Wings, Beasts and Claws: Violet Embers

Ch. 26 : Repentance

The rest of the day and most of the next was spent out in the cold, looking around at the perimeter of the Du Pleasant main estate.

I had assigned one Knight to keep watch near the main gates to see if our snake of a maid would make an appearance. While the other Knight was in Du Pleasant’s city center, looking through the Inns and other businesses to see if anyone had seen a pair of men behaving suspiciously. I had positioned myself near a small little gap on the far right edge of the property that my men had found. It was where a few metal bars had been bent to create enough space for someone small to squeeze through and walk out, unseen. This was where the maid had slipped out, being hidden by dense shrubbery that led towards the side garden.

It was clear that the witnesses had been telling the truth about seeing her as well, since she would’ve had to walk through the grass on the side of the building to get here, and the servants side entrance was in plain view. From their perspective, it would’ve looked like she was making her way towards the gates, but once she rounded the corner past the small cluster of trees, she would turn away from the gate and head straight for this little opening in the fence.

The melting snow crunched under my boots as I slipped through said opening and began looking around, trying to guess where she would’ve gone from here.

To my left was a thickly packed mound of snow that looked to be covering some brush, or maybe a large stump. In front of me was an open pathway that led into the plain view of the Gate Guards and the only road in and out of the Duchy. And to my right was a narrow, but still usable opening that went deeper into Du Pleasant Forrest.

“Right it is then.” I muttered as I trudged along, my fingers glowing purple as I prepared myself for anything that could be hidden in the trees.

The sun quickly climbed higher in the sky as I continued making my way through the thin path, needing to stop and untangle my dress from the many rocks, snow covered branches and shrubs that snagged it. And after a decent amount of time slithering through the just-big-enough path, I was relieved to find myself in an open space that was a little over half the size of my room back at the estate. I glanced around and found multiple other paths that went off into different directions, making me sigh in frustration.

But as I begrudgingly turned back to make my way through the tight path again, the sound of a twig snapping made me freeze.

I whirled around, hands raised with dancing flames as gloves as I tried to see where that sound had come from. Slowly, I tried to hide myself behind a large tree, but the shadow of a person soon appeared in one of the paths leading far deeper into the woods. A soft curse left me and I formed my bow as their crunching steps grew louder. Pulling the bowstring back and staring down the point of my fire made arrow, my mind as well as my body suddenly went numb at the sight before me.

An older man with a bit of scruff on his face, long blonde hair pulled back by a ribbon and a tall, muscled frame stepped out. Clear blue eyes stared back at me, wide with shock, and his hands slowly came up in defense as my hands began to tremble with the tension locked in my muscles.

“Samuel…?” I choked out, taking a stumbling step back as a wave of fear and panic gripped me.

“Amara, wait, please.” His voice had a bit of a rasp to it and sounded a bit deeper than I remembered, but the cruel insults, dark laughter and death threats could still be heard ringing in my head once he spoke. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

My stomach dropped as he slipped onto his knees, keeping his hands up in defeat while he bowed his head to me.

It was a strange sight to see, and for a moment, I thought I was dreaming. But as I stared at me, shivering occasionally as the snow melted around his knees and seeped into his clothes, I felt the shock of it fade. I still couldn’t move, or speak, my mind struggling to break away from the blank nothingness of pain that came over me as I remembered each and every cruel thing he did to me in the past. I could even feel my nails digging into my palms, breaking the skin with how tightly I was holding my bow.

“Stop!”

The sudden shout of a woman made me flinch and I lost focus of my bow, gasping as I scrambled to recreate it.

“Please, don’t hurt him.”

My eyes moved towards a woman in a tan fur cloak that stepped out from behind Samuel, though my arrow remained trained on his head. She had caramel brown hair that was slightly curly and fell around her face. Her mossy green eyes were filled with worry and panic as she inched forward, stopping once she concealed Samuel behind her body.

“I… I know he’s done many terrible things in the past.” She started, her voice quivering as she spread her arms out beside her. “I know that he has a lot to make up for and repent.” I could see Samuel getting up behind her, gently trying to make her put her arms down with a guilt ridden face. “But you can’t kill him, or hurt him, without giving him a chance to seek forgiveness.” I slowly lowered my burning weapon as she continued, feeling myself regain control of my mind and body while my more darker emotions were pushed to the back. “Please, just let us talk to you first, let him explain things first, before you decide what to do.” Her voice broke in the end and came out as a near panicked sob while Samuel pulled her into his arms. “I don’t want to lose my Mate.”

My eyes widened as I stared at them, my head spinning with her words as a cold breeze struck us all. I looked into her green eyes, filled with panic, sadness and fear, then into Samuels blue ones that were darker with guilt and shame. Seeing those emotions in his eyes felt strange and I could only nod stiffly in response, watching them exhale heavily, their shoulders sagging.

“I’m Enna Merick.” The woman said, smiling weakly as she turned partially and softly pushed at Samuel. “We’ve been staying in a small hut that Samuel built when he was young. Come, we can talk there.”

Samuel’s gaze became much warmer as he looked at her, and it looked identical to the loving eyes that I had seen on the portrait of my father and mother. I couldn’t fully believe what I was seeing, following them at a short distance as they made their way through the wider path. It, thankfully, didn’t take long to reach the hut she spoke of and I had to stop to take a look at the clearing we were in.

The hut itself was a bit smaller than the average commoner home, with wood and brick forming the outside. A small chimney let out smoke that thinned out and faded before it could break past the trees, no doubt helping to keep them hidden. The clearing itself was wide enough to house the hut and a stack of chopped firewood that was now coated in snow. Once inside, you could see nearly everything right away. With a small weathered couch to my right facing the chimney and a small bookshelf. A rough looking carpet was beneath the four-person dining table on the back right corner, partially blocking a couple suitcases. To my left was a small kitchen space with a short half-wall thing that blocked the path to the front door. And in the back left was a large bed with a divider helping conceal it a bit along with a closed door that I assumed went straight to a bathroom.

The Enna woman went straight to the kitchen, busying herself with making tea while Samuel took a seat on one of the chairs in the dining room. I hesitated, moving once the woman started making her way to the table as well. She sat beside him while I took the seat across from her, glancing at Samuel periodically. She poured the tea for us and smiled a bit brighter, looking hopeful as she looked between us. But as the silence stretched on between us, she started to frown, nudging Samuel in the ribs before narrowing her eyes at us both and huffing softly to herself.

“What happened in the prison?” I finally spoke up, seeing Enna smile a bit before turning to face Samuel.

“Some man broke into our floor with two others.” Samuel started, glaring at the table while his fingers fidgeted. “He came up to Marcus’ cell first and some shouting broke out, followed by some thuds and clanging… then my door was opened and the man stood there telling me, not asking me, to follow them out and prepare myself to kill you and your kids.” My blood ran cold and my fists tightened so much that my knuckles were white. “The Guards they had knocked unconscious had woken back up by then and had brought with them a much larger mass of men…. They ran before I could answer and distracted the Guards.”

“I worked in the small Temple within the prison until last summer.” Enna cut in, smiling softly as she took one of Samuels hands in hers. “We realized that we were Mates a little over three years ago and I had told him that I would accept him if he truly repented on what he had done… and he did.” A streak of sadness took over her gaze as she looked at him while he smiled at her. “He’s changed a lot in the years he’s spent in that cell and has repented on those things he had done and said… so when the Guards ran past and failed to see that his cell was still open, he slipped out and came to me.” She shimmed in her seat, moving closer to him and smiling wider when he leaned closer and kissed the top of her head. “So I decided that, since I don’t have any siblings and my parents have long ago returned to the All Mother, that it was time to pack up and start anew somewhere else.”

“I only came back to apologize to Rosanna and Father.” Samuels eyes filled with sadness again and it even looked like he was close to tears. “But when news of our fathers death got to me, I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to appear out of nowhere.” He met my eyes and gave me a tight lipped smile. “She wouldn’t react well to seeing me again after losing him… she was always the one closest to him growing up, and in her pregnant state, I could unintentionally harm her.”

“But… how do you know?” I asked, looking over to Enna who stared back, confused. “How do you know that he has truly repented?” Samuel flinched, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking, since he had feigned kindness to me in the past only to pull a cruel prank on me.

“Because I can feel it.” My brows knitted as I stared at her, making her laugh softly. “I’m a NonShifter, like you.” She raised her free hand and motioned for me to place one of mine on her palm, so I did. “My gift is the ability to feel the emotions of others with a single touch.” My eyes widened and she smiled bigger as she, no doubt, felt my shock. “That’s why I was working in the Temple, I would help soothe the emotional pain of those that came to visit the prisoners as well as ease the guilt and shame of the prisoners themselves.” She turned and smiled at Samuel, releasing my hand. “That’s how we met… he came into the Temple to pray to our Goddess and reflect on the reasons he was held in the prison.”

“You helped me understand all the wrong I did.” Samuel muttered, pressing his forehead to hers. “I had been blinded by my elder brother and mothers hunger for power… and with our Father always busy and drowning in his own guilt for his infidelity, I didn’t have anyone to turn to.” He turned to me then, the shame, guilt and sadness in his eyes making me jump back a bit in surprise. “It doesn’t excuse me from all the pain I’ve caused you, I know that. And I know that you have every right to hold onto your hate and distrust of me… but I do regret it all.” Enna frowned while rubbing his arm with one hand, the other lacing her fingers through his. “I’m so very sorry that I was nothing but a walking nightmare to you. I’m sorry that I had caused you so much pain, and said all those cruel things to you.” His blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears, his free hand sliding across the table towards me in a silent request. “You don’t have to forgive me, and neither does Rosanna or Arden, but if you could just pass along my words to our sister and let us pass on and out of the city, we would be forever grateful.”

“We want to step out of the Fafner Kingdom borders and make our way to Azuren or maybe Ladon.” Enna added, dropping her free hand down to her stomach. “We want to find a place to call home before our little one’s born."