Listen to the Audio Book
-Roselyn-
“This is what you signed up for.”
The words echoed
through her mind, haunting her, mocking her.
Hugging her knees
to her long, woolen skirt, Roselyn swayed back and forth on the low straw bed,
aching for comfort. Her light-brown hair clung to her shoulders in a tattered
mess, hiding her tear-stained face.
No, not this. Anything but this. It can’t
be. Why, Abba? Why? Tears came again, and her weak and tender frame shook.
She laid her head upon her straw pillow, trying to sleep in an effort to make
it all go away. But sleep wouldn’t come.
The news had come
shortly after she had placed her young daughters in their beds for the evening.
Praise be to the Holy One that word had not arrived before then. At least she
had the length of the solitary evening to decide how to handle the crushing
news.
She shook with
fear as she recalled the words the messenger had issued earlier that evening.
Something deep within her soul confirmed them to be true.
The messenger, a
dark bull of a man, had arrived, four members of the Cirian Guard escorting him.
With the night so still, Roselyn had heard them coming down the road. She’d
risen from the table and slowly walked to the door of their small thatched
cottage. Though night had fallen, she could see by the light of the moon that the
guards wore the customary black armor with the familiar gilded swords at their sides.
They came up the road atop flawlessly groomed black geldings. For a brief
moment, Roselyn found herself distracted by the sheer beauty of their mounts.
The moment didn’t
last though, as the presence of the Cirian guard indicated a matter of a
serious nature. Her mind instantly fled to Liam. Liam! Something had happened.
“No, Abba, please
no.”
Fear gripped her.
Her knees weakened as the guards approached, and she reached out for the wooden
door frame to support her failing strength. The guards stopped at her door with
a sudden fury. There was no mistaking it. Their business this night was with
her.
The messenger slid
off his horse, pulling a scroll out of his saddlebag as he did so. As his feet
hit the ground, he was already unraveling the legal document. Roselyn braced
herself once more.
Clad in drab brown
woolen pants with an equally plain shirt, the messenger opened his mouth to proclaim
the words of the parchment.
“It is hereby declared
on authority of the court that Sir Liam Rennes has been arrested this very
night for unlawful relations with a certain Lady Opal, stepdaughter to Chief Guard
Lucius Shade. Under Avendale law, it is forbidden for any man to enter into a
relationship with an unmarried woman without the consent of her parents. Sir
Rennes has therefore been imprisoned, and he will remain there until he is tried
before a court of law that shall determine his fate. Bail is posted at fifty
gold crescents.”
A tremor ran
through Roselyn’s body. No, this isn’t
real. Her mind raced in an attempt to shake the nightmare.
Her body shook,
and her chin quivered.
“No, it can’t be.
Y-you have it wrong. P-please …”
The guardsmen paid
her whisperings no heed. After rolling up the parchment, the messenger stared
at Roselyn. “As an official of the court, I strongly advise that you secure
your own attorney.”
Roselyn looked up in
shock at his words.
“What did you know
of your husband’s … extracurricular activities?” he continued.
She tried to control
the tears.
“N-nothing. I-I know
nothing,” she stammered.
“And how is that, I wonder,” he snickered. “As I’ve
already stated, I suggest you secure a proper attorney.”
With that, he remounted
his horse, threw the parchment carelessly back into his saddlebag, and struck
his mount to gallop away. The guards followed after him.
Roselyn crumpled
to the dirt. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. The pain was instant and
overwhelmingly acute. Suddenly, everything felt so heavy. The pain clenched into
a tight ball within her chest.
How could he? How could he? How could he just throw it all
away?
The tears came
now. Sobbing, she rocked herself back and forth. She knew not how long she sat in
the doorway, hugging her knees to her chest and weeping until there were no
more tears left in her swollen eyes. Finally she pulled herself up and made her
way through the cottage to the back rooms. As she peeked in on her daughters,
she breathed a sigh of relief to find that both were still asleep. Thankful
that her heavy sleepers had missed the commotion of the night, she walked shakily
toward her bed.
This was their bed—their
marriage bed. And now … it was no more. How could he do this to me? she thought again. To the girls? A wave of
bitter anger washed over her.
She
knew too much of his past to doubt the truth of the matter. She knew who he
was. She had, as she thought, “signed up
for this.” After all, he had made no secret of the relations he had had prior
to their first meeting. It had always been a source of pain for both him and
for her as he recalled the wild days of his youth. But she had forgiven him.
They had moved on. Or so she had thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment