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[Rough Draft] Chapter 35: The Weight of Remorse
More than one pair of curious eyes followed the Duchess and Viscountess, who held up the dazed and stumbling Ivy between them. Carina kept her on the doorway, which led out towards the other hall and stairwell as she held onto Ivy’s hand. The older girl rested most of her weight on Hana, who held Ivy up with an arm around her waist.
“Duchess?” The familiar visage of the impertinent Lady Valarie, who had accosted them earlier that day, appeared directly in their path. The young woman waved an exotic green-feathered fan in front of her inquisitive lapis-blue eyes as she glanced between them suspiciously. “Is something the matter?”
“Please step aside,” Carina replied sharply, not bothering to hide her annoyance. “Lady Ivy is not feeling well. We need to get her back to her tent to rest.”
“Oh my, indeed, she looks most unwell,” Valarie relied with feigned sympathy as she took a single step to one side. “She looks as if she had a shock. Did something happen?” Once more, the rude woman’s penetrating stare seemed to hook into Carina as if seeking a perch from which to rend the Duchess’s wavering composure.
“Lady Ivy will be better after a night’s rest. You need not concern yourself further as it has nothing to do with you,” Carina responded as she shifted her direction to guide Ivy and Hana around the green feathered obstacle.
“Nothing to do with us?” Priscilla appeared, further blocking their way out, as she stepped forward to take Valarie’s arm. “There is no need to be so rude to the Lady just because your maid is feeling unwell.”
“Maid?” Carina retorted sharply with an arched brow. “You appear to be misinformed. Lady Ivy is my friend and no more a maid than the woman who stands beside you, Lady Priscilla.”
Valarie flushed and even managed to tear up behind her fan as the Marquess’s daughter relinquished her arm and stepped towards Carina.
“It seems your newly obtained position has gone to your head, Duchess,” Priscilla hissed. “Not only are you obscenely rude to nobles beneath you—”
“I’m only trying to live up to the striking example you gave me while I was but a Baroness,” Carina interrupted with a bemused smile.
“—but you have been clinging to his Majesty as if you’re aiming for to rise still higher?” Priscilla continued without missing a beat.
‘This song and dance again?’
Carina’s smile withered, but a glance at Ivy’s pale face quickly cleared the irrational thoughts inside her head. “Lieutenant Silas!” she called sharply to the Bastiallano Knight standing outside the waiting room. “Would you kindly clear a path for us?”
“You—” Priscilla protested as Silas promptly entered the room with three other knights who firmly pushed both of the women aside as Carina, Hana, and Ivy continued forward. “Unbelievable!”
The knights fell in step beside the Duchess and her friends as Silas led the way down the steps, then to the front door which he opened before them. Only when the cooling night breeze washed over Carina’s shoulders did she exhale and begin to relax.
A well-lit path of fire braziers led down from the Manor steps towards the circle drive that stretched through the campgrounds. The scented, burning wood filled the air around them with a pleasant cedar scent. It reflected off the knight’s reflective armor and silver uniform with a bright yellow glow as the group proceeded past colorful tents now grayed and subdued beneath the darkening sky.
Carina walked carefully along the path, still holding Ivy’s hand, while her mind drifted to Captain Isaac and his men. The last she had seen of them had been when they were folding a tent tarp around Miranda’s corpse, the woman’s bloodied face already wrapped in a bath towel.
‘They should have reached the forest by now. It will take them some time to reach the river and then find stones strong enough to hold her down beneath the current.’
“Almost there,” Hana said encouragingly to Ivy, who nodded but remained silent as her feet moved awkwardly along the path between them.
As much as Carina would have liked to offer them both more support, for some reason, her touch still appeared to cause Ivy pain whenever the Duchess directly touched her skin. In her gut, Carina knew that this reaction, along with Ivy’s curse, had something to do with the manipulative gods who wanted Kirsi to make a choice.
‘Kirsi warned me before that the gods targeted people she cared about. It seems she was close to Hana as well—is that why Hana suffered in her previous lives?’
Her question only led to more questions that tugged at the cold feeling of dread which clung to the blood hidden beneath her robe and dress.
By the time they reached the Duchess’s campgrounds, it was clear the night’s events had sapped all their remaining energy, which only made the presence of Percy Hawthorne, standing outside Carina’s tent, all the more irksome.
‘Why the devil is Percy here—now? Is that prick still spying on me?’
Carina turned to Hana, who had also noticed the Earl’s presence, and frowned with obvious disapproval.
“Why don’t I get Ivy settled into bed while you—deal with him,” the Viscountess said with a resigned sigh.
“Thank you,” Carina replied tiredly. “Let the knights know if either of you requires anything. I’ll be over to check on her as soon as I can.”
Hana nodded and tugged Ivy in the direction of their tents while Carina squeezed the girl’s hand, then let go as she watched them set off.
‘There has to be a way to remove that curse. If only I could figure out the name of the witch who placed it on Ivy.’
With a frustrated groan, the Duchess turned to her tent and strode towards her uninvited guest.
“Earl Hawthorne. It’s late,” Carina said briskly as she brushed past him and flung the tent flaps aside as she entered.
“I didn’t mind the wait, Duchess,” Percy replied as he caught the tent fabric and entered behind her with a relaxed smile. “I trust Lady Ivy enjoyed her first day of the hunt?”
Carina whirled towards the Earl and narrowed her eyes. “Why do you ask? For that matter, why are you here, Lord Percy?”
Percy blinked and furrowed his brows at her hostile tone. “Because tomorrow is your birthday, Lady Kirsi.” He shook his head, reached inside his jacket, and pulled out a stiff envelope. “I simply wanted to be the first to deliver a present.”
Carina stared at the envelope he held up and exhaled in disbelief. She half-turned away before realizing, “Is that—”
“Ivy’s liberation papers,” Percy finished with a bemused smile. “Yes, they are. Sighed, Sealed, and how ready for you to deliver to her.” He stepped forward and offered the gift to her. “And again, I apologize for the delay.”
Carina snatched the envelope from his hand and tore it open.
“Ah—” Percy winced with a rueful laugh. “They say it’s bad luck to open a gift before your birthday.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Carina muttered as she pulled out the papers tucked inside and read through them. When she arrived at the last of the three pages, her attention focused on the stamped seal beside Percy’s signature scrawled next to a written date. “This—did you backdate this?”
“No,” Percy replied with a hesitant smile.
“Then this document—it was signed a week ago,” Carina looked up at him with a scowl. “Why didn’t you give it to Ivy—or at least tell her?”
Percy scratched his cheek and offered an apologetic smile. “I didn’t think a few days would matter, and I couldn’t think of anything else you wanted for your birthday.”
‘Ivy is not some trinket you can gift away to someone as you please!’
Carina closed her eyes as she folded the precious documents. She opened her eyes and carefully returned the papers to the envelope as an awkwardly tense silence filled the tent.
“Well, I’m certain Ivy will be most grateful for the belated gift,” Carina said neutrally as she tapped the envelope against her chest. “Now that your business is concluded, I must ask you to leave, Lord Percy. I am tired.”
Disappointment pulled at the corners of the Earl’s mouth as he studied her, then bowed deeply at the waist. “I am sorry, Duchess, if my selfishness has offended you or Lady Ivy,” he said earnestly and then straightened. “I only wanted to see you happy on your special day.”
Carina smiled cynically and folded her arms. “As I told Viscount Rykard, no one has ever bothered to celebrate my birthday before—” ‘not even in my old world,’ “—why should my seventeenth birthday be any different?”
Percy smiled sympathetically. “You say that as if you never received gifts on your birthday before?”
Carina blinked, narrowed her eyes, then exhaled with a laugh. “The Raven. That was you?” The Earl’s victorious smile was all the verification she needed. “Do you have any idea how much trouble your first gift, that damned diamond bracelet, caused me when one of Helena’s maids found it while rummaging through my rooms?”
Percy’s expression hardened in an instant. “They what?”
“Helena took it to Josiah, who thought I was hiding my inheritance from him—which I was, of course—but he obviously didn’t believe my story that a raven had delivered such an expensive gift to my windowsill.”
The Earl looked even more annoyed as he slowly clenched his fists. “And my other gifts?”
“I pawned them off every year to avoid arousing more suspicion,” Carina replied with a shrug. “I thought the bird was just some eccentric thief.”
‘Though, to be honest, I would hardly remember it was Maura’s birthday at all if it weren’t for that damn bird. I thought he was some sort of omen sent to remind me my time was running out.’
Percy stared at her incredulously, then turned away with a laugh. “I suppose that explains why you never wore them.”
“And how would a penniless half-blood explain where she got such expensive jewelry?” Carina retorted, then narrowed her eyes. “They weren’t—enchanted—were they?”
Percy scowled and then ran a hand through his mahogany-brown hair. “No, they weren’t!” he growled. “And must you continue to bring that up and hold it against me? I already apologized, on multiple occasions, for making that mistake.”
“And I forgive you,” Carina shot back as she folded her arms.
“But you don’t trust me—is that it?”
‘What did you expect?’ Carina looked away with a tired sigh as she held back another angry retort.
Percy rubbed his neck and also shook his head. “Who knew giving a woman a gift would be so bloody difficult,” he muttered as he glanced around the ten, his winter-grey eyes settling upon Iker’s silver crossbow. “Should I buy you a weapon next time?”
“I don’t know. Can a weapon be enchanted?” Carina returned with a shrug.
Percy exhaled sharply, his expression annoyed as he turned to face her. “I am trying—to the best of my ability—to make up for my mistake, Kirsi. But you—are not making it easy.”
Carina smiled as she stepped forward and rested her still cold palm and fingers against the Earl’s cheek. “I know,” she said bluntly. “But a word of advice, Lord Percy. It’s not hard to give the right gift if you’re presenting it to the right person.” The Duchess withdrew her hand, stepped back, and held up the envelope. “Thank you for keeping your promise, Earl Hawthorne. And good luck with the hunt tomorrow.”
Percy’s winter-grey eyes stared down at Carina’s ice-blue gaze as his nostrils flared with silent irritation. “Good luck to you as well, Duchess. I won’t go easy on you tomorrow just because it’s your birthday.”
“I would not expect you to,” Carina replied with a polite smile.
Percy bowed again, but this time he caught her hand as he did so and kissed the back of her wrist before he straightened and left the tent without another word.
Carina frowned down at her hand but quickly shifted her attention to the envelope as she moved quickly towards the large chest beside her bed that contained her wardrobe. “Lieutenant Silas, let no one else in until I say otherwise,” she called towards the knight on guard outside. The Duchess set the letter on the bed and then stripped down to her chemise and shoes once more.
Dense smears of blood marred the front of the delicate cotton fabric. Carina touched the hardened blood gingerly and frowned. Although she had tried freezing the blood inside Miranda’s body before finishing the woman off, that had not stopped the blood spray from the woman’s head from getting onto her clothes. When she was confident the woman was good and dead, Carina wrapped her head in a towel to hide the distressing sight from Ivy and Hana.
The rest of the blood on the floor had been easy to deal with. Once frozen, Carina chipped it up in large chunks she placed inside another towel and later dropped down from the window along with Miranda’s body. Hana then helped her to wipe down the door, wall, floor, and furniture to remove any lingering stains. Afterward, Carina redressed, and they helped Ivy to her feet.
‘I’ll need a quicker, more effective method to use in the future,’ Carina mused as she removed the ruined garment and tossed it and her other clothes into the brazier beneath the open venting in the center of the tent. Carina felt a shiver prickle down her spine as she removed a fresh chemise and gown from the wardrobe, then hurriedly dressed. The wind moved restlessly along the tent walls around her as the Duchess’s old garments burned and filled the tent with clouds of smoke.
The sound of a bird fluttering outside the tent drew Carina’s attention away from the buttons she was fastening along her bodice. She turned slowly to ensure her tent was vacant of any birds, then hurriedly pulled on a fresh night robe and retrieved her dagger from where she had left it on the bed beside Ivy’s papers.
“Your Grace,” Isaac called from outside the tent.
“Captain!” Carina turned back to the bed and hastily strapped her dagger to her thigh once more before turning back to the tent entrance. “Come in.”