Darcy hacked at a cobweb before gingerly stepping by. Zac follows cautiously. He does not want to anger the young man any further than he already is. When Darcy stops quickly, Zac has nothing he can do but confront him.
"What is wrong?"
Darcy turns and Zac can see his eyes glimmer in the darkness. "When 'Gelica was in the woods with you, how did you...act?
Zac was glad the dark hid his confused face. "I am not sure what you mean?"
Darcy sighs and Zac can hear him begin to walk. "I do not even know my sister anymore. Either of them. Since I left Angelica became a mother! Eliza got betrothed to a man I hardly know. And though I have visited with Angelica and Prosper, it is as if she is distancing herself from me."
Zac swipes at the sweat collecting on his brow. "I-"
Darcy stops forcing Zac to run into him. Does she wish her brother left for war and died? What does she even think of me?"
Zac found himself stuck between awkward silence and answer rhetorical questions he had no place hearing.
"Angelica," the name felt strange on his lips, "would never wish for you to die. She would do anything to save you because she loves you."
Darcy sniffled and turns a corner. The ground steadily climbs upward.
"What about Eliza? Is she truly happy with your brother?"
Zac smiled. "She is the happiest woman I have met. My brother's antics and idiosyncratic habits, including his hone and chivalry toward her, leave her irritated with him and I do not believe she would have it any other way."
"And he loves her?"
"His face lights up when he sees her, they can barely keep their hands out of the others, they are nearly inseparable, and if he ever needs to talk he finds her first."
Darcy seems to take that to heart.
"It is hard to be parted from one's sibling," he remarks. Zac could not agree more.
When it seemed that they had walked uphill for an eternity a light was spotted in the wall. A passage had been left slightly ajar. Both men were silent as they crept forward. Zac peered inside. They had found Angelica. But they had also discovered Roslin and Richard. Roslin was yelling profanities at someone Zac could not quite see as Richard sat by a tied and gagged Angelica. It made Zac sick to his stomach to watch her like this.
He backed away and put a hand on Darcy's shoulder.
"She is in there. Your father and Richard have her."
Darcy makes a move toward the door before Zac finishes.
"We cannot go in."
"Richard has his slimy hands on my sister. He's had his eyes on her for years. I cannot wait to get my hands on his little neck."
Zac gulped realizing his hands had been on Darcy's sister quite a bit also.
"We have to have a plan."
"We don't have time. My father has Prosper too. While he would not harm Angelica, he hates that Prosper stole Angelica from him. He will kill her and I will not stand here and watch my father take a life when I can stop him."
With that, Darcy threw open the doorway and charged at his father, while Zac locked eyes on his own.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Her father was in a fit of rage. She had seen him like this when she was a little girl, crying in the corner and praying for God to keep her father from hurting her mommy. It had always felt like God was not listening. Her mother would be soon black and blue with eyes bloodshot and puffy. It felt like God was not listening to her now. She prayed silently for power and deliverance, but her father's knife crept closer and closer to the heart of Zacary's father.
Angelica could not understand what she was an audience to and Richard was strangely quiet beside her. The duke of Averie had confidently walked through the bedroom door and surrendered himself. Angelica was confused by the declaration and the word feud that followed. So she sat and prayed for deliverance until her saviors ran in the door.
"Father, this has gone too far," Darcy announced stepping in-between his father and the duke. "I can not let you harm any more innocent people."
Her father surged forward with his dagger. "Innocent?" he roars. "This man has taken everything from us."
Darcy abated his raised arm calmly as Zac quietly stepped into the room.
"He has destroyed our family," her father debated.
"No, you have," Darcy confirmed. "Your temper, your anger, your children question if you even love us."
"He stole the woman that was supposed to be your mother and ruined her, he stole your life from you, his sons have stolen your sisters."
"And what will this do?" Darcy screams. Zac darts undetected behind them and begins to creep to my aid. "If you kill this man, what will that do? Make you just as bad as he is. All of us have done wrong. But will this make it better? I deserve to go to the dungeon and be hanged as a thief. Would you like to twist a sword into my heart? Angelica has stolen just as much as the gang." As attention fell on her, Angelica watched Zac shrink into the shadows but not before Richard saw him. "Are you going to have her killed? Will it change or reverse what she did?"
"He has taken everything from me so I will take everything from him." Angelica watched, unable to move, as her father threw a knife at the duke. As if in slow motion, Darcy launches himself forward and takes the dagger to his shoulder with a scream. Angelica pulls at her bindings, yanking so hard at the bed that she thought she might break it. Darcy falls to the ground in agony and her father pulls out a sword and comes after the unarmed duke.
Richard gives a war cry and pounces at Zac who's sword sings out of its scabbard in the nick of time. He throws off Richard's attack and dashes to defend his father, his eyes wild and dancing with fear. Prosper chooses this as an opportune moment to wake and begin to wail. Angelica uses her tongue to try to remove her gag as Prosper squirms off the bed. Swords clang and she looks up to see an outnumbered Zac fighting a losing battle. Darcy staggers off the ground, blood oozing from his wound. He rips the knife off his chest and slaps it into Richard's leg. The man staggers, grinding his teeth in pain while Darcy stands and announces, "That is for touching my sister."
Removing his sword with his uninjured, non-dominant arm, he rushes to assist Zac who is sweating in the corner her father has him backed into. Zac ducks and barely avoids the swipe of a sword as Darcy rushes at his father. But her father steps back, stomping on Zac's barely healed foot. Zac slowly melts to the floor as Darcy tries to ward off the vengeance set man screaming profanities.
Richard was dragging himself to stand and inching over to the fight when Angelica stuck out her bound feet and Richard fell and hit his head so hard he blacked out atop her legs. Angelica sawed her arms up and down to no prevail trying to escape her useless state. Prosper wiped away her tears and her crying slowed as she toddled to the dresser and began to pull on it. Angelica was helpless as her fighting family crew near to where the oblivious child explored.
"Why do you care if I kill him>" her father yelled slashing his blade at his son's torso.
Darcy dodged the hit narrowly and catching sight of his niece lured his father in the opposite direction - a corner. "I cannot stand by and watch you kill someone."
"I will kill him."
"Over my dead body."
"So be it. You are already dead to the rest of the world." Her father drove harder as Darcy paled from bloodloss and threatened to topple over.
Angelica closed her eyes. She couldn't watch her father murder her brother. The smell of sweat permeated the air as Angelica willed Prosper to her side.
"Rebellious woman, I seem to be in need of patching up again."
Angelica cracked her eyes open to see Zac wince as he leans over to untie her from the bed.
Angelica hit her shoulder into his head and he looked up and wiped the sweat off his brow. His 'prince' outfit looked ridiculous now and Angelica almost laughed before she nudged her head at Prosper.
"What is it, love?" Zac leaned forward and his fingers grazed her cheek as he pulled off her gag. She felt like she never had anything to drink in his life when she croaked 'Prosper". Zac bolted up and whispered the little girl's name. She picked up her head and gave him a big yawn before stepping away from the fight Darcy was losing.
Zac quickly unknotted her bindings. Angelica brushed her hair back under her maid's cap and tried to stand but became so dizzy she almost blacked out as she collapsed to the floor. Zac cried out for her and she saw her father's head whips around. His advances turned on Zac.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zac cringes as Roslin steps closer. The man was clearly mad and out to murder his father. But what was to stop him from plunging that sword into his chest.
"I remember you."
Zac gulps and Angelica's hand grips his arm firm enough to leave a mark.
"You were making advances on my daughter at Elizabeth's debutante ball. Clearly drunk and downright rude you were; could not keep your eyes or your hands for that matter off her." Roslin cocked an eyebrow. "Still cannot I see. Get your hands off my daughter."
This ticked Zac off. He let go of Angelica and stood. His weapon made an unpleasant noise as it scraped the ground.
"Glad to see you can claim her as your daughter now. She resided in the woods for over a year, was she your daughter then? Did you care about her then? Did you bother to care about her when she was under your roof and under your care? You cannot pick and choose when you feel like loving and protecting someone. You either do always or never. So what is it going to be, Mr. Roslin? Do you love her always or do you not love her at all?"
"I will kill you," Roslin spit from between his teeth. "I will finish your whole family."
He raised his blade and Zac prepared himself for a death blow that never came. Darcy took the hilt of his sword and smashed it into his father's neck. Zac gasped as Roslin crumpled onto Zac's waiting sword. It penetrated his skin and clearly impaled him. Angelica gasped and gagged, bile rising as Darcy fell backward, blacking out from bloodloss and her father collapsed with a sword protruding from his back. She was huddled in the corner with Prosper clutched to her chest. She remained frozen when Zac approached. He knelt in fatigue and gathered her into an embrace as she began to weep. He felt his eyes water into tears for her.
The duke stirred a little on the floor. A puddle of blood threatened to forever stain the floor. Roslin was most definitely dead and Darcy and his father were in questionable conditions. But all Zac could do was hold Angelica while she cried, stroking her hair and letting her tears soak his shirt. He kissed the top of her head and prayed that God would take her pain quickly.