Society's Expectations & Too Many Complications {Finalist}

Chapter 23

Shock coursed through my system. The truth hit me hard, the equivalent of running in to a brick wall. I saw each feature of his face; once hidden by a mask. I saw his eyes, which had been shadowed before and his identity. But.... how could it be?

"Rosalia," Daniel Shireley said, somewhat uneasily to me. "I must needs explain this."

"You... Your hair is brown," I blurted out, choosing perhaps not the most significant part of this realisation. "It's normally black."

He frowned. "Dyes colour it brown."

"You are William?" I said, in a dazed fashion. To find out the truth was like shining pure sunlight into my eyes: a blinding confusion.

"No."

It was strange how I had come to know the true William-

What?!

"How can you not be William?" I nearly screamed at him. "You are here, masked and under his name. You must be!"

I wanted to shriek in pure frustration- to come so close and yet so far? It was a bundle of conflict inside of me, conflict that I would rather be without, thank you very much.

"I am in his stead," he replied calmly, probably guessing at my wild expression that I was not to be trifled with. "On the occasion, I would go as him, as an observer."

"Who?" I forced out through gritted teeth. "Who is the true William one, the man who commands you to such things as impersonation?"

"I... I cannot tell you," Daniel admitted, abashed. "It is not my secret to share, I am sorry for that."

"Please," I begged him, nearly out of mind. "I have been waiting long, too long, for this event. You cannot leave me so cruelly without a single question unanswered!"

Daniel perceived me with a pensive gaze, the gears of his mind grinding together as he obviously considered whether to relate this bizarre motley of Williams or to withheld me from vital information.

"I can tell you some," he decided at last. "Some but not all, I must warn you."

"Some," I stated, sighing in relief that a piece of this puzzle might perhaps be slotted into place. "Some will do for a start at least."

"Let us sit," he offered, retiring to the park bench nearby. I followed on his heels- impatience was an obstacle for one who had what seemed like all the mysteries of the world, such as me. "It's complicated, I understand, but you must know that you have not been played for a fool. The true William shares the same feelings that you do."

"Alright," I acceded. "How came you to be acting out another's part?" I wondered over the implications of such a discovery and blushed with how much of my heart I had entrusted to William. What worried me most was: who had been there when I had kissed him?

"He sought for my help," Daniel related to me. "An old friend of mine, I agreed, though I had not known it was you. He wanted to keep things... quiet, testing you for if you were the person you would be, no matter the person he might come out to be."

"What is his... status?" I asked curiously. "It matters greatly to my parents; and therefore, myself as it will mean marriage or rejection."

"High-born," Daniel answered immediately, a smile curling upon his lips. "But no duke or lord that you would know intimately, I promise you."

"I know a great many," I argued." Perhaps, I would know of him, at the very least."

"I am sure you do know of him," he replied. "But it must be him that unveils himself to you."