eye of their mother and father. He had been sweet back then and doted on Lizbette quite a bit as she cooed and reached out for hugs from him. He had been quite fond of Athan as well, especially in the years since the death of their beloved Lizbette and protective of him to say the least. It had been difficult to reconcile the sweet boy that he had loved with all his heart being the same full grown monster with a similar face whom had been so callous as to violently and brutally murder their mother for the sole purpose of revenge when she'd simply made an honest mistake in taking them to that awful place. 

Athan in his young heart always knew Antonia had meant well and it had been why he could never bring himself to hate or to blame her for what had happened to him and Vincenzo when she'd left them in the care of the false priest. 

"Vorrei scambiare due parole con te, figlio mio, se per favore mi assecondassi." said the voice of Sergio Accardi as he stepped into the room. 

He had changed a good deal since the love of his life had been found slain at the old church. 

Sergio had lost the handsome dashing quality due to his sadness and misfortune making him frown constantly and the lack of sleep from the nightmare of having his beloved slain and his eyes on her cold lifeless body when he approached the church had made it difficult to get through each day. He ate less and less, his appetite as fickle as his mood when old memories had been much too strong for him. As a result his once heroic physique had become withered and lean, his skin ghastly pale from his lack of venturing into sunlight and his long brown locks had been wild and unkempt for quite some time after the funeral. 

Sergio Accardi had loved Antonia Wembargo since the day they met. His father Serge Accardi had arranged for their marriage to strengthen the alliance with the Wembargo family for the purposes of wealth and trade. He had always been grateful to his father for the match, not only due to the increase in wealth for the Accardi line during his lifetime but due to how much he had truly fallen in love with her. 

Athan couldn't fathom what his father was enduring now that she'd been gone and the look of him so frail and weak, vastly removed from the man of skill, cunning, and charm he had known growing up had made him even more concerned for him.

"Athan, tu sei il più giovane dei miei figli e il più artistico e avventuroso, il più brillante di tutti i miei figli, anche quando non intendi esserlo." said Sergio Accardi. ""Per quanto mi piacerebbe che tu mi restassi vicino qui in Italia, so che sei destinato a molto di più, sei destinato a cose più grandi, figlio mio, e come tale hai bisogno di un'istruzione più ampia, devi viaggia per il mondo, guardalo con i tuoi occhi e impara il più possibile in modo che tu possa diventare un uomo saggio e intellettuale oltre i miei anni e la mia immaginazione."

"Padre?" said Athan stunned by his father's news. 

"Quello che ti dico, figlio mio, non è in discussione, andrai a scuola all'estero e imparerai e crescerai, questo è quello che tua madre avrebbe voluto ed è quello che avrò per te, guarda il mondo, figlio mio e impara più che puoi." continued Sergo Accardi with a bit of pride in his tone despite the sadness that had been abound. "Guarda il mondo e rendi orgogliosi me e tua madre."

With that Sergio embraced his youngest son pulling him into his still very powerful embrace despite his weakened appearance. 

"Come desideri, papà." said Athan as his father pulled back releasing him from his hug. 

Sergio treated him to a sad smile and placed a hand on his shoulder as he stood there looking Athan in the eyes for the longest time. 

"Non avevo mai notato prima quanto assomigli a tua madre, hai i suoi adorabili capelli corvini e gli occhi nocciola, Vincenzo... il povero Vincenzo somiglia a suo padre nell'aspetto ma tu, mio ​​piccolo Athan, sei figlio di tua madre in tutto e per tutto. " he said before taking his leave of Athan after taking a glance at his favorite portrait that Athan had been looking over before he entered the room. 

The youngest of the Accardi men began his long process of packing for his trip abroad, not at all looking forward to the inconvenience of travel nor the prospect of leaving his already ailing father with his murderous elder brother. 

The vile bastard thad had been his own elder brother Vincenzo had already taken one parent from Athan, there was no way he'd allow him to do it a second time.