Chapter 22
Feeling apprehensive Arabella watched Rowan leave. She heard the door close and his footsteps fade and immediately missed his presence. In the short time he’d been here she had felt better.
She looked down at her hands in her lap, her hair falling down obscuring her sight of her mother. Why was she here? Did she know about what happened at the masquerade ball? She probably knew about the drinks with wolfsbane but did she know that Arabella had kissed Rowan? Arabella panicked as she thought about what would happen. Her mother wasn’t kidding about the threat when she warned Arabella away from Rowan. He was in danger.
“How do you feel?” Arabella’s mother asked. Arabella shrugged not meeting her eyes. She wished Alistair would walk in and stop this conversation before it even started. “You should have been more careful,” she scolded. “You were close to being caught.”
“I wasn’t though, okay?” Arabella replied. She knew how close she had come to being exposed and she didn’t need her mother to make it worse. “I understand, trust me I do. I don’t need you to talk about it and make me feel worse.”
“I think you do need me to make you feel worse,” her mother went on. “If you understood the severity of this situation you would do anything to make sure your secret didn’t get out.”
“What’s your point?” Arabella sighed.
“My point is that you wouldn’t have got more involved with the hunter boy if you cared about your secret staying unknown,” her mother said. Arabella’s head shot up and she studied her mother. What was she going to do?
“It won’t happen again,” she promised her mother. She would make sure it never happened again if it meant Rowan would be safe. She just didn’t know how she would break it to him.
“Oh, I know it won’t,” Arabella’s mother stated.
“Is that the only reason you came? If it is you may leave now,” Arabella told her. She was foolish to think her mother came because she genuinely wanted to see how her daughter was faring after coming so close to being sentenced to death.
“I was worried about you and wanted to see if you were okay,” her mother answered. Arabella raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms not believing it.
“You don’t care about me, you never did,” she argued. “You wouldn’t have just left me here if you really cared.”
“You’re my daughter, I care about you,” her mother sighed. “How long are you going to keep bringing up the fact that I left you alone for years?”
“Until you stop lying to me and telling me that you care about me. You only care about the idea of having a daughter. You don’t care about me because of the way I am. You only want a daughter by your side because you think that makes us family again, as if nothing was wrong. You’re only acting when you say you care about me personally,” Arabella countered.
“That’s not true,” her mother protested. Arabella rolled her eyes. “I care about you as a whole not because you’re my flesh and blood. However it’s true that I do want you by my side again. We can be a family again, don’t you want that?”
Arabella stared at her mother feeling torn. She wanted her mother back but she knew her mother was still up to something. The thought of her mother’s scheme made up her mind. She would pretend to be on her mother’s side; at least until she found out what she was up to.
“Yes, I do want to be a family again,” Arabella said softly. Her mother smiled pleased with what her daughter had said. Knowing she was on the right track Arabella went on. “I have hated being alone all this time, I’ve missed you,” she said her voice breaking at the end. It was a convincing performance, but would her mother buy it?
“Well you will no longer have to be alone,” her mother assured her. “Indeed after I accomplish what I have set out to do everything will be perfect and we’ll be a family once again.” She had no idea her daughter was faking everything but she still didn’t trust her enough to tell Arabella her scheme. Maybe she would be more trusting of her if she thought Arabella was similar to her?
“It’s been horrible having to worry about being caught,” Arabella sighed. “The royal family is horrible. To have to be around them knowing they hate werewolves is scary. I wish they could see werewolves aren’t all bad. Unfortunately it will never change.”
“Don’t be so sure of that,” her mother commented. So her scheme had something to do with the royal family and their hate of werewolves. Otherwise why would she have implied things would change? Arabella looked up at her mother. Lucinda stepped closer to the bed and ran her hand over her daughter’s hair.
“There’s nothing anyone can do,” Arabella whispered. Her mother shook her head with a small smile on her lips. “Why are you really here?” she asked slowly.
“I’m here because the royal family can’t keep on ruling over this Kingdom and condemning the werewolves. We have rights; we deserve equality if not more. We are better than humans after all,” her mother explained.
“You really think you’ll be able to change things for us?” Arabella asked infusing her voice with awe even though she fiercely opposed her mother’s plan. Lucinda looked smug as she saw the amazement written on Arabella’s face.
“I don’t think, I know,” she corrected. Arabella forced herself to smile.
“That’s great,” Arabella exclaimed. “Everything will be so much better when you succeed.” Her mother’s smile grew larger and Arabella took the moment to consider everything. It would be best if she didn’t ask her mother for details. It might break her mother’s newfound trust in her and then she wouldn’t find out anything.
“I’m glad you agree with me. I was worried you would always be more your father’s daughter,” her mother laughed. Arabella perked up at the comment. In all the time she’d spent with her mother she could count the number of times her father was mentioned on one hand.
“My father?” Arabella inquired curiously. Her mother stilled as she comprehended what she had let slip. Arabella just stared at her in silence.
“Never mind that,” her mother said quickly. “Would you like to meet the people I’m working with to stop the royal family?”
Not wanting too keen Arabella paused before nodding. She swung her legs over to edge of the bed and then stood up. Her mother waited by the door for Arabella to catch up before leading the way.
All because her mother had messed up mentioned her father; Arabella was getting to meet her mother’s co-conspirators. It was something that wouldn’t have happened for some time to come if her mother didn’t want to avoid talking about something or in this case someone.
She was already out of the castle when she realized she should’ve left Alistair a message saying where she was going but by then it was too late so she decided she would have to just explain later.
They walked down the main street in the lower town before cutting across an alley to get to a less busy street. Arabella had thought they would go to the tavern she had caught them at last time and was surprised when they walked past it.
“Don’t you guys spend your time in that room near the back of the tavern? Arabella asked in confusion. Her mother laughed at her question but didn’t stop.
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “We were only there temporarily. Also do you really think we would stay there after you discovered us there?” Arabella ducked her head as she realized how stupid her question was.
“I suppose not,” she admitted. “I imagine your real place is much safer and discrete,” she complimented, appealing to her mother’s ego.
Her mother nodded. “Yes it is but I can’t risk taking you there yet,” she said. Arabella frowned in annoyance. “At least we will have to wait until nightfall.”
Arabella’s eyebrows went up. “You trust me that much?” she asked incredulously before she could stop herself. Would her mother notice her mistake or attribute it to the awe she thought her daughter had for her?
“Yes I do. You’re my daughter not an enemy,” her mother scoffed. Arabella secretly rolled her eyes. Her mother didn’t know the difference between the two. She nodded her head to avoid answering her mother. She didn’t know how to reply to that and still have her mother think she was like her. She knew if she said what she wanted to she would never find out what her mother was up to.
“So what are we doing now? Do I have to wait to meet the people you’re working with to bring about change for werewolves?” Arabella inquired. Her mother didn’t reply. Perhaps she would get an answer if she brought up her father? “So…about my father?” Arabella fell silent as her mother gave her a sharp look signalling they weren’t going to talk about him.
“We are going to meet the three people I am working closely with. You’ve already met two of them at the tavern,” her mother said dismissively. “They aren’t as important in all this as the third person you haven’t met is. None of this would be possible without him.” Another reason to hate this unknown man, Arabella thought critically. If he hadn’t schemed with her mother none of this would be happening right now.
“Oh alright,” Arabella replied. They walked in silence until they neared a blacksmith’s workshop. She looked at her mother but got no answer as to why they were here.
Her mother knocked on the door and after a moment it opened revealing a darkly lit room. Arabella waited until her eyes adjusted and then looked around. Below her feet was a hard dirt floor. In a corner a thin carpet was put on the floor to make it a bit cozier although the attempt fell short. Near the carpet was a table at which sat three men.
One man was the guy with copper coloured hair and brown that she had followed from the tournament. Beside that guy was the blonde man with the muscular build. Her blue eyes regarded her warily. Those were the two men she was already acquainted with.
The other man seemed normal. His dark brown hair fell just below his ears; that combined with his unshaven appearance made him look scruffy. He was in shape and returned her curious look with one of his own. The peculiar thing was that one of his eyes was a dark blue while the other was a green that reminded her of the sea. They stared at each other, neither one of them wanted to look away first but then her mother cleared her throat and everyone’s attention turned to her. The staring match was a draw.
“This is my daughter, Arabella,” her mother introduced. The men nodded curtly but didn’t seem very welcoming.
“Why is she here?” the blonde man grunted. Lucinda sot him a glare and he closed his mouth.
“She’s here because I want her to be, George. Do any of you have a problem with that?” The men shook their heads.
“What he means is,” the scruffy man began, “is it safe to trust her? She does work for the royal family after all and is involved with that hunter,” he finished, his voice dripping with disgust.
“I trust her, Arthur,” her mother replied. “She is more like me than I thought. I misjudged her. As for the hunter, as of today she is finished with him.” The men exchanged unsure looks but shrugged in the end.
“If you say so,” Arthur muttered. “I’m Arthur, that’s George and this is Edward,” he said gesturing to the muscular blonde man. Arabella bit her lip to hide a smile. The blonde man didn’t look like an Edward.
Edward scowled obviously seeing her amusement. “Just call me Ed,” he snapped crossing his arms and making his muscles look more prominent. He was exactly who Arabella would never want to have to deal with. She nodded quickly and looked at her mother unsure of what to do.
“Well sit down, get to know each other,” her mother suggested. “I’ve have to do something for a bit. Arabella watched her mother leave and then turned to the three men.
She made her way to the last remaining chair all while ducking the various metal objects hanging from the ceiling. The things were all things a regular blacksmith would make such as swords, armour, other weapons, etc. one of the men was likely a blacksmith. If she had to bet she would say it was Edward, or Ed.
She took a seat on the chair and pushed her hair off her forehead. The room was stuffy; there was a fire in the large fireplace in another corner of the room. It was the standard size that accommodated a blacksmiths needs.
“So you guys are working with my mom?” she asked to break the silence.
“Yes, we are,” Arthur replied. “So you’re more like your mother than she knew? What changed?” he asked suspiciously. Arabella shrugged as she thought over what she was going to say.
“I just never was close to my mother. I was eight when my mother left. I was stubborn,” she answered slowly. “Over the time she’s been gone it’s a given that I would change. I’m more mature now and if that makes me more like my mother then so be it.”
Arthur nodded. “So what’s it like working for the royal family knowing full well of the strength of their hate?”
“I’m not going to lie, I wish their view on werewolves would change,” she responded truthfully. “I’ve been careful though, so as long as they don’t find out what I am I should be safe. With them oblivious about what I am it just seems like a normal job.”
“So you’re not worried about your life? You haven’t ever considered running away?” Ed asked. She shook her head. “Why?”
“I don’t run away from my problems, that called being a coward, and I’m not a coward,” she replied. Arthur barked out a laugh.
“Now I see the resemblance to your mother,” he laughed. “What you just said is so much like her. It’s hard to believe she didn’t say it herself.” Arabella shrugged not knowing what to say. She didn’t know what she thought of being compared to her mother.
“I understand not leaving when it was just the royal family you had to worry about but now?” Ed inquired. “Now with hunters thrown into the mix maybe you should reconsider doing something?”
“I’ve considered it, but I can’t leave just yet,” Arabella whispered.
“Why is that?” Arthur replied curiously.
“I don’t like being forced to do things,” she sighed. “I want to leave this place of my own accord. It may not be smart but I’d like to stay here as long as I can, in case I can outlast this. I guess I never grew out of the stubbornness,” Arabella laughed quietly.
“Your mother is stubborn too,” Edward said.
“Yeah,” Arthur chimed in. “The difference is she calls it strength but what she has is what you have.”
“Well everything will change once we accomplish what we have set out to do. The royal family won’t know what hit them,” Edward stated with a pleased smirk on his face. Arabella tensed but none of the men thought that what Ed had said was information Arabella couldn’t hear. They were too arrogant to think Arabella could do anything to stop them if she wanted to.
Everyone looked at the door as her mother entered the room once again. She smiled as she saw everyone’s attention was on her. She walked to the table and stood there looking at everyone.
“I see you all are getting along,” she commented. “I knew that would happen.”
“What’s with the boy?” George finally spoke up. Throughout the conversation he had just sat back looking up at the ceiling. Arabella got the feeling he didn’t like her. Perhaps he didn’t trust her. She just hadn’t done a good enough job of convincing him like she had convinced everyone else.
Arabella watched as her mother sent him a mysterious look to silence him immediately. Not wanting to be caught watching she turned away and pretended to not have seen the exchange,
“As I was walking back I saw your friend Alexander,” her mother told her effectively changing the subject from the unknown boy they were not to talk about in front of Arabella.
“Okay,” Arabella said. “Where is her?”
Her mother looked annoyed. “Outside, nothing I said would persuade him to stop following me. He really wants to talk to you.”
Arabela nodded and stood up. The men at the table did nothing as she walked to the doo. When she looked back she saw their eyes on her and she felt like shuddering. She controlled herself and stepped outside pushing thoughts of the men out of her mind. True to her mother’s word Alexander was standing outside in the middle of the street facing the blacksmith’s shop. Arabella smiled at her nervously and stepped towards him.
“Hey,” she greeted quietly. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to talk to you,” he said. His blonde hair spilled into his green eyes but it must not have been bothering him because he wasn’t paying any attention to it at all. He was only focused on her and Arabella started feeling guiltier.
Arabella looked at the ground suddenly reluctant to talk to him. “I thought you wouldn’t want to talk to me after…,” she trailed off not wanting to say it aloud.
“He’s not good for you,” Alexander sighed. “I know you better than he ever will.” Arabella frowned. She knew he would be unhappy with last night’s events.
“I do know him,” Arabella replied. Alexander only laughed bitterly.
“You don’t know him,” he argued, his voice getting louder. Arabella self-consciously glanced around. People were staring at them. Alexander stepped closer and looked down at her. Hurt and frustration was easily visible in his eyes.
“Form inside the blacksmith’s workshop she could hear snippets and tidbits of conversation.
“The boy is dong his job well. No one suspects a thing,” Arthur said admiringly. Who was his boy they were talking about?
“Yes, I’m very pleased. He does such dangerous work without even complaining once,” Ed replied. The boy must have something to do with their plan. If she could find the boy maybe she would have some clue as to what they’re up to. The only thing she knew was that they seemed to want to do something to the royal family. They wanted to make things better for werewolves.
“I’ve spent lots of time with Rowan,” Arabella replied heatedly. “If your argument against Rowan is that I haven’t known him for long then that applies to you as well.”
Alexander frowned. “What do you mean? I’ve known you since you were little.”
“No, not since, you left remember?” Arabella corrected. “You knew me when I was little. Then you left. I’ve changed and no doubt you’ve changed too. We’re not those little kids we used to be years ago.”
“Is everything in place?” her mother asked.
“You’re going to bring that up?” Alexander inquired sadly. “I’m sorry that I left. I should have just stayed or kept in touch but you can’t hold that over me forever.”
“It doesn’t matter, Alexander,” she replied trying to hear more of the conversation happening in the blacksmith’s shop.
“Yes, the werewolves will attack when the hunter is in place,” Ed answered making Arabella tense. Alexander didn’t notice anything was amiss and just went on.
“So because I made mistakes in the past you’re going to condemn me for it?” he asked her. “I was young and made stupid mistakes, so what? I’m human.” Arabella wasn’t listening to him at this point. Her mind was reeling with the implications of the werewolves’ conversation.
No, it couldn’t be. Her mother said she would leave Rowan alone, hadn’t she? Finally seeing that something was wrong Alexander opened his mouth to speak but Arabella silenced him with a shake of her head.
“I don’t want to talk about this,” she said once again tuning into the conversation she was having. She only did so to appear like she hadn’t heard her mother and Ed in case they were listening. “We should talk later.”
Alexander stood rooted to the spot as Arabella began running away. She was glad this was a less busy street as it saved her time. She was just about out of breath when she got to the stables. She almost sobbed in frustration as she saw Rowan’s horse was not there. He was gone. He was out in the open where he would be attacked.
What would happen this time when the werewolves weren’t there just to send a warning across? Now that they were actually carrying out her mother’s orders Rowan might die.
She signalled to the man running the stable. Not giving him a change to say no to her borrowing a horse she handed him money, more than was needed but she didn’t care. All she needed was a horse; there was no need for money when Rowan’s life was in jeopardy.
The bald man nodded in surprise and she grabbed a tan mare by the reins. She led her out of the stable and mounted the horse, not wasting any time. Then she was off. The horse quickly galloped through the lower town and past the Citadel gates.
She furiously wiped away tears of worry and focused on tracking Rowan. Her hands trembled with the adrenaline pumping through her body as she prayed that she would fine Rowan safe and sound. She wouldn’t be able to comprehend anything else.
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I'm sorry if it was a bit confusing near the end with the two conversations. i tried my best to make it not confusing but i'm not sure if i managed,