Chapter 14
I didn’t sleep that night, and it wasn’t because I slept earlier. Instead of closing my eyes I constantly reread the invitation feeling my heartbreak over and over again. Why was I doing this? Was I punishing myself for saying no to him? Why was I punishing myself by rereading this?
So I sat for hours at the table, fingering the parchment and threatening to rip it up but never being able to. I watched the sun set ignoring the rumbling hunger in my stomach, mainly because it mixed with the churning I already felt. I shivered and pulled the blanket tighter around me. I didn’t want to move, it reminded me I was still sitting in a room by myself mourning over my mistake.
It was too late to take back what I had said. Too late… I guess I kept trying to come up with excuses to why Delron and I couldn’t be together; he was wrong for me, he hurt me, he hurt my mother. They were valid excuses, except I had stupidly already forgiven him for them. It hurt me, it felt like my heart was ripping in two. I could have stopped this pain ever from happening; right from the start I could have stopped it. I had loved Delron for such a long time and I had never admitted it until it was over.
I read the invitation again. He’s getting married. She’s a good decision. She’s beautiful and would produce beautiful children…sons. She would be his queen—his wife. Why didn’t I tell him it wasn’t too late? Why didn’t I kiss him when I had the chance?
Was it for pride? Was it for the protection of my mother? Was it so I could care for her? Or was I making the biggest mistake of my life?
“What’s this, Claire?” My mother took the piece of paper from my fingers before I could stop her. I hadn’t even realized she was in the den until she spoke. “A wedding invitation?”
It still hurt when she said it. I had grown numb but it wasn’t enough. I half expected to have gotten over it, or at least for me to appear over it. My mother froze and her hands shook from a few moments. I shut my eyes to hold back the tears. I thought she would have sworn or fainted or cried but she didn’t, which surprised me.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
“Was he here?” she finally spoke. I didn’t say anything in fear of my voice cracking. “Was. He. Here. Claire?” I nodded. “That son of a bitch! How dare he step foot here, in my home—after what he has done!”
“He came to see me…”
“What did he do?” she bellowed.
“He didn’t hurt me, mother.”
“No? That bastard destroyed me. He took you and threatened you into marriage.”
“Delron’s not like that now.”
“Delron? You know his name?—nobody knows his name… You never told me what happened between you too. Did he hurt you?”
My hand instinctively went to my other one, gingerly rubbing the healing scar. He hurt me but it seemed unimportant. Why did I have to care? Why couldn’t I feel the hatred my mother held? “No, it doesn’t matter.”
My mother’s jaw clenched and her body shook with anger. She ripped at the parchment furiously until it was in tatters on the table. “He’s not allowed here again, do you understand me? Not the King, or his men.” She hobbled away leaving me tearful and unsettled. My mother had been through so much torture—did Delron do it himself or did he get one of his pathetically loyal men to do it?
I don’t know which one was worse. I could understand though, how it could make her feel so angry and so weak at the same time. This would be so much easier if I couldn’t love. I wish I didn’t love a powerful man with an evil past and a confusing personality.
The rain grew heavier on the roof and a drop of water landed on the table. I played with it until another drop joined it. I felt worse than I had ever felt. Is this what heartbreak was? Is this what love did to people? Why would people ever try to fall in love if you could fall so hard?
~*~*~
My mother was getting sick again. She was bedridden and sounded as if she was trying to breathe through drowned lungs. Aunt Caroline had stayed with us once more trying to assist me. I wasn’t used to dealing with bruised and infected bodies; Caroline was and it kept me strong to have her around. If I lost my mother I don’t know what I’d do.
Since my mother was ill I had to take up her half of the business. There was an open stall at the market tomorrow and baking wasn’t an easy business for one woman…but I was getting there. The kitchen was stocked with fresh eggs, milk, fruit and flour and my hands and dress was covered with it all. The blueberries were the most annoying because you could never get it out of the clothing.
Caroline was taking care of my mother while I knead and mixed the ingredients. Luckily we had a baker’s kitchen which was huge and well stocked. We had a tiny cellar below the house that we could reach by the stairs behind me and a wood oven and a pizza oven out the back. My neighbours always hung around when the fire was on because the best smell of cooking bread and cakes. It was amazing to be around.
My brow was sweaty as I pressed the last berries onto the cake and stored it in the cellar. I was going to leave most of the breads for tomorrow to keep them fresh so I put together a large batch of dough and left it to rise beside the oven with a piece of cloth over it.
I was drained. I hadn’t slept very well over the last couple of nights but I was still standing so that was good. I brushed the remaining flour and dried dough onto the floor and swept it out the door. My upper arms ached from the endless kneading and my back begged for a break.
“Caroline?” I called out sitting myself on the couch with a sigh. She bustled out into the open dropping a tray onto the table.
“Yes, Claire?”
“You can go home now. I’m very grateful for you being here for my mother.”
“Are you sure, dear? I can stay for a while longer.”
“No,” I smiled weakly. “You can go on home now.”
She returned my smile and excused herself from the house. I rolled my shoulders and propped my feet on the small table in front of me. It squeaked for a moment and then grew silent. My mother would scream at me if she saw me putting my dirty feet on her expensive table. I smiled at the thought.
The wind still howled outside from the aftermath of the storm. I wanted to go out and get a treat for my mother but I feared losing the object before I even got home. I shut my eyes and wished for a bright day to cheer me from the gloom that drowned my chest.
~*~*~
It was getting dark when I woke. Long shadows spread across the wood floors leaving the air fresh and cold. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around myself. I could hear my mother in her room, coughing viciously. My heart stopped for a moment at the sound. I rushed into her room and saw her hanging over her bed with a red cloth over her mouth. Her body wracked with every contraction of her chest, every heave of her stomach and every squeeze of her lungs. Her arm was shaking as she held herself up with one hand.
I skid on my knees and enveloped her before she could give way. Something splattered down my shoulder as my mother’s loud wheezes shocked my ears. I lay her back in bed and swept her hair from her face. Her lips were blue but her skin was red and smelt metallic. I looked at the cloth in her hand and realized its colour was from blood.
“Mother!”
Her eyes rolled around in her head frightening me more than the blood did. I lifted her gown quickly and discovered dark purple bruising around her ribs. They were blotchy and spread right around her back. I stifled a sob as I lowered the gown.
“Just breathe, take it slowly.”
Her coughing ceased but her breathing was still labored. It hurt to see her like this, it momentarily made me forget about the other source of pain I was ignoring. My fear of losing her grew stronger.
I thought she was getting better but now its getting worse.
Sweat dotted her forehead and she licked her dry lips, dislodging some clumps of blood. I pulled the covers up around her as if I was trying to protect her from what she was facing.
“Don’t get up, don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
I jolted to my feet and ran out of the house. Caroline lived only a few minutes away and my heart was pounding for her. She could get a doctor, nobody would listen to me but she could. No one in the town wanted to know me anymore. They thought I was a harlot, a prostitute, part of the King’s harem. I was his mistress. I heard the whispers, like soft attacks that got harder with every insult. This was bombarding me every time I left the confines of my home.
I ran with such ferocity. My heartbeat matched my footsteps as they splashed the mud. The light rain and god made my body sticky. I skidded to the left almost tumbling to the floor. Caroline stared at me in fear as I practically yelled at her through tears. I couldn’t lose my mother, not when she was the last thing left—the only thing to live for. She raced past and continued up the cobble-stone path.
I stared after her exhausted and frail. My body felt heavy and tense. I hoped that Caroline would arrive before my mother passed. I stepped out from the porch with a heavy drop. The rain grew heavy once more, mixing with my tears and sticking my hair to my face. I wanted to run home and arrive there to see my mother up and about. She would be baking a tart in the stone fire to have with our tea that was boiling on the stove. She would scold me for entering the house drenched to the bone but then she would smile and shake her head.
But I knew she wouldn’t anymore. My mother was bedridden and if she didn’t die she would remain bedridden.
If I had complied all those day ago—told the King yes—she would be all right…safe. I stared off running. It felt like I was running through a dream, hopeless and weighted with chains around my ankles, only this time there was no waking up.
A person stepped out from the shadows with a sadistic intention. I slowed for a moment, terror tightening in my chest. I continued faster when another shadow approached. I took a short cut between two houses. Rats scuttled between my feet making me scream. I bashed into the wall regaining my footing.
A smack to the face sent me to the ground. Mud squished into my face and hair. I rolled onto my back and a kick to the stomach followed. There were two makes and a woman. She hitched up her dress so I could see her pantaloons. She wasn’t afraid to copy the others. I covered my body in pain. “Stop, please!”
“The King threw you out like filth.”
I groaned as another kick followed.
“He realised the scum you are,” the girl replied. “The King is marrying my sister because she is beautiful, not a witch like you.” The toe of her boot collided with my stomach. “Harlot!”
My muscles clenched in pain. My head swam. I couldn’t believe that this was happening. Was I being blamed for not winning the King’s heart or because I’m a witch?
“Maybe we should respect the tradition then,” one of the males spoke. He knelt into the mud and pulled out a dagger from the sheath attached to his belt. I screamed. He grabbed the edge of my skirt and ripped it to the corset. The other man tried to pull down my exposed bloomers. I screamed again trying to bat them away. The girl just stood to the side through insult after insult at me.
I landed an impressive punch to the man who tried to mount me. He grunted and cursed and proceeded to press the dagger to my throat. “Stop!” I squealed.
Suddenly, the girl screamed and disappeared. I saw her off to the side, crumpled in a heap. Both men left my body and took a couple of steps back. The rain continued to fall cleaning the blood and mud off my neck. Something dropped from above and tackled one of my attackers to the ground. Vicious, blood-curdling screams filled the air. The creature hovered over him sucking on his neck.
The man’s cries turned into whimpers and then silence. The other male shook with fear, frozen to the spot with his weapon in his hand. I pulled myself up into a seated position and whimpered in pain.
The creature lifted its head and hissed. Even in the darkness I could see what it was—who it was.
“Delron?” I whispered.
He pounced on the shaking man with such strength his head smashed into the wall with a wet “thwack”. A huge amount of water fell cleaning me of the dirt. When the flow of water slowed I wiped my eyes. Delron stood alone, drenched and straight backed. What was he? Delron’s white shirt was speckled with blood even with the rain attempting to wash it away.
“Are you alright, Claire?” I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I was too shocked to speak or move. Our King—this man—was a creature who drinks blood. “You’re bleeding…” Instinctively, I covered the small nick on my neck. Did he want it? Did he want to bleed me dry? “I won’t hurt you.”
I released my hold. He seemed surprised at that. I got to my feet and steadied myself against the wall. “Why are you here?”
Now it was his turn to gape like a fish. “I was… You were in trouble, I had to help.”
“You were watching me?”
“Only to keep you safe,” he admitted. Delron wiped a dripping lock of hair out of his eyes. “The others have had similar threats.”
“The other women,” I said harshly. “Are you protecting them as well?” He stared me down and I knew the answer. “Does your wife know you’re here protecting me?”
His lip curled up for a moment in a menacing grimace. Delron looked ready to destroy the wall to his right. Sadness travelled through me. He didn’t want to marry her but, what was the point having a group of girls kidnapped if there was going to be no wedding. Delron was suffering the same turmoil I felt, except rejection for him would have appeared a stab in the gut.
“She’s very beautiful,” he started, “and she would produce talented offspring…”
“Yes,” I agreed solemnly.
“…but I don’t love her.” He looked at me from under his thick lashes. “Anne doesn’t possess my heart.” Delron took a long step back and surveyed the quiet street from over his shoulder. The rain had stopped and people would leave their homes and discover the bodies. “I should depart. Claire…please, return to your home and stay safe. For my sake.”
He took a few more steps back and disappeared around the corner. I approached the end of the walk and looked around it but Delron had disappeared. The rain had made a track in the mud and it flowed like a narrow river between homes. I followed the water all the way home.
I pushed open my front open feeling the cold air chill me to the bone. The fire had burnt out leaving warm embers that smoked slightly. I dreaded taking a step. I could hear the steady drip-drip of water that fell of my clothing. It was the only noise I heard.
Is she dead?
I waited by the doorway, daring myself to enter. I wanted to run back into the rain and hide in a hole until it was all over. Everything hurt like I had been running for years. Something pulled at me, threatened to trip me so I would fall inside. I don’t want to find out.
I heard heavy footsteps and Caroline turned around the corner. She wiped blood off her hands onto the apron tied around her hips. Her eyes were red and her nose swollen and red also. I felt my heart drop in my stomach. When she looked up and our eyes met I fainted.
I sincerely apologise for my absense on Wattpad, honestly there are so many excuses.
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